Meanwhile, over in "Doonesbury"...

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B.D. loses his leg during the fighting in Iraq:

A main character in the "Doonesbury" comic strip will lose a leg while fighting in Iraq , one of two strips published this week that feature soldiers getting injured in the war.

In Monday's "Doonesbury," B.D., a football coach-turned-soldier, was injured after being reactivated in the Army at the end of 2002, following a losing football season.
Later this week, he will wake up to find his left leg amputated, according to Universal Press Syndicate, the strip's distributor.
"Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau said he wanted to illustrate the sacrifices American soldiers are making.
"It's a task any writer should approach with great humility, but I think it's worth doing," Trudeau said. "We are at war, and we can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individual lives..."

Some papers aren't running the strips, as seen here

another article on it

the strip in question, which also shows B.D. without his helmet on for the first time ever...

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

WITH. HIS. HELMET. OFF.

― g--ff (gcannon), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Dang. And I thought showing Dilbert with his tie straight the one time was disconcerting. (More serious thoughts later.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Amazing.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

he loses his leg AND his helmet in the same strip? that really compounds the trauma for me! maybe that's the real reason some papers aren't running it!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

This strip will run right above the "Family Circus" in which a suicide bomber denonates by the family, killing Billy and Dolly and puncturing lil' Jeffy's lungs with nails.

― yossarian, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"Who did it, Jeffy?"

"Ida Know...and Osama!"

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Who killed all these people?"
"NOT ME!"

*ghost with Osama bin Laden's features smiles and runs off, leaving a dotted-line trail*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

XPOST YA BASTARD

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

somewhat offtopic did anyone read that aaron mcgruder profile in the new yorker this week where he talks about bil keane putting him down at the comics awards?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

hahaha you've lost your touch, Raggett.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah I read the McGruder profile. I like him a lot, although I'm starting to think he should just abandon the comics.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

hahaha you've lost your touch, Raggett.

Hey, at least I remembered the dotted line, a sublime touch o' Keane.

Aaron McGruder for press secretary, where he can spend each day trashing the administration in entertaining fashion.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i dunno! his comics are so great, i have this sinking feeling that he won't really excel as a screenwriter or whatever it is he wants to do now in the same way. maybe cuz the way things are now he REALLY stands out in his medium.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Amazing.
-- VengaDan Perry (djperr...), April 21st, 2004.

Dude, please change your name to 'The Amazing VengaDan Perry'.

― Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

he stands out in a medium he doesn't dedicate any time to? I mean, the guy doesn't even draw the strip anymore. Although I guess I shouldn't comment, seeing as I haven't read it in ages.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh, are we talking about Trudeau, Keane or McGruder here?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Keane, duh

― The Amazing VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

My day's been made.

― Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:52 (twenty-two years ago)

On both counts!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

well that's what i'm saying stence, i wish he'd put some more of his energies back into the comic.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

god that mcgruder story was even more depressing than the harold ramis story

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

seriously!! the humour issue is the most depressing yet! how about that aspiring stand-up comedians one? so bleak

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

aspiring stand-up comedians be starving!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

uh, anyway i thought the way mcgruder invited alterman to "lick deez nuts" or whatever was pretty fantastic.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

alterman's comment so so smug and awful: "i went out into the lobby, which is a very nice lobby by the way, and worked on my manuscript" (paraphrase)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Holy crap! Thanks for pointing this out -- I haven't been paying much attention to Doonesbury the past few years (I prefer reading it in book form anyway) so I would have totally missed this...

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/archive/images/getfuzzy21830140040419.gif

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What, is BD his cousin?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought McGruder came off as self-righteous and puffed up. Boondocks has and will suffer for his pretention, though I suppose a fella's got follow his dream.

Loved the Anthony Lane piece on Wodehouse.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

weird timing. my friend at work today told me he found out one of his high school buddies lost a brother over there very recently.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

What, is BD his cousin?

Nah, the strip I posted above was Monday's edition of the terminally-awful 'Get Fuzzy', a right-wing-ish comic that's 'pre-empted' Doonesbury by running the same storyline, no doubt in a manner that will be 'supportive of the administration', ie it'll be all heartwarming and full of pro-troop propanganda.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmm, 'propanganda'. My bad, sorry.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Is Get Fuzzy right-wing in sympathies? Honestly I never paid attention to it enough to notice.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"Get Fuzzy" Is right-wing????

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

HAHA COSMIC TWIN MIND-MELD

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:51 (twenty-two years ago)

OUR MINDS ARE MELDING, WE ARE ONE.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never met him and I may have only seen one photograph of him, on here, but doesn't the guy on the phone in the fuzzy whatever look like dave q?

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Is the Aaron McGruder article online? What did Bil Keane say about him?

― Acid! Polizei! (ex machina), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?040419fa_fact2

McGruder, who rarely prepares notes or speeches for events like this, began by thanking Thurman, “the most ass-kicking woman in America.” Then he lowered the boom. He was a twenty-nine-year-old black man, he said, who got invited to such functions all the time, so you could imagine how bored he was. He proceeded to ramble, at considerable length, and in a tone, as one listener put it, of “militant cynicism,” with a recurring theme: that the folks in the room (“courageous”? Please) were a sorry lot.
He told the guests that he’d called Condoleezza Rice, the national-security adviser, a mass murderer to her face; what had they ever done? (The Rice exchange occurred in 2002, at the N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards, where McGruder was given the Chairman’s Award; Rice requested that he write her into his strip.)
He recounted a lunch meeting with Fidel Castro. (He had been invited to Cuba by the California congresswoman Barbara Lee, who is one of the few politicians McGruder has praised in “The Boondocks.”) He said that noble failure was not acceptable. But the last straw came when he “dropped the N-word,” as one amused observer recalled. He said—bragged, even—that he’d voted for Nader in 2000. At that point, according to Hamilton Fish, the host of the party, “it got interactive.”
Eric Alterman, a columnist for The Nation, was sitting in the back of the room, next to Joe Wilson, the Ambassador. He shouted out, “Thanks for Bush!” Exactly what happened next is unclear. Alterman recalls that McGruder responded by grabbing his crotch and saying, “Try these nuts.” Jack Newfield, the longtime Village Voice writer, says that McGruder simply dared Alterman to remove him from the podium. When asked about this incident later, McGruder said, “I ain’t no punk. I ain’t gonna let someone shout and not go back at him.”

― Acid! Polizei! (ex machina), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:57 (twenty-two years ago)

“When I was in seventh grade, I discovered Monty Python,” he said. “That shit still kills me. I try to get my friends to watch that and they just can’t get it. ‘No, no, no, it’s funny—the lumberjack!’‘Life of Brian’ is, to me, the most brilliant piece of satire ever—it’s just brilliant. He’s trying to write ‘Romans go home’ in Latin and he can’t do the Latin right.” McGruder shook his head. “A lot of black people ain’t up on Monty Python like they should be.”

― Acid! Polizei! (ex machina), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:58 (twenty-two years ago)

From storyhunters.com: "Perhaps Conley did start getting political a few weeks ago when Bucky the cat began circulating a petition to ban ferrets (mmm, wonder what real life social group ferrets were standing in for?)."

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Bucky is evil, though! You aren't supposed to approve of anything he does!

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, and since when do we sympathise with Bucky's actions?

xpost, non-cosmic twin style.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway, the Doonesbury strip is also clearly "pro-troop" (which isn't necessarily the same as "right-wing") and I was curious if there was a crossover happening.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno, reading through some of these 'Get Fuzzy' strips and it does seem a little hawk-ish, although it's hardly:

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/WeightoftheWorld-X.gif

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Get Fuzzy sure ain't Mallard Filmore.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned...don't get me started on MF. Just don't.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Go on Michael; smack that Mallard ass!

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never noticed anything right-wing about get fuzzy. It usually is not good though.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:28 (twenty-two years ago)

See?

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey and today's GF strip seems very anti-administration!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Get Fuzzy is so not right-wing.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i love Doonesbury and have since maybe before i was a teenager. i think that it's a good thing for Trudeau to draw attention to what the media is under-reporting - the huge number of really awful injuries coming out of the war - but i note that he didn't deal with Vietnam in such serious terms. B.D. spent most of his time singing Sinatra with Phred the friendly VC "terrorist". Then again, that was sort of serious in its own way.

uh, anyway i thought the way mcgruder invited alterman to "lick deez nuts" or whatever was pretty fantastic.

really substantive response there. I, not surprisingly, think Alterman is otmfm and the only "punk" (and we know what McGruder thinks it means) in the room.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:43 (twenty-two years ago)

but i note that he didn't deal with Vietnam in such serious terms

I was thinking about that, actually. For a strip that emerged in that particular time and place, it seems like it was the coverage of later military conflicts which got more...involved, for lack of a better word.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

definitely. then again, I don't really know what things were like back then - maybe there were so many people overseas that black humor seemed more appropriate if not necessary.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I just think it wasn't as acceptable back then (and only has become in the last few years, right) for the comics page to be this forum for Serious Politics. Back then did comics have "very special episodes" like they do now all the time (like in For Better or Worse, Luanne, etc etc just about every other one).

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:58 (twenty-two years ago)

oops end 2nd sentence w/ "?"

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:58 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not like I read it all the time but I think this is prob. the first time Get Fuzzy has been a VSE.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 00:59 (twenty-two years ago)

The writer in that storyhunter link gives high praise to Funky Winkerbean:
"this strip has dealt with breast cancer, alcoholism, divorce, teen pregnancy ... you name it, in ways kids can understand and adults can appreciate.

― Phil Gill, Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I loved Funky Winkerbean. Is it still around?

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Get Fuzzy guy must be intending this to be a crossover (and assuming the B in B.D. stands for "Bill"), whether with Trudeau's permission or not. Otherwise it would just be too weird for the comics section to all the sudden feature two different guys that lost legs in Iraq in the same week.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah forget it, that's a half-baked idea since the two strips are clearly going to diverge tomorrow as soon as William shows up in GF. It's still weird though.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I just think it wasn't as acceptable back then (and only has become in the last few years, right) for the comics page to be this forum for Serious Politics.

this wasn't quite my point - I was contrasting Trudeau's current, very serious approach with his approach in Vietnam that I considered "mere" black humor

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah no doubt. I didn't mean to try to glom what I was saying onto what you were saying.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 22 April 2004 01:48 (twenty-two years ago)

he had a few non-funny vietnam ones (there's one of B.D. crying after seeing some famous photos while Phred wonders if B.D. saw them) but you have to remember that the series is a LOT more soap opera overall now than it was when it started. The cast was nowhere as large and there was little precedent for an extended dramatic sequence.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 April 2004 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

These days there's lots of more evolving serio-comic serials (For Better Or Worse, Funky Winkerbean, etc.)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 April 2004 02:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Trudeau was as harsh as he could be about Vietnam and remain funny (and not get banned from every paper in America, I assume). He didn't go nation until 1971-2, I think, and most of the early strips were more about hippies/Black Panthers/Watergate and the like.

I've got all the Doonesbury collections until the first Bush, but I quit reading it regularly when Mike moved to Seattle and started a dot-com.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 22 April 2004 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The Journal-Advocate has chosen not to publish this week's Doonesbury in the paper because of the graphic, violent battlefield depictions of Iraq in this week's installment. (Second link Kingfish provides)

The paper obviously didn't actually look at the strip when they decided not to run it.

― SLeeeter Kinney (Leee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought he was pretty effective writing about Vietnam. Also, iirc, BD's first name is 'B' and his second name is 'D'

― isadora (isadora), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

fuck gneb -- anyone that rises to the bait that mcgruder was throwing gets what they deserve and more.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think Alterman got anything though. The way it's written may not reflect the reality but it sounds to me like Alterman had perfect timing and McGruder was caught off guard and fell back on a lame response. Calvin Broadus is busy appearing at voter registration events. I wonder if McGruder's ever done that.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm the lone voice in the wilderness here (other than rightwingers i guess, haha) but boondocks isn't and has never been funny.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

grabbing your nuts is NEVER a lame response!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

B.D. is based on (Yale quarterback from Trudeau's time there) Brian Dowling--and I believe that in the Doonesbury musical, when he gets his diploma, that's the name announced.

― Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Well okay it woulda been a lame response when this guy stopped in the middle of the road and turned on his hazard lights today so his girlfriend could run into the store and i was stuck behind, so i swung around into the other lane vigorously and flipped him the bird as i went by and the asshole, violating all standards of traffic law and human decency flipped me *back*.

but only because i woulda lost control of the car had i actually stood and showed him me grabbing my nuts.

which i know because i almost lost control trying to do that once before.

but other than that, yeah, grabbing your nuts is never a lame response.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

B.D. is based on (Yale quarterback from Trudeau's time there) Brian Dowling--and I believe that in the Doonesbury musical, when he gets his diploma, that's the name announced.

Yeah, I vaguely remember a story on Dowling from an issue of SI back in the eighties.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm the lone voice in the wilderness here (other than rightwingers i guess, haha) but boondocks isn't and has never been funny.

it's not supposed to be.

grabbing your nuts is NEVER a lame response!

male identification is a great weakness of political discourse, the black power kind especially. mcgruder has a fixation on chuck d, but has neither his brains nor his beats. and chuck d got over his male chauvinism.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

anybody read the Onion's bit on comic strips last week?

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:06 (twenty-two years ago)

it's not supposed to be.

oh!

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:06 (twenty-two years ago)

― Sym (shmuel), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Is gettin' so much puppet ass considered male chauvinism?

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Being in possession of a pimp goblet probably is. Damn political correctness.

― Sym (shmuel), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Calvin Broadus is busy appearing at voter registration events. I wonder if McGruder's ever done that.
After seeing his comments and knowing his overall political outlook, why would you expect him to?

In what way does encouraging people to vote for Kerry (because obv. if he was out doing a Nader tour or encouraging Bush voters you'd be up in arms) sound like something McGruder would do?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:56 (twenty-two years ago)

considering he's too lazy to draw his strips or and his creative spark has been reduced to 'draw three panels of him in front of the tv and i'll throw in some trademark edginess only not nearly as edgy as it used to be cuz if i can't even be bothered to give a fuck about my comic strip what makes you think i can be bothered to give a fuck about the rest of the world now leave me alone i'm playing game cube' i can't imagine him getting out the vote, no.

still, "deez nutz"? at dinner for the nation? k-classic

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 22 April 2004 05:56 (twenty-two years ago)

'get fuzzy' isn't remotely rightwing and supporting the troops = being prowar about as much as being anti-war = being pro-saddam or pro-bin laden. so deez nutz to you mr. mitchell!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 22 April 2004 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Get Fuzzy isn't always funny, but I like the cartooning/drawing/whatever you call it better than most strips.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

and boondocks on a bad day still >>>>> 98% of other daily strips out there, though god it's depressing we're already at that stage

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Isadora is right w/r/t B.D.'s initials not meaning anything -- or at least, that's what he claims in one strip. I'd have to check the musical again to see if it's actually spelled out there.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:05 (twenty-two years ago)

McGruder has publicly acknowledged that he cribbed most of his ideas from Funky Winkerbean. His bitterness comes from never coming up with an original vision for his strip.

― Tim Paculia, Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Funky Winkerbean is the most overrated strip in comics history. I must stifle a yawn whenever I read it.

― Jrzz...., Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i reread the first boondocks collection the other day and it's still pretty funny, though i suspect i'd like it better if i were 14 again. mcgruder really doesn't do himself any favors by comparing himself to trudeau or breathed - he doesn't have a tenth of the writing or visual talent of either, and he's certainly no shakes in the subtlety department. plus, semi-celebrity cartoonists who shove responsibility for the actual production of their strip onto some hapless flunky while still taking sole credit for it = DUD.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:45 (twenty-two years ago)

while I like doonesbury's art, I think boondocks is more interesting visually

― Sym (shmuel), Thursday, 22 April 2004 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

and boondocks on a bad day still >>>>> 98% of other daily strips out there, though god it's depressing we're already at that stage

I remember him saying once that if 9/11 and all that happened in fact didn't happen, then he might well have jacked in the strip a long time back.

The comparative joy of Boondocks visual style is the overt anime influence in an American daily strip medium that has mostly not had that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 11:54 (twenty-two years ago)

g-neb otm about mcgruder's lack of good beats.

the comics page really needs bombsquad remixes.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 22 April 2004 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

the hiring out his art thing is kinda depressing (is that a rockist sentiment)? i mean at least wait until you're 65 or something to do that! i can't imagine the comic going through any sort of creative growth the way his process is now

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

"I'm a surgeon. Your awe is thanks enough."

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 22 April 2004 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

For a second I'm all 'er' and then I think to read the strip.

(To trip out fully, click on the 'flashbacks' links below it and consider how time passes.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The Doonesbury art was way more interesting before it got interesting, if you know what I mean.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I can see how Trudeau easily gets overly busy, but I think there's a good middle balance between that and the early strips' often vague background. The late seventies/early eighties period before the sabbatical was particularly sharp.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, yes, I didn't mean back when the characters didn't have mouths, I meant before the sabbatical, when he decided to introduce PERSPECTIVE!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, having the panel be almost exactly the same except for small, "easter egg"-ish details wa great. And the look at that point was distinctive and nuanced.

I guess I'm glad he didn't just stagnate, but it took him many, many years to do the perspective thing in a way that didn't look obvious and amateurish, and he still hasn't gotten the amount of nuance he was able to get with the older style -- it is not Calvin & Hobbes, it is not Bloom County, it is not even Rose Is Rose as far as doing that schtick in an interesting way.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I see exactly what you're saying -- those small changes were part of what I loved when I first started reading the strip when I was eight or so, and definitely wasn't aware of all the political details or context at all! It simply was a joy in the detail of the design and how things were presented -- and the characters, who for all the various 'slice of life' qualities, are still cartoon characters and all the better for it. I mean, I had no idea who the hell Hunter Thompson was but Duke immediately grabbed and kept my attention from his Samoan governorship on.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

B.D. wakes up

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

But is it funny?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting how Trudeau is able to make this funny

not that he's callous in doing so, but he has the ability to find something at all...

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2004/db040831.gif

someone seems to be molting...

― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

this week, Trudeau has taken to doing an "Honest Voices Reading List"(R), where he just prints links to essays by conservatives arguing against the present Administration.

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2004/db041012.gif

― Sir Kingfish Beavis D'Azzmonch (Kingfish), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

That looks like Boopsie with "Doonesbury" eyes.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

And smaller breasts.

That article he nearly links to is just as depressing as you might hope.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I tried clicking on my newspaper, but nothing happened. Thanks for posting, Kingfish.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

So where is that article, exactly?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

www.poynter.org/forum/?id=misc

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Or, to be slightly more helpy, http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=72659

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I went there and it just redirected to the main site.

xpost ah! Much better.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=44657

This is Monday's article by John Eisenhower.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

The article moved:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=72659

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost: sorry, i was on the phone!)

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Farnaz Fassihi's e-mail is so bleak.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

In 1960, President Eisenhower told the Republican convention, “If ever we put any other value above (our) liberty, and above principle, we shall lose both.”

From John Eisenhower's commentary.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post)This is surprising?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I LOVE catching up with Doonesbury online every month or so.

Trump: Do you even know the point of success?
Underling: Well, Mr. Trump, for me, success is about creating something of real and lasting value to society.
Trump: Wrong! The point of success is to die with more money than God!
Underling: Um...that's what I meant.
Trump: You're fired!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, no, I suppose it's not surprising but it's still a grim pov description.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

The very idea of four more years of Bush foreign policy is so utterly terrifying that I can't help but read these pieces and just shudder at the thought that despite his complete and utter awfulness he could actually be reelected. Luckily I think Kerry is going to beat him pretty handily, but it is shiveringly feverful to imagine that he might not.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 23:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know about handily. Less than a month to go and Bush is still ahead in polls that take into consideration the electoral college.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The polls are showing it as too close to call (if you go to electoral-vote.com, anything in the "Barely" categories should be properly read as a tie, due to the standard deviation), but most polls don't take into account new voters (of which there are astonishing sums, at lesat in the swing states -- I was just doing some research on this for work, and even as of the end of August, Florida, to pick a swing state at semirandom, is up from 7 million registered voters in 2000 to going on 10 million; Oregon had 1.7 million in 2000 and should be well over 2 million by now).

The polls also don't consider people who only have cell phones, which is weird.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And I'm willing to bet a significant number of new voters registered only in order to vote Bush out.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

That is the theory.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I am cautiously optimistic but only just. I would rather be pleasantly surprised than unpleasantly.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

yup, as Chris said, the polls don't consider folks with cell phones...which probably comprises a large segment of new voters, too.

― Sir Kingfish Beavis D'Azzmonch (Kingfish), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

anyobody see Trudea on PBS? One of the most interesting interviews I've ever seen.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there a transcript anywhere? Ummm...aside from sending $5 to the station?

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

he was on Charlie Rose Monday night - it was interesting, but I wouldn't go that far

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

It was one of the most interesting interviews I've ever seen over the past week.
I forgot to add that part.

― Symplistic (shmuel), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Today's link:

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2004/08/19/letters/doc412532f09fbbe438621096.txt

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 October 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"We owe Mark Slackmeyer a tall cold one."

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 14 October 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 14 October 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2004/db041029.gif

― Sir Kingfish Beavis D'Azzmonch (Kingfish), Friday, 29 October 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

one thing i love about ILX is that it's clear that everyone seems to read the comics page. I swear I thought I was the only one.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Friday, 29 October 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Distracting use of perspective in today's.

Also, holy fuck.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 25 February 2006 18:48 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

OK, so how about today's revelation about what's been eat BD for the last couple of weeks.

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2006/db060427.gif

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 April 2006 10:00 (twenty years ago)

This is a long way from hanging out ion no-man's land with Phred.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 April 2006 10:01 (twenty years ago)

God I love this comic strip.

― Dan (Awesome) Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 April 2006 10:25 (twenty years ago)

Remember a couple of months ago when BD was 'testing' his counsellor with a story of throwing VCs out of helicopters?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 27 April 2006 11:56 (twenty years ago)

Pretty striking strip today, if you've been following the story. I don't recall Trudeau ever going with one panel, let alone one without any dialogue. "BUDDA-BUDDA-BUD!" seems like a conscious reference to Sgt. Rock-styled war comics.

― brianiast (briania), Thursday, 27 April 2006 12:12 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2007/db070401.gif

― Ed, Sunday, 1 April 2007 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2007/db070509.gif

Thanks to Congress!

― Nathan, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 11:30 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2007/db070820.gif

This week promises to be good.

― Ed, Monday, 20 August 2007 06:13 (eighteen years ago)

that is awesome...

― stevie, Monday, 20 August 2007 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

Something tells me Ray isn't going to get off as light as BD.

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

Oof. Yes.

― Casuistry, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 00:49 (eighteen years ago)

http://astore.amazon.com/ucomicscom/detail/0740769456/

Their book of correspondence from active duty folks.

― kingfish, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 01:42 (eighteen years ago)

Ray's fine!

― Casuistry, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

BAIT AND SWITCH!

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc66/DoonzFan/db071204.gif

― kingfish, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 04:42 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2008/db080225.gif

― gabbneb, Thursday, 28 February 2008 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

ah, boomers

― gff, Thursday, 28 February 2008 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

eight months pass...

so has either the McCain or Obama non-caricatures been shown yet?

― obama cyber leader (kingfish), Sunday, 2 November 2008 21:06 (seventeen years ago)

i don't think so but I know the strip is proceeding with the assumption that obama wins

― akm, Sunday, 2 November 2008 21:10 (seventeen years ago)

three weeks pass...

The Sarah Palin Doll has provided some laffs, starting back when:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db080922.gif
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db080925.gif
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db080926.gif

― Brotherhood of Stealing Shit to Sell to Trader Caravans (kingfish), Thursday, 27 November 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago)

to this week:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db081124.gif

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db081125.gif

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db081126.gif

― Brotherhood of Stealing Shit to Sell to Trader Caravans (kingfish), Thursday, 27 November 2008 19:48 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

And it begins again:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc66/DoonzFan/db090525.gif

― kingfish, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:27 (seventeen years ago)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/trampledamage/db090526.gif

― kingfish, Friday, 29 May 2009 20:28 (seventeen years ago)

five months pass...

I haven't read Doonesbury in a long time...does Obama have a little symbol (such as the past's waffle or cowboy hat)?

― we are normal and we want our freedom (Abbott), Friday, 30 October 2009 21:08 (sixteen years ago)

nope, no symbol as of yet

― (oh PORRIDGE) (HI DERE), Friday, 30 October 2009 21:11 (sixteen years ago)

i vote for a floating nobel peace prize

― da croupier, Friday, 30 October 2009 23:24 (sixteen years ago)

one month passes...

Really love how two seemingly unrelated storylines suddenly snapped together.

― WmC, Friday, 4 December 2009 18:22 (sixteen years ago)

He's been doing that for the past what, six weeks I think? First with Joanie's son and the recovering female vet from BD's counseling center, now here; it's some pretty great plotting all around.

― Huckabee Jesus lifeline (HI DERE), Friday, 4 December 2009 18:26 (sixteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

Alex is the best of the newer characters IMO

― Baron Strange of Knockin (DJP), Thursday, 11 November 2010 17:10 (fifteen years ago)

six years pass...

I guess this will be the first president to appear straight-up as himself in the strip.

― pplains, Sunday, 15 January 2017 03:55 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2020/12/20

― Everything's Blue In This Whorl (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 20 December 2020 17:40 (five years ago)

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