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Doonesbury asks big political questions

sleazenation

10:14 / 25.02.04

Doonesbury creator has used his long-running newspaper strip as a platform to launch an appeal offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who will verify Mr Bush's account of his military service in Alabama in the early 70s.

When i first read this in yesterday's Guardian - thought it might have been a joke - but in common with the best satire, Trudeau is serious. Check out www.Doonesbury.com for details.

So what do people think?

Has Trudeau gone too far? Or is he merely fulfilling his responsibility as a serious satirist, asking the questions other journalists seem happy to let drop? Does this set a new precident or is it just the latest example of the long tradition of political cartoons and comics?

Baz Auckland

12:55 / 25.02.04

Not mentioned in the BBC article:

Q: Is there some sort of hitch?

A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't actually receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax accountant.

houdini

14:14 / 25.02.04

Well, that is kind of mentioned in the BBC article. Certainly I got it, although I may've been reading between the lines a little.

I actually think this makes sense, though.

If Trudeau were offering cash up front then I think he'd be besieged by charlatans. Offer $10,000 USD on the internet and people will go nuts.

Instead, by offering to make a donation to a charity that supports veterans and servicemen, he mainly appeals to (i) servicemen (who are the people he's hoping to hear from anyway) and (ii) honest people (ditto).

Surely there's one serviceman from that year who remembers seeing Dubya on base and is willing to protect his president from this sneering liberal elitist?

Know what I love about that strip? Trudeau taking B.D.'s helmet off for the first time ever, creating an even greater level of discomfort for longtime readers.

sleazenation

21:22 / 21.04.04

Yes. I'm a bit of an irregular Doonesbury reader, who usually catches it the old fashioned way - in the newspaper, and this strip seemed to come out of nowhere - last week we were on internet porn/dating and suddenly this week we've been thrown into this - I don't think we even got to see how it happened...

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:31 / 21.04.04

We didn't - I think Monday's cartoon was BD's POV, fading to black. The Internet porn was a "flashback" strip from some yearrs ago.

The Tower Always Falls

22:03 / 21.04.04

Yeah, I am a regular Doonesbury reader (have over twenty of the compliations actually...) and that one sucker punched me like nobody's business. The helmet insight is spot-on moriarty.

More reaction at The Town Hall.

03:03 / 22.04.04

Ever since Calvin & Hobbes bit the dust "Doonesbury" is one of the few comic strips I enjoy. When I was a gay activist student in college the character Mark was one of my heroes. Yes, I say that with no shame.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

04:11 / 22.04.04

I have always loved Donnesbury, even as a kid, when the politics was a bit above my head, but the characters were so great. He has done serious storylines before, but never one quite as...well...shocking as this one. Sure, we've dealt with divorce, death, age, poverty, but they all had a gag in the last panel.

This one hits home, and hopefully it will change people's perception of the War In Iraq, which, even with 700 dead, is seen by most people as a bloodless war, since the media does not show the injured, does not show the coffins, does not show the funerals, and makes the sacrifice so abstract that it is more like a video game than people's lives being changed in an horrible instant.

Baz Auckland

06:07 / 23.04.04

Last month when the strip ended showing Walden with a note in the mailbox I thought 'Oh God, he's killed B.D.!'... but it turned out to be the sexual assault charges.

I was really worried this week that he would kill BD... he's never been one of my favourite characters, but still..

aquaboy

06:32 / 23.04.04

yeah, i gotta add my shock to seeing him in that last panel sans leg and helmet. it surprises me how a fictional character can grow on you through the years.

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