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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ENDORSEMENT
Now that Trump has lost, I wonder if evangelicals will try to walk back their endorsement of his way of life.
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REV. SCOT
Hmm. It just occurred to me, looking at today's strip, that Rev. Scot ("The fighting young priest who can talk to the young.") seems to be the only character in the Doonesbury universe who hasn't visibly aged...
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CELEBRATIONS
All these spontaneous world-wide celebrations, it's as if the Death Star blew up...
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THE EXPECTATIONS
I wish you'd had Roland take a tour of Trump's brain four years ago like he did in the Reagan's Brain series in 1980, a week before the election. Not that it would have changed the result, but the expectations would have been softened.
Editor's Note:Roland went there, on December 30, 2018, eleven years after his Return to Reagan's Brain.
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GOLDEN
Congrats on 50 years! Golden, indeed!! Thank you.
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50TH ANNIVERSARY
Thanks for the 50th Anniversary announcement, Roland! But wasn't it just yesterday that I bought 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective? Carry on!
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SUMMATION
Re today's Classic strip from October 23, 2005: Thanks for a summation of why I no longer vote for any Republican candidate.
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THE COURTS
Today's Classic strip from 1995, about how the courts are not owned by corporate interests...yet, is prescient and disheartening. We are seeing the culmination of this multi-decade effort in the Senate as we speak. People are focused on Roe and Obergefell, but little is said about the Federalist Society's mission to do away with federal regulation on corporations.
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EVOCATION
The Sunday, October 11th strip made me choke up. I've been reading comics since I was a child in the sixties, and have read many individual strips that have portrayed something truthful and beautiful about the human condition, and this one is right up there with them. It's a powerful evocation of the sacrifice some people have paid, and the friendship and camaraderie they share. The use of the quotes being countered by what is shown, and that final masterfully subtle and quiet panel is a testament to how comics can communicate deep and important concepts and emotions. This comic should be recognized as a work of genius and an essential part of American history. I hope my poor attempt here is seen as an appreciation of this work of art and of the artist who's been creating it for decades. Thank you.
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512K LIMIT
The 35-years ago storyline that ended today is taking us back to days that two generations of humans never experienced -- the new Graphic User Interface, the 512k limit. In today’s entry the desktop is demanding the user know the Capital of Kuwait before it will retrieve a file. I just took out my iPhone and asked it. You can’t demand anything of us these days.
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NOTE FOR B.D. AND TOGGLE
Note for B.D. and Toggle: Over the nose! The mask goes over the mouth and the nose -- the way Ray has it. (This public service announcement has been brought to you by The Friends of Viral Suppression.)
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EVERYTHING WORTH SAYING
You brought me to tears. A single frame that says everything worth saying. Thank you.
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ANOTHER STRIP
I cried. If you were never to do another strip...God bless you.
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EMPIRICAL TRUTH
Trump's inability to understand why anyone would do anything unselfish made me wonder whether this is why (other than sheer self-serving dishonesty) so many business folks doubt that humans cause climate change. They can't believe that for scientists, pursuing the empirical truth is their sole motivation. Surely they have some financial motivation and can't be trusted.
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IMPORTANT REMINDER
Thank you, for today's piece, and so many others. So well done, and such an important reminder of the unsuitability and ineptitude of the current Oval Office occupant...
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TEARED UP
Doonesbury is my first read, every morning, with coffee. Today you stopped me in my tracks; I even teared up a little. You capture in a few frames what I struggle to put into a thousand words. I am former Army. Thank you.
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ORANGE OCCUPANT
The 35-years-ago Flashbacks this week are among my all time favorites (though the Flashbacks page is, unfortunately, down at this moment). It begins with Reagan getting a visit from his economic advisor, Tinkerbell, who tells him he has to shut his eyes and believe that you can cut taxes, increase military spending, and balance the budget. The next day's strip puts truth in the mouth of a homeless schizophrenic who proclaims: "Wake up,America! We need taxes!" Reagan's befuddled economics started America down the path from a national debt under one trillion (mostly from WWII) when he was elected, to well over $20 trillion before Trump. The point I take from this, however, is that the damage done by Reagan was small change compared to what the current orange occupant is likely to inflict. Beyond getting the annual structural deficit over a trillion dollars, he threatens American democracy in ways that no previous president ever contemplated.
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SPECIMEN BOTTLE
Thanks for today's timely tweet, Roland! I was going to write in anyway, remembering Clyde brandishing a specimen bottle, accompanied by the chants of "Clyde be clean!" It just proves there's a Doonesbury moment for every occasion!
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NOT JUST ORANGE
Bravo on today’s Sunday strip, especially portraying Trump with bloody hands. He’s not just orange anymore.
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THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST
Re the picture of 45 in front of his makeup mirror: You don't need a columnist to tell you about the power of humor against despots, but this piece reminded me of how grateful I am for your talent to ridicule those who need it most.