I'm so sorry Daisy died without a word. In the most recent strips she was a hoot -- and I appreciate the whole complexity around her sons' and others' memories of her.

Reading some of the previous comments, it is clear that Daisy's death has hit people in many ways. My own mother was dead almost a year before we found out about it. You could say we weren't close. None of her four children are living under rocks -- three of us are college grads and all four of our careers involve a state license of some kind or other. No one bothered looking. As a health care professional I see this distance among family members all of the time. Every time I tell the one who is shouldering the load that it is common, they don't believe me. It's interesting that you have this out there for the burden-bearers. Thank you for the strip and for turning me on to milblogs.

In a year that I lost both grandmothers (in their 90s), saw classmates claimed by cancer, turned 50, and witnessed the Democrats getting creamed in the mid-term elections by moblie-home moronic thinking, I was hoping 2011 might be a bit brighter. Instead I have to deal with a Wall Street banker as governor, a Boehner-lead Congress and now the loss of Granny Doonesbury. What's next, is Bernie gonna keel over from a massive heart attack?! Thanks for keeping it real, Garry, even if it isn't.

Goodspeed to the Widow Doonesbury.

So the old lady bought the farm. I wonder if it would be appropriate to dance on her grave.

Ah, the widow Doonesbury. I still hear it echoing back over the years: "I yield to the witness's awesome iconography."

Wow. Sad that the Widow Doonesbury has passed. I was thinking of the other greats who have left the strip: Andy, Lacey and Dick Davenport, Mark's Dad Phil. Part of life's journey of course -- even for comic characters.

Oh, no! The Widow D. has passed on, with no parting words? Does Alex know Granny's gone? How about the forlorn, rejected suitors? Will she be interred in the great Northwest, or brought back to the red soil of Oklahoma? Mike's not a part of the sandwich generation anymore.

R.I.P., Widow Doonesbury a.k.a "Bodacious Granny D."

Outstanding storyline! We recently buried Mom. It was awkward and awful. The minister went on about how "she loved life." The boys (adult brothers)  sat around and compared beatings, as in who got the worse one ever. I think I won. But she could screw with your head. That turned a simple beating into a torture session where your whole existence was questioned. And invalidated. Her illnesses ate up all the inheritance. In the end, we were there for the funeral. I hadn't spoken to her since Dad died. I didn't have anything to say at the funeral, either. A simple paupers coffin. No memorial service, just a box. Just a hole in the ground. We're all comparing beatings and mind-farks, to see which one was the most devastating. As we left, my wife said, "You know, they all looked relieved she was dead." I had noticed the brothers wives looked relieved. There were even quiet admissions that she scared them, too. So yeah. Good call.

Ha! Great strip today -- once again. GBT continues to go where no comic has gone before. I'm just waiting now for the old rascal to sit up in her coffin and give Benjy an earful for not visiting. Well done!

Awww. I'm honestly saddened about the passing of Mike's mom. I guess she finally made good on her escape...

I like the direction on today's strip: Son out of touch with deceased older parent and family dynamic -- sign of the times. Keep it up.

I wonder why Julian Assange is posing as Benjy Doonesbury in the strip today. 

Oddly, my favorite part of today's strip is the first two panels, which don't even appear in my newspaper. Also, watching Leo's expression in each frame. Keep up the good work, GBT. And 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective is AMAZING!

Nice work in support of our young vets. There's still some class and intelligence to be found on the planet.

My wife is a minister. Those who found the Christmas strip offensive ought to hear what ministers say to each other in private.

About the Christmas strip and shouting at God: yes and no. Shouting "How Long, O Lord?" is Advent. But Christmas about "Here I am!" And then Easter is about God being totally in it with us; at that point one doesn't feel like shouting at him any more. But I do congratulate you for being genuine rather than glib about the subject.

"How long, oh Lord" is the most repeated and venerable cry in the Bible. If God isn't big enough to yell at, well, that's not much of a God, is it?

The Christmas strip was spot on. I come from a long line of clergy persons, and am an elder myself. We all of us yell at God. At least he knows we care. Keep up the good work.