I don’t know when I started getting in to Doonesbury heavily, probably early in college, but I’ve become almost fanatic about Garry Trudeau’s work.. I have most of the anthologies and reread all of the time (often right before bed..). I swear, I’ve learned more about American history (well, mostly the politics) from the 1970s through present from Doonesbury than any other source. Iran Contra? Bork? the wonders of Dan Quayle? all detailed in dark hilarity in Doonesbury over the years. Trudeau even covers wars, in astonishing depth and respectability (he was the first cartoonist to win a Pulitzer!), and has received much attention for his portrayal of the current Iraq War .. where a main character loses a leg, a running storyline about sexual abuse in the military and I think once a year publishing all of the names of soldiers killed in battle.

Obviously, not your average cartoon.

Doonesbury for 10/5/08

Well, I meant to keep this short and just post a link to a funny ‘toon and leave it at that .. but maybe the extended info will convince you of checking out, and keeping up with, Doonesbury: The Daily Dose at Slate.com (an online magazine that does a number of wonderful things, including required podcast “The Political Gabfest”, more on that in a later post I’m sure)