I fully understand that characters in comic strips are just pen-and-ink representations of things going on in an artist’s mind. That they’re not real.
Nevertheless, in seeing the launch of the current “Doonesbury” storyline in which B.D. becomes a man down in Iraq, my first thought was, “Oh God, poor Boopsie, she couldn’t take it, please don’t let him die.” Which shows just how effective Trudeau’s become in investing us in his cast’s fates.
Spoiler to follow regarding B.D…
It’s been reported that B.D. will survive, but will lose a leg. Since he’s been a football star since his inception, this of course will be beyond devastating. Granted, if we can recover the ability to laugh after 9/11, certainly there can be humor again in “Doonesbury” after such a horrific happenstance. But the bottom line is that you have to credit Trudeau’s guts for acknowledging that war is not a laughing matter.
PAD
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Mike Weber:
((BTW, Kathleen, i remember your “skinny tie” music days — i was promoting the Ramones and Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention at the time, you may remember…
Holy Smoke! Really? that’s awesome. Steeleye Span’s gaudette is one of the all time greatest, Fairport Convention did an amazing version of Tam Lin and The Ramones…well, what the hëll is there to say?
(One of my recent regrets was a few years back when I saw a guy who looked like Joey Ramone walking down the street in Saugerties NY while visiting my folks. Next day I find out it was Joey and not long afterwards he died after a long fight with cancer. Wish I’d taken the chance to thank hime for all the great memories I have in my life that had his music playing in the background).
Well, we got the unedited “Son of a BÍTÇH!” on Friday. Kudos to the Baltimore SUN for not feeling we needed to be protected.
Good point about BD’s helmet always reflecting his job, and the possible symbolism of his being depicted without it…although, it seems to me that after rehab he could conceivably return to coaching. Doesn’t the fact that they were able to save his knee leave him the possibility of using a prosthesis without crutches?
Looks like I spoke too soon about someone having died in “Gasoline Alley.” Someone was taken to the hospital and Skeezix, Nina and Corky are waiting for news. We still don’t know who the news is about yet, though.
Paul
Ottawa Citizen also ran the strips in question unaltered, I’m pleased to report.
Looking forward to future installments.
Yours,
Dwight
Last week I said “And that phone call or e-mail
home to Boopsie is one I’ll be dreading.” and
sure enough, by Wednesday BD’s on the phone (and
on morphine) calling home.
So far this week Trudeau’s remembered he’s doing
a “comic” strip with gags about BD’s gray hair
(or as Yahoo has it colored, black and tan), a set-up
for a possible future morphine addiction plot and
a “good news/bad news” joke (Zonker, on phone: “Wow,
BD’s won a Purple Heart.” Boopsie: “Give me that!”)
Paul 1963 wrote: “it seems to me that after rehab
he could conceivably return to coaching.” Well, yeah,
probably, but, ironically, not this year, since
sub Coach Boopsie suspended the athletic program
due to a rape scandal.
I just happened across this while Googling for something else, and thought I’d throw in my two bits on B.D.
When I was a young man… and Mike, Zonker and BD were roughly the same age… Doonesbury was a much more sophomoric strip than it is today. A character who constantly wore a helmet fit the general mood of the strip.
But for the last fifteen years or longer, B.D.’s helmet has been a huge impediment to the character’s development. Mike, Zonker, Slackmeyer and the others — even Duke — seem almost real. We can all think of someone we know who is at least a little like one of them.
But who has ever known someone who wore a helmet all the time — even to bed and in the shower? The helmet was a constant jarring reminder that ‘Doonesbury’ was a comic strip, not real life.
Getting rid of the helmet is ‘way more important than the war injury. It finally allows B.D. to catch up to the rest of the cast in becoming a more fully-formed character.
Bubbling Brown Sugar
…the words to “the song that the kids sang on What’s Happeneing,”(and, no, it was not the same episode where Mr. Dunbar forced Raj, Rerun and Dwayne to bootleg the Doobie Brothers concert) here it is, in public, in full view:
“Bubbling Brown Sugar
if you feel you want to jump and shout.
Bubbling Brown Sugar
joy is what it’s all about.
Bubbling Brown Sugar
bubbling with a happy beat,
Bubbling Brown Sugar
is a stimulating Harlem treat”