Is there any form of political discourse more enchanting that the cartoon? What a righteous tradition of satire and commentary, celebration and commemoration.
As I'm probably the only person who still reads the LA Times in paper format, I always feel compelled to share with others what cartoonists are talking about. My husband finds this totally unfunny. Interestingly, the Times is almost pathologically "fair" in its balance of liberal and conservative political viewpoints in the funny pages. For that matter, it equally represents nearly every ethnicity, race, gender, age and sexual orientation, including talking animals of both the mammalian and reptilian persuasion. Never have I seen such democracy in action as in the LA Times comics.
But to the point: Gary Trudeau went on a sabbatical for a while. And I felt like I'd lost my perspective on things.
If you've followed him over the decades, you've watched him, for lack of a better word, mellow. His observations, while still delivered on the tip of a razor-sharp scalpel, are more considered. For example, while his disdain for the Bush administration is as pointed as ever, his commentary on the war in Iraq – and more accurately, the soldiers in Iraq – is heartbreakingly beautiful. I poked around on his site to find out how long he'd be incommunicado, and I found a really surprising thing: a section on doonesbury.com called The Sandbox. It's a blog made available to servicepeople in Iraq and Afganistan, allowing them to document their experiences and thoughts for readers around the world. It's a treasure.
Welcome back, Gary. All is right in the world again.
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