Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip. In 1970, Trudeau's creation of Doonesbury was syndicated by the newly formed Universal Press Syndicate. Today Doonesbury is syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide and is accessible online in association with Slate Magazine at doonesbury.com. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer, traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film, for A Doonesbury Special, in collaboration with John Hubley and Faith Hubley. A Doonesbury Special eventually won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Special Prize in 1978. Other awards include the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1994, and the Reuben Award in 1995. He was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. Wiley Miller, fellow comic-strip artist responsible for Non Sequitur, called Trudeau "far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist in the last 25 years." In addition to his work on Doonesbury, Trudeau has teamed with Elizabeth Swados and written plays, such as Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy. In 1988, Trudeau joined forces with director Robert Altman for the HBO miniseries Tanner '88 and the Sundance Channel miniseries sequel Tanner on Tanner in 2004. In 1996, Newsweek and The Washington Post speculated that Trudeau wrote the novel Primary Colors, which was later revealed to have been written by Joe Klein. Trudeau wrote the political sitcom Alpha House, starring John Goodman and Bill Murray. The pilot was produced by Amazon Studios and aired in early 2013. Due to positive response Amazon has picked up Alpha House to develop into a full series.
Yet another four or five star Doonesbury book. If rating the strip as a whole, it definitely gets FIVE STARS in all caps.
I've been reading Doonesbury since I was a child (The Doonesbury Chronicles was checked out many times at The Mount Airy Public Library by yours truly), and every time I revisit the strip via collections and compilations, I can count on:
1. Several good laughs 2. At least getting pissed off once at what passes for "government" in the USA 3. And making yet another mental note over how Trudeau influenced my own writing style when it comes to comics.
Trudeau did a very nice job walking the tightrope between humor and seriousness in the wake of 9-11. The Enron scancal, Dubya's exquisite sense of the Anglish Langwage, and the continuing deterioration of Walden's academic standards provide plenty of spice.
Coming out in 2002 with strips from mid 2001 through mid 2002, which includes 9/11 and the resulting change in the arc of the first W Bush administration – by the end of the run of strips here both Roland Hedley and Havoc the CIA operative have been in Afghanistan. Political topics seen to predominate again, and the strip is as funny as ever.
A collection of Doonesbury covering the period near and during 9/11. Reading it now, if you are old enough to remember, you may remember some of the politics going on at the time. You also get to see other events such as the fall of Enron. Overall, a pretty entertaining way to remember those events, but it does help if you have an idea what was going on in order to appreciate the humor.
Trudeau is a genius and this collection of strips from 2001 cements that status. Whether it's stem cells, Enron, suicide bombers or even 9/11, Trudeau masterfully finds the way to a smile, if not out-loud laughter. We've seldom needed that as much as in 2001.
On the 6th tour through the entire Doonescape. It never fails. Into the binge reading stage now. Interesting to see the Dubya strips in light of Former Guy.