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:

Where the heck did Benjy Doonesbury come from? Google yields no results. He doesn't have a Cast bio. He is vapor. Is GBT jumping the shark with a new "old" character? Or did I miss something?
Wayne | Characters | Hazel Park, MI | January 05, 2011 17:23
A:

Yep, you missed a few things, but we're happy to catch you up on Mike's baby bro. While still in high school he changed his name from Benjy to Sal Putrid; in college he tried to change his roommate (but was stuck with Trip Trippler); and post-college he banked some serious change as legendary safe sex representative Dr. Whoopee.
Q:

Considering that pot may be legalized soon in several states, and in light of the fact that Zonker was recently contemplating getting into cultivation, how about giving us a flashback hit off that good ol' hand-rolled character Mr. Jay?
D.B. | Characters | Peconic, NY | October 21, 2010 13:07
A:

We're happy to fire up our favorite spokes-joint. Just don't bogart the strip.
Q: With my university-aged daughter volunteering to do some literacy work with neighborhood kids, it occurs to me that a very young and idealistic Mike Doonesbury did the same almost 40 years back. How did that work out for him? I'd love to see some of the old strips about that. They would be an inspiration to her!
-- Paul Jennings, Montreal, CANADA | Characters | September 30, 2010 08:16
A:An inspiration? Perhaps -- perhaps not, but undergrad Michael and his inner-city tutee Rufus certainly had an interesting relationship. You can study it here.
Q: Considering that pot may be legalized soon in several states, and in light of the fact that Zonker was recently contemplating getting into cultivation, how about giving us a flashback hit off that good ol' hand-rolled character Mr. Jay?
-- D.B., Peconic, NY | Characters | September 30, 2010 08:16
A:We're happy to fire up our favorite spokes-joint. Just don't bogart the strip.
Q: Say, is there enough material yet for the first volume of The Book of Toggle?
-- Dave, UK | Characters | August 09, 2010 13:17
A:Indeed there is. But instead of framing Signature Wound: Rocking TBI as the first Toggle book, GBT is presenting it as the third in a trilogy of Doonesbury volumes that examine the impact of combat on American soldiers in Iraq. Here are the three titles in the series, with links:

The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time, Foreword by General Richard B. Myers.
The War Within: One Step at a Time, Foreword by Sen. John McCain.
Signature Wound: Rocking TBI, Foreword by General Peter Pace.
(Author proceeds go to Fisher House.)

Q: The current sex abuse scandal centering on Pope Benedict XVI brings to mind the vague memory that Rev. Sloan weighed in on the subject decisively back when U.S. churches were under fire. Can we please revisit that strip?
-- W. Watson, Turlock, CA | Characters | May 17, 2010 12:58
A:Ask and ye shall receive. Click here.
Q: I'm still waiting to find out whatever became of the adopted refugee baby whose first words were all ad slogans. Where is he now?
-- Alec MacLean, Cupertino, CA


I was just reading Recycled Doonesbury and came across a young Kim Rosenthal being recognized as a National Merit Finalist -- to the dismay of her Caucasian classmates and their families. Clear back then did GBT already intend that she would eventually become Mike's wife?
-- Jeff Jacobs, San Jose, CA

Characters | March 25, 2010 11:49
A:Thanks for synchronizing your questions. This loquacious and uninhibited young refugee, a she rather than a he, became this accomplished young scholar. Years later she met Mike Doonesbury when they were coworkers, and their romance ultimately led to matrimony, but GBT readily admits that back in 1975 he did not see it coming.
Q: Didn't Sherman, the studio guy Toggle is now working for used to work with Jimmy Thudpucker?
-- Robert Gibbs, Manchester, UK | Characters | February 09, 2010 11:17
A:Indeed. We first met Sherm in JT's studio back in July 1999, when Thudpucker was enjoying a run as the premier American song stylist in Vietnam, performing lite classics with his band Hearts & Minds. In these two sequences Phred Nguyen (former Viet Cong terrorist and friend-captor to B.D.) pays a visit to Jimmy to discuss the upcoming NetAid concert and Jimmy's anthem "Too Poor".
Q: OK, I know I'm missing something. What happened to Melissa that makes her comeback so important? (I can glean that it is.) Can you please post some meaningful strips from the past that will unravel the backstory for me? And why is Jeff such a git?
-- Kate Macdonald, BELGIUM | Characters | January 04, 2010 10:42
A:Melissa's story involves MST (Military Sexual Trauma), and we are happy to revisit it, beginning with an uncomfortable meeting with B.D. in the Vet Center waiting room. Regrettably, the git-ness of Jeff is beyond our ken.
Q: I have a daughter beginning to go through the college search process who needs to be able to laugh about it a bit. Can you please help?
-- Pat Schertz, Wauwatosa, WI | Characters | October 01, 2009 15:40
A:Perhaps revisiting the early stages of Alex's college quest will do the trick for your future undergrad. Although Gal Doonesbury ended up at MIT, the path that took her there was by no means direct, and initially involved a certain amount of family drama.