SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- "Farley" and "Elderberries" comic strip creator Phil Frank is retiring in Sausalito, Calif., after producing more than 9,300 strips.
Frank, 64, is retiring due to a serious illness that has kept him confined to his home for the past several months and has made it impossible for him to continue his work, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.
Frank has drawn "Farley" for 32 years. The strip's title character -- a newspaper reporter and sometime park ranger -- had become Frank's alter ego.
Being a cartoonist isn't all fun and jokes, said Rod Gilchrist, executive director of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
"It's a lonely and difficult thing," he said. "You are in your studio, slugging it out. You have to produce something every single day."
The "Elderberries" name will live on through a Portland cartoonist named Corey Pandolph. His version of the strip runs in more than 75 newspapers.
