For those who are complaining about GBT's move into new areas and the open-ended break for the daily strip, creative people having been doing this throughout history -- accepting new challenges and (at times) ceasing to do things they're still doing very well. I'm actually looking forward to seeing some vintage Doonesbury strips on the website.

As a Brit in the UK working for American companies over many years, Doonesbury has been the little link to America that provided a common base for conversation with my American colleagues. Where am I going to find such pithy, informed comment neatly wrapped up in four frames a day?

The daily Doonesbury has been my smile de jour since the beginning (well, not the Yale years) and I will miss it. But, I'll continue to read on Sundays and I wish Garry Trudeau all the best for whatever way he wants to use his wonderful brain. Thanks for all the years.

As a lifelong fan, I would much rather have daily Doonesbury strips than Alpha House episodes, but now that I've got that out of the way... Thank you, Garry, from the bottom of my heart, for a lifetime of laughs and thoughtful commentary. One could make a convincing case that the Doonesbury corpus is the Great American Novel. I will miss the dailies terribly, but life will go on -- at least I hope so. Go where your heart calls you, and may you be successful in all your endeavors. Thank you, for everything.

I have been a fan of Doonesbury since it started, and while I will miss the daily strip I couldn't be more happy for GBT. How many of us get the chance to take our talents in a different direction at this stage in life? I am so glad Alpha House did well. It is hilarious, and I look forward to a new season of it.

You and the cartoon gang have been a part of my entire life. Thank you for all the days you turned tears into laughter, sometimes vice versa. I will remain faithful in looking forward to reading the Flashback dailies and the new Sunday toons -- and will salivate over the prospect of a new season of Alpha House.

I am sorry but I've had it. Flashbacks again! I read the strip since the beginning and needless to say I am a big fan. However it seems clear that Mr. Trudeau now has made it obvious that the strip is not his first priority anymore. Like a scorned lover I will turn my back on the strip and will not read it anymore. I can only hope that if enough people make a like statement, Mr. Trudeau will realize that his readers are maybe more important to him than he thinks.

An open-ended hiatus?!? I feel bereaved.

I just read your news. Thanks for the great work to date. It's going to be a lot harder to peek at Alpha House while sitting at my desk at the start of the day...

Oh man, first we lost Life in Hell to the siren call of the boob tube, and now Doonesbury. TV has a lot to answer for.

Alpha House marches on! As does the Sunday strip. But the dailies will take a break, beginning -- well, technically, two days ago. Read the details, and an interview with GBT, in Michael Cavna's Washington Post column. Upside: during the open-ended hiatus the Flashbacks will go deep, way back into the strip's early-years archive, for a "Best of Doonesbury" journey.

A previous comment suggested that the new and stronger pot "leads often to aggression, paranoia and cannabis-induced psychosis." I didn't believe the reefer-madness propaganda when I saw the movie, and  I don't believe it now. Let's clear this up: Pot won't bring on a zombie apocalypse. It's more likely to bring a sunshine daydream with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. (Mmm, marmalade.)

Wow, drugs in the strip cause people to work up a head of steam. I'm not sure Duke's foreign policy shenanigans get so much critical Blowback. They should.

Pot is stronger now than it was 30 years ago, and as a result people smoke less at a time. I don't see the marathon smoke-outs that I used to. It's now common to take a couple hits and chill. Back in the day a couple tokes wouldn't get you much, so we kept passing it till we got there. It's like replacing pints of beer with shots of liquor. People don't down six packs of vodka.

In high school we learned about the effects of different types of alcohol. Comparable info about pot wasn't offered. Legalization would result in more and better consumer education and, consequently, more responsible use. Since people now use less at a time, they put less smoke in their lungs than they used to, and people are opting to vaporize or consume edibles (practices that would increase with legalization). Also, most people don't toke all day the way cigarette smokers often do. There are health risks when smoking pot, but they are minimal when it is used in moderation, and there are ways to avoid the smoke altogether.

Even this old conservative from Australia continues to get much daily joy from your work, Mr Trudeau. Thanks for the years of fun. For a moment on Sunday I thought Alex was driving a right hand car, and it made me feel at home...

I don't know what gets my heckles up more -- ageism, or playing with your mobile whilst someone is talking to you. Show respect to get respect.

I sure hope Joanie can convince Elizabeth Warren to run for President. Millions of us out here are waiting for a candidate with her politics and integrity to get into the White House.

High-functioning users of pot and other psychedelics include billionaires Sir Richard Branson and Ted turner, Nobel Prize winners Kary Mullis and Francis Crick, and Louis Armstrong, who wrote in his autobiography: "It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics . . . dope and all that crap. It's a thousand times better than whiskey -- it's an assistant -- a friend."

I don't know the strength of the marijuana which Zonk and Zip are growing, but what's available in the UK these days is certainly very much stronger than what was available 20 years ago here. In the old days, marijuana induced all those benign qualities which Carl Sagan eulogised, but now it leads often to aggression, paranoia and cannabis-induced psychosis. I have seen an enormous difference in the behaviour of my grandsons' generation of weed-users, compared with that of my sons, 20 years ago, and my friends back in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Love the strip, Garry, and I've been loving the storyline with Alex. But as a just newly non-postdoc myself, I have to cringe at the characterization of Alex's new job as having a "decent salary." A first year postdoc gets a salary of $39,200 and few guaranteed benefits. With a little overtime, it's likely she made more at Starbucks. Thanks for the fun!

Yaaaaaaaay, Alex and Toggle! Whoot! Whoot! Beyonce and a bad-ass grant, all in one sweet day. You go, kids! Whooohooo!