Characters

FAQs

Beta-fresh answers, uploaded occasionally

Lets face it, our favorite comic strip is often obscure or inconsistent, and key characters are sometimes left stranded for years. Long-suffering readers are within their rights to demand some clarification. Use the "Ask GBT" form to email us your questions, and we will answer those we can on the Blowback page, and also archive the answers here.

Q: When is Honey Huan going to appear in one of the Duke2000 videos?
-- Josh Frydman, London, England | Characters | September 06, 2007 10:16
A:A timely inquiry. We have just posted The Official Announcement, which features the inimitable Honey Huan hosting the press conference announcing Duke's run for the White House. Ms. Huan is portrayed by actress Lauren Tom, who also played the role in the Broadway show, A Doonesbury Musical. You can view all 30 of the 3-D animated D2K videos in Duke's Video Dump.
Q: Now that Mark and Chase are splitting up, I'd love to see the Sunday strip again that was about the two of them at home, having dinner, sharing a glass of wine -- a normal couple. There was very little dialog and not really any "story", but the strip moved me so that I've remembered it all these years. Could you please dig it up? Thanks.
-- Lucy Goszkowski, Annapolis, MD | Characters | June 06, 2007 23:29
A:Consider it dug. Here's the 10-5-97 domestic bliss Sunday to which you refer. Good times...
Q: When Duke came out of his coma recently he was working as a lobbyist on K Street with his son, Earl. Where did Duke get a grown-up son? I clearly missed something.
-- Alan A., Arcata, CA | Characters | April 04, 2007 23:14
A:One snowy winter back in the mid-90s, Duke, inspired by the opportunity to take advantage of federal funds available for the purpose, made the improbable decision to turn his Colorado spread into a 24-bed orphanage. Naturally the undertaking, despite Honey's typically competent efforts as administrator, ended badly. But for Doonesbury readers there was an unexpected upside -- the addition of Earl to the cast, as depicted in this series.
Q: Can anyone explain to me why the U.S. President is represented by a floating, damaged, Roman legionnaire's helmet?
-- Ron, Dublin, IRELAND | Characters | March 05, 2007 13:58
A:During the first years of Dubya's presidency, the former governor of Texas was represented in the strip by a cowboy hat (as in, "all hat and no cattle") floating over an asterisk (referencing his contested ascension). With the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003, the commander in chief donned a more appropriate piece of headgear -- a Roman helmet, whose horsehair crest has, like his imperial presidency, deteriorated over the course of the war.
Q: I thought that all "real world" personalities used in Doonesbury were given icons, such as an asterisk, a giant hand, a waffle, a helmet and the like. Is your use of an "actual likeness" of Donald Trump a first?
-- Mark, Toronto, CANADA | Characters | January 28, 2007 00:39
A:Though a robust tradition of iconic representation has developed in the strip, it is by no means consistent or obligatory, and numerous public figures have been represented by more traditional means. Trump himself has made several previous appearances, including this February 1990 week of in-his-face strips.
Q: Mark and Chase are getting divorced? Whoa, I didn?t even know they were a couple. How did I miss that? Clearly there were some too subtle indicators that I glossed over.
-- Bob M., Seattle, WA | Characters | November 15, 2006 10:51
A:Some indicators are more subtle than others. Case in point, this relatively unsubtle series on Mark and Chase?s nuptials.
Q: The recent Garry Trudeau profile by Gene Weingarten in The Washington Post Magazine was generally pretty good, but the author slipped up on a detail. After noting that B.D. had hit on Celeste at the Vet Center, he claims that cheating on Boopsie "hasn't happened to our knowledge in 20-plus years of an eccentric but strong marriage." But what about Gulf War I, when B.D. hooked up with an officer on an R&R ship?
-- Ron Telford, Philadelphia, PA | Characters | November 15, 2006 09:55
A:Not to be Clintonesque, but said affair took place before B.D. and Boopsie's actual nuptials. On the other hand, it did occur -- and during the 20-plus years they've been together. Thank you for your attention to detail.
Q: Didn't Kim go to MIT, just like Alex?
-- Pam D., Seattle, WA | Characters | October 26, 2006 12:13
A:Yes. After Mike moved to Seattle and went to work at Bernie's Byte Shack, he began courting co-worker and future wife Kim Rosenthal. Kim's MIT experience came up in this early conversation, and then again, and then again later, as her step-daughter prepared for college.
Q: What's up with Ray suddenly being married again? After the first Gulf war, his wife left him, and when he returned to Iraq, he was talking about having been through two divorces in the intervening time and being glad to be back in uniform. There's been no mention of him going back to the States to get a new wife -- so when did he get married again?
-- Susanna Thomas, Philadelphia, PA | Characters | October 06, 2006 00:54
A:Vast portions of the Doonesbury universe remain mysterious, even to its creator. In regards to Ray's matrimonial vitae, here's one possible scenario: Post Gulf War I, after he and Tina divorced, Ray and May dated for a while but split up. Ray married someone else, but after that union dissolved, Ray and May got back together and subsequently married -- either before he deployed to Iraq, or while he was home on leave. We hasten to add that we in the FAQ conning tower just made that up, and other scenarios are equally plausible. The point is, Ray and May being married is not technically an inconsistency -- a huge category in Doonesbury. In any case, we appreciate the opportunity to focus on Mr. Hightower's past, and are pleased to share with you this 1991 series about his rough re-entry after GWI, and a series from 1993, at which point Ray and May were dating, and Ray and Des had begun sparring.
Q: The strip often refers to B.D.'s tour of duty in Vietnam, a war which ended before I was born. What actually happened to him over there?
-- Gary B., Soquel, CA | Characters | September 02, 2006 10:36
A:Although B.D. received purple hearts in both Vietnam and Iraq, his experience in regard to the former was significantly less traumatic than in regard to the latter, as this B.D. in Vietnam sampler shows. Younger readers may be surprised to learn that among the many hats Zonker has worn was one labeled "Press". Until recently, the former reporter himself was unfamiliar with this portion of his resume.