Blowback
Blowback
A clean, well-lit place to vent
Please feel free to contribute to this frequently-updated forum, which posts selected commentary on our favorite comic strip. If you'd like your critique to be posted, please note that civility, if not approbation, counts. Click here to submit a comment.
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PERSPECTIVE
Today's strip is GBT at his glorious best! With one line he puts the Charlie Hebdo tragedy into perspective: Freedom of speech is not about offending others because you can. To still get your point across is the real art of satire. Not chicken, just brilliant!
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CHARLIE HEBDO CARTOONISTS
Although the entire civilized world was shocked by the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, most people outside of France would not have known their cartoons. Thank you for not merely reminding us of them, but also showing Americans some of their creations.
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TODAY'S STRIP
Todays strip is brilliant. Really brilliant. Thank you.
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TODAY'S STRIP
Today's strip: Respectuful, or chicken?
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THIS WE KNOW
The Joanie lament goes on at some length. This we know because between the third and fourth frames, the bread sack has been closed and the toast is burning.
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ALL THESE YEARS
When I moved to Salt Lake in 1976 I had to take both the liberal Salt Lake Tribune for real news, and the LDS Church owned Deseret News for one thing; Doonesbury. Thank you for all these years.
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FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS
What a difference 33 years makes. Those $60 floral arrangements are nearly extortionate today. ($60 in 1982 = $150 in 2015). On Feb 14 this year I bought a dozen red roses, which were on the verge of opening, in an Alaskan grocery store, in the dead of winter. I got to pick the best roses and paid $20 and small change -- about equal to the $8 Lacey wanted to spend.
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JEFF
Don't ever change, Jeff.
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MISCHIEF?
As Jeff met with publishing success, his hair crept down the back of his neck towards an adult look. Now it's been shaved again. Up for regressive mischief?
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HEART
Today's strip just reminds me how much heart Garry always has, as well as head-oriented humor.
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THE ROMANCE
Renewing acquaintance with Dick and Lacey is so great. When I read this series the first time, I was so much younger. Now, I'm - uhm - in the peer group, and love how GT captured the romance that still burns with age. As for an earlier BLOWBACK comment about "girls," most of my female friends and I refer to ourselves as "girlfriends." Even the ones who are ardent feminists. And we'd sure rather be called "old girls" which has a more affectionate sound than "old women," which is completely other. Thanks for Dick and Lacey; she's a great old girl!
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BIRDING
I always enjoy Doonesbury, even though I don't follow the detailed story line enough to recall everything about the interesting characters and their relationships. I really enjoy the points you make about all kinds of issues. For example, I was very impressed a year or three ago when you made many salient points about disabled veterans, in several ways and over a long time period.
I am not sure where you are going with the latest foray, this time into birding, but so far you seem to be pretty much trashing those who do appreciate birds, in the most trite and overworked way. As a birding enthusiast and Doonesbury fan, I hope this will lead somehow to something more deserving of your really great reputation for bringing important issues to the attention of your readers.I read an interview some years ago in which you stated that your father's advice was that life is not meant to be enjoyed, and that you just have to find a way to get through it. You have done so much more, and I am confident that you will continue in that direction.
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STUPID
Re MUDLINE: I have asked myself for years whether it is legal to be so stupid in public. How did these people get elected, and what does it say about the people voting for them? George Carlin had an answer to that: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
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DICK AND LACEY
Dick and Lacey. What a wonderful romance of the ages. I always enjoyed seeing them and I've always hoped for what they had. I do miss them terribly, and am so glad to see them again.
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ODDLY ENOUGH
Re GIRLS: When females refer to themselves as "girls," they are not setting a universal standard. Oddly enough, this is clearly understood when men refer to themselves as "boys."
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LIFE
Mr. Trudeau has devoted his career to showing us that life is one big foible.
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MUDLINE
I'm always fascinated by the "Mudline" and the "SayWhat?" quotes. In the two countries that I've lived in, Australia and Germany, any of these quotes would be enough to kill a politician's career. These sort of quotes would be a once in a year occurrence, not a daily one.
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FORESHADOWING
Talk about dramatic foreshadowing. Don't do it, Dick!
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EXTINCT
In today's strip reference is made to Bachman's warbler. I hope Dick got to see it. It's considered to be extinct now.
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I REMEMBER
Oh dear. I remember this story arc from the first time it ran, and then I reread it in a collection, and here I am getting the tissues again to wipe away my tears for what I know will be happening -- the sweetest, most wonderful, most natural, and yet saddest moment in the strip up until then.