13 episodes

Aack! Cathy, the iconic and much-maligned comic strip by Cathy Guisewite, chronicled the day-to-day tribulations of its titular working woman for 35 years, met with equal praise and derision. In this podcast, Jamie Loftus (Lolita Podcast, My Year in Mensa) weaves between reporting and fiction, putting a cruelly treated cartoon everywoman in context.

Aack Cast by Jamie Loftus iHeartPodcasts

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.9 • 457 Ratings

Aack! Cathy, the iconic and much-maligned comic strip by Cathy Guisewite, chronicled the day-to-day tribulations of its titular working woman for 35 years, met with equal praise and derision. In this podcast, Jamie Loftus (Lolita Podcast, My Year in Mensa) weaves between reporting and fiction, putting a cruelly treated cartoon everywoman in context.

    Introducing Aack Cast by Jamie Loftus

    Introducing Aack Cast by Jamie Loftus

    Aack! Cathy, the iconic and much-maligned comic strip by Cathy Guisewite, chronicled the day-to-day tribulations of its titular working woman for 35 years, met with equal praise and derision. In this podcast, Jamie Loftus (Lolita Podcast, My Year in Mensa) weaves between reporting and fiction, putting a cruelly treated cartoon everywoman in context.


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    • 3 min
    Aackt 1: Cathy Comics, Revisited

    Aackt 1: Cathy Comics, Revisited

    Aack-t 1: Cathy Comics, Revisited

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Aackt 2: Who is Cathy Guisewite?

    Aackt 2: Who is Cathy Guisewite?

    For an author constantly conflated with her most famous creation, would the real Cathy Guisewite please stand up? In this two-part interview, Jamie and Cathy talk about what the journey from unknown diarist to world-famous aack connoisseur was like, and all the misjudgments and road blocks that came up along the way. 

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    • 47 min
    Aackt 2 Part 2: Who is Cathy Guisewite?

    Aackt 2 Part 2: Who is Cathy Guisewite?

    Today, we hear what happened to Cathy at the height of the comic’s popularity in the late 1980s until now. Cathy Guisewite tells Jamie all!

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    • 36 min
    Aackt 3: Cathy and American Feminist Backlash

    Aackt 3: Cathy and American Feminist Backlash

    Aackt 3: Cathy and American Feminist Backlash

    • 1 hr 6 min
    Aackt 4: The Pages Around Cathy, Part 1

    Aackt 4: The Pages Around Cathy, Part 1

    Cathy Guisewite is often hailed as one of the only women in comic strips, but that's far from the truth -- this week, we uncover her frequently overlooked predecessors going back to the flapper age, and the underground scene that developed when the funny pages wouldn't address the issues feminists wanted to hear about, Wimmen's Commix. 

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    • 43 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
457 Ratings

457 Ratings

Mdesharn ,

A delight

The name of the final episode is a perfect joke.

Rootroof ,

Fun listen

What a fun rediscovery of this “maligned woman.” My younger adult self both related to Cathy and didn’t like her. I stopped reading comics when I moved out of my parent’s house because they were the ones with the newspaper subscription, so I lost the thread of her story in the 80’s and never even knew she became a wife & mother. I really enjoyed the deep dive on this (actually groundbreaking) comic strip.
(Also, MCP = male chauvinist pig and now I feel old. Aack.)

-racer- ,

No notes

Well, one, actually. More of Jamie’s mom in all podcasts.

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