Doonesbury: Read My Lips, Make My Day, Eat Quiche and Die!

Doonesbury Annuals #32

by G.B. Trudeau

From the gala Walden Fifth Reunion to the second coming of King Elvis, Pulitzer Prize-winner Garry Trudeau peppers his political and social satire across the pages of this semi-annual Doonesbury collection, Read My Lips, Make My Day, Eat Quiche and Die! In this treasury of six months of Sunday and daily strips, his best-selling barbed humor spares no one. Handlers of the presidential campaign wage the battle of the soundbites, Donald Trump's $37 million Trump Princess proves that Reaganomics works, and a rugged journalist struggles valiantly to overcome the heartbreak of turning 40 ("A few baskets at the 'Y' tonight?" "I can't, Larry, I'm old."). This collection is Doonesbury --and satire--at its scalding best!

Genres: Humor, Comics, Politics, Graphic Novels, Cartoon, Comic Strips, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Sam D’Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child visiting my grandparents I would often read the comics in the newspaper. I absolutely hated Doonesbury, and thought it wasn’t funny at all. If I could go back in time I would definitely wack my younger self in the head (not too hard, though) because it actually slaps.

Definitely dated, I did not get several of the Bush jokes, but that’s okay…

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the very best Doonesburies! There are so many brilliant episodes that I'm having trouble picking the one I like most. The merciless attack on not-yet-Vice-President Quayle is great, as is the bit where a prankster gets at Roland's teleprompter to see if he really will read out absolutely anything. The sequence where Kim breaks down under questioning and admits that Asian kids are an alien super-race is very fine. But, by a narrow margin, I have to give the prize to the Walden reunion. Mike's marriage is in trouble, and when he meets Nicole again he's overcome by warm, fuzzy feelings. Luckily for him, she's as cool as ever.

"Nicole, I love you," explains Mike, apparently not quite sober.

"No, you don't," she replies. "But I know what you mean."

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming out in 1989 with strips from April through December of 88. The format for the annual collections changes with this volume – the previous ones had been 128 small pages, each including one single days strip, but now the pages, 96 in all, are larger and include up to three days daily strips, or one Sunday strip, some of which are now included in the annual roundups. Plot developments include Mike and JJ splitting up right after JJ finds out she’s pregnant and Donald Trump’s first appearance in the strip; also George Bush (the first one) running for president against Dukakis.

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Political satire cartoons. Enjoyable if you are familiar with the scenario existing at that time.

[David]

On the 5th tour through the entire Doonescape. It never fails.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always entertaining, I do like the fact that Boopsie dated Nostradamus in a previous life.

[Shoshanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Dukakis didn't even get mentioned until the convention! :'(

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun look back at a traumatic time in America's history, what was going on, how people reacted to it, and the people who made it happen. A humorous look back at a time when I was much younger!

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Updating my "placeholder" review:

So the thing is, I've read a large number (for me) of Trudeau's other Doonesbury books, and all of them kind of blend together to where I don't remember what happened in which. I had sworn I'd read this before 1. because I had evidence of having the book in my vicinity some years ago and 2. I had for a time been convinced that reading Doonesbury was basically like reading the news (as per a joke in another comic that I sadly can no longer find by now) and therefore was interesting in reading this collection specifically. However, given the content, I'm pretty sure I in fact did NOT read this before, because I absolutely would have remembered.

Even so, my impression hasn't really changed from book to book, though: Art is good, the jokes are good *when I understand them*—which is only occasionally—but it's such a loose continuity as far as plot goes that there's practically nothing to remember. Maybe light jabs at whatever party is currently in office in the U.S. at best, the "main" Doonesbury characters don't show up often enough for me to form more than a vague impression of them at best beyond how they present themselves in the volume I'm reading at the time. (I even don't know which way most of them align, politically, other than sort of hope they match my beliefs if I like them, hope they're the "other" party if I don't.)

Anyway, this one covers mostly a little before Bush I's election and a superyacht that feels curiously still relevant:



I mean, also:



On the whole, it's an *okay* but somewhat depressing read, partly for the political content but also because the regular Doonesbury characters are going through a tough time of it (Mike and J.J. in specific). I don't know if my opinion will change should I ever happen upon a collection of strips from a Democratic president's tenure—it feels like political humour in particular is at its best when politics is at its worst.

[Ste]

It wouldn't be fair to star rate this, since it's my fault I didn't really enjoy it. I read some late Doonesbury in the paper, but never earlier stuff, and wanted to try to get into it. I found this one - a collection from the 1988 presidential campaign of George HW Bush - and honestly even this is too late to get into it. The non-political storyline mostly follows the divorce of two characters I don't know, and the political stuff is so densely tied up in Trudeau's running gags that the signifier has become the signified and it's mostly impenetrable to beginners. (Why is Reagan called Headrest? I guess his caricature's based on Max Headroom but... why?)

What I did understand was often very good - a timeless little Trump satire, prescient for 1988, or an earnest public health education strip busting urban myths about AIDS with a wonderful punchline - so I want to give Trudeau another chance.

Two complaints I will put on the book though - every character looks the same except their noses, so a dramatis personae would have helped a lot. And the choice not to label each strip with the date was baffling. Some strips referenced little scandals that were presumably forgotten a week later, and later readers need a nudge to know what was going on. But even for the big stuff, jokes didn't always land because I couldn't work out if, say, Bush had already won the nomination or how near the election was. Just odd corners to cut in a comic strip collection.

[Oriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe he's been making fun of Donald Trump since the freaking eighties. Fantastic!!

Um, but this collection is going over my head in places. I had to ask Wikipedia what the hell the deal with Ron Headrest was. And it's disconcerting to have all this George Bush I, because I was too young to know anything when he was relevant.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is special. George Bush running against Dukakis. Duke now captain of Trump's gaudy yacht.Trip to New Orleans where Bush is waiting. Dr. Whoopee and aids. Elvis comes on board.
Elvis sings John Denver. Honey comes back.
Walden suffering acid rain damage.

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Bush the Elder, Donald Trumpp, the Walden Reunion, Mike and JJ's marital traumas....Doonesbury moves to the end of the 80s. I'll be happy to see them end (although as always Trudeau's incisive in his commentary). Then again, I know what's coming....

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Trudeau, and I actually prefer reading him in books, where I can follow long stories in one go.

[Carlo Mayer]

Finiti