Jeff does have some actual Iraq/Afganistan cred. He may have been a Nimrod but he did go over, and the Berzerkistan stint could have ended badly. But I'm still pull'n for Toggle all the way! The best character to come along, in my humble opinion.

The complexity of the relationships of everyone in the strip is detailed, nuanced -- and goes back decades. How mortifying (mortifying, I tells ya) it is for me to realize that I know exactly who everyone is, and how they are connected. Now let's sit back, and watch worlds collide!

"I thought you'd be bigger, more ripped." Toggle's not Special Forces, but those guys tend to be compact and wiry -- tough and able to function forever. Perceptions can be deceiving. Who is/was taller, President Reagan or President George H. W. Bush?

Toggle, I am begging you, in the nicest possible way: please please please take that insufferable punk down.

The December 2007 rerun of Toggle's wounding, which I had somehow missed: sweetness itself.

Wow. Looking at the expression on Joanie's face when she announced "Jeff's home" and the impossibility of Jeff's world of mansion, literary agent and so forth actually existing in reality, I have come to the conclusion that you have decided to tackle the subject of mental illness. If so, Godspeed. My son is bipolar.

It's like seeing the manufactured image (John Wayne / Ronald Reagan) next to the real deal (Jimmy Stewart / Audie Murphy). Drive on, Leo!

The remarkable depth of these characters that the strip develops day after day in just four panels occasionally strikes me, especially when long-standing characters meet for the first time. It's hard to imagine a world that could hold the absurdity of Jeff's character and the harsher realities of Toggle's life, but then there they are, conversing in the same room, and it's perfect.

It is hard to type (do we still call it that?) whilst continuing to chuckle about your take on pledges. I do not remember, ever before, laughing out loud at any Doonesbury strip, and I have been a fan since the 70s. Wonderful!

I just got back home after attending the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. Not a trace, not a hint, not a headwrap of the Red Rascal to be seen. I seem to recall a challenge being offered by a rival, to be taken up at Comicon. I realized at the time it was probably not mine, but I was hoping... I am so disappointed, dawg!

Wait a minute! Alex and Toggle are engaged? I thought he said no when she texted her proposal! How did I miss such an earthshaking event? I feel so out of it, so outraged, so irrelevant, so Gingrich....

Leo, scarred veteran of war, meets Jeff, war fantasy writer. Real hero vs storybook hero. Which will dominate? The answer may not be obvious. We live in a world where our fictions stand as large as real life, sometimes even larger. This could get interesting.

Real Deal meets Rascal. I can't wait!

The April Fool's Day strip was very apropos for that holiday. I wonder if Grover will donate his collection to the Smithsonian?

Just the thought of what could be coming this week, after reading today's strip, brought tears of laughter to my eyes. Leo and Jeff in the same room; when worlds collide. Thank you, GBT.

Fiance, eh? Guess he said yes. Good for them! Very interesting future ahead -- I'll be eagerly reading and hoping for the wisdom of their youth to see them through.

At last: Toggle meeting Sorkh Razil. The oddest couple since Elvis met Nixon!

So the American war hero finally comes face to face with his ultimate counterpart — a pathetic poser with counterfeit cred. Well worth waiting for through two weeks of reruns!

I reread Catch-22 a few months ago, and was surprised at how well it holds up. Bush as Cathcart, Cheney as Korn. Minderbender in charge of the world in which we live today. Sunday's strip about pledges and oaths was right out of Catch-22, when the squadron was forced to sign Capt. Black's loyalty oaths and pledges on a daily basis. Yossarian lives!

Regarding today's strip: Well said. Since when have elected representatives stopped representing their constituents and started cowtowing to special interest groups? It seems they are now more fearful of offending the money than the electorate, and that's sad.