Farley (comic strip)

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Farley is a American comic strip written and drawn by Phil Frank, appearing daily (except Saturday) in the San Francisco Chronicle. The strip originally began in 1975 as Travels With Farley, a nationally syndicated strip, but missing the "timeliness and joy of doing local politics" and dissatisfied with the four-to-six week lead time required of syndication, switched to working exclusive for the Chronicle, enabling him to quickly mine local events -- usually overnight -- for his satire.

1 Outline
2 Cast
3 Books
4 External links

[edit] Outline

Farley is considered gentle satire of life in the San Francisco Bay Area and California by its creator. The cast consists of Farley, a reporter for the San Francisco Daily Requirement (A thinly veiled San Francisco Chronicle), Baba Rebob, a mystic, urban bears, a feral cat colony in Golden Gate Park, various other animals, and notable personages in San Francisco including the Mayor of San Francisco, the Governor of California, and others. The strip also relocates to Yosemite National Park every summer with the urban bears and Velma Melmac.

The strip pokes fun at current events in San Francisco, often lampooning such events as the response to Mayor Gavin Newsom's temporary legalization of gay marriage as well as national events such as the National Do Not Call Registry or Vice President Dick Cheney.

The strip also keeps track of the current situation of the San Francisco Giants baseball team through the actions of Alphonse, an American black bear obsessed with the team.

[edit] Cast

The cast of the comic has grown to such an extent that Farley, the title character appears infrequently. The usual cast is:

Farley, a reporter for the San Francisco Daily Requirement newspaper.
Bruce, a right-wing raven that lives with Farley.
Baba Rebop, mystic and the Prophet of Ocean Beach.
A quartet of urban California black bears (though they summer in Yosemite National Park) who run a restaurant for animals called the Fog City Dumpster (the name is taken from a local culinary landmark, the Fog City Diner, and from the source of cartoon restaurant's food supply). The bears include:
- Floyd, the Fog City Dumpster cook.
- Alphonse, an obsessed San Francisco Giants fan.
- Franklin, who often wears a sombrero and bandeliers.
- Hilda, a female with a crush on Farley.
(Former) Mayor Willie Brown, dubbed "His Williness" in the strip, .
Orwell, a feral cat in Golden Gate Park who always is trying to get rich, sometimes by writing to Vice President Dick Cheney with new schemes.
Speedbump, a feral cat, Orwell's assistant.
Miles, mild-mannered dog host of KFUR, a radio station for dogs and cats.
Velma Melmac, a housewife who parks her monster RV in Yosemite National Park each summer, doing her best to keep nature at bay by, for example, vacuuming the nature trails.