Recent FAQS
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.
-- L. Jones, LA, CA
Who created the "Dancing Duke" on the web site homepage? It's fantastic work!
-- Chuck Stephens, Tulsa, OK
The movement and voice are those of Fred Newman, a performer, composer and sound designer whose many credits include "Prairie Home Companion" and the PBS series "Between the Lions". We urge you to check out Fred's Web site, where you can read all about his new book, Mouthsounds, which provides "the complete sonic scoop for actors, musicians, puppeteers, and other show-offs". Fred will teach you how to impersonate an ice cream truck, a growling stomach, an elephant stampede, and perform "Purple Haze" using duck quacks.
SUPPLEMENTAL HONEST VOICES READING LIST
"John Kerry: The right man in the right place at the right time." Tim Ashby, a Commerce Department official under Reagan and Bush, tells how Kerry fought the corrupt BCCI which, along with serving as banker for bin Laden, Noriega, and Hussein, loaned $25M to W for one of his oil businesses. Seattle Times.
"Why this Republican ex-governor will be voting for Kerry." 95-year-old Republican Elmer L. Anderson's eloquent op-ed piece. Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush." William Bryk argues that true conservatives should take back their party. New York Press.
"Aftermath of Last Week's Editorial Endorsement". Bush's hometown paper describes the flak it's taken for backing Kerry. The Lone Star Iconoclast.
"Conscientious Objector: Why I Can't Vote For Bush." Robert A. George critiques the Bush Administration's rejection of conservative principles. The New Republic Online - *registration required
THE HONEST VOICES READING LIST (original links)
-- Barry M., Toledo, OH
Is Sundance the only channel that will be showing the new Tanner show? If so, will it be coming out on DVD for those of us who don't get Sundance Channel?
-- Kandee, Indianapolis, IN
Each of the four new half-hour episodes premieres on a Tuesday night, with numerous re-broadcasts scheduled throughout the week.
During October, the Sundance Channel will also complete its re-broadcast of the 11 original Tanner 88 episodes, updated with new documentary introductions that lead into the new series. Tanner 88 in its entirety will be available from Amazon on 10-5-04. Tanner on Tanner is scheduled for release on 11-23-04, and will be available directly from Sundance.
If you'd like to read more, check out A New 'Tanner' Joins the Race, a New York Times article about both programs.
-- Barry M., Toledo, OH
Is Sundance the only channel that will be showing the new Tanner show? If so, will it be coming out on DVD for those of us who don?t get Sundance Channel?
-- Kandee, Indianapolis, IN
Each of the four new half-hour episodes premieres on a Tuesday night, with numerous re-broadcasts sheduled throughout the week.
During October, the Sundance Channel will also complete its re-broadcast of the 11 original Tanner 88 episodes, updated with new documentary introductions that lead into the new series. Tanner 88 in its entirety will be available on DVD on 10-5-04. Tanner on Tanner is scheduled for release on 11-23-04, and can be ordered directly from Sundance.
If you?d like to read more, check out A New ?Tanner? Joins the Race, a New York Times article about both programs.
--David L., Indialantic, FL
With all the current Swift Boat Vets and Bush Guard brouhaha I was just wondering -- did anyone ever collect on the $10,000 reward for confirming Bush's Guard service in Alabama? Thanks.
-- C.A., Milton, MA
While waiting for the recent Texans for Truth reward offer to produce results, we invite you to peruse our contest winners and selections from the Bush Guard testimony.
Garry Trudeau has sent the following message to Linus, the Italian magazine for which Enzo translated Doonesbury for many years: "Enzo Baldoni brimmed with the kind of passion and joyfulness that we Americans like to associate with being Italian. Such was the size of his life force, that he literally laughed at death, always brushing aside the concerns of friends who begged him to stop exploring the world's most troubled regions. Chiapas, Columbia, East Timor, Iraq -- these were the kinds of places Enzo was drawn to -- out of compassion and concern and curiosity. When he left for Najaf earlier this month, he sent me his usual breezy email, informing me that he was off to do something well-intentioned but insanely dangerous. I told him to email again as soon as he left Iraqi air space, never imagining he wouldn't be able to cheat death one more time. And why not? He was Enzo the miraculous. He had always come home before.
"I do not speak or read Italian, so I was never able to evaluate our collaboration. However, since I seem to have Italian readers in abundance, I can only assume that he improved my writing, making it livelier and funnier. When we finally met during a trip to Italy in 1991, I could tell that the strip was in good hands -- nobody as effusive and generous of spirit as Enzo could fail to leave Walden a happier place than he found it. And nobody could have represented my intentions with greater fidelity -- he regularly wrote to inquire about some nuance that he felt he might be missing (but rarely was).
"Although we have not seen each other in some time, I will miss my friend tremendously. My thoughts are with his family and colleagues during this sorrowful time."
FIRST RUNNER-UP (original of the 2-26-04 Doonesbury strip, signed by G.B. Trudeau):
I can't verify Bush's
presence in Alabama, but as a dental professional I am intrigued with his dental records. Generally, an
individual with a large bank account doesn't have any missing permanent molars without receiving a fixed
bridge (#3 is missing, yet no bridge is placed between #2-4, #2 has a crown, but #4 only has a three
surface restoration). The American public needs to see his posterior bitewings from 1973 and a current
series of bitewings to better judge the authenticity of the information provided.
-- Barbara
Vanderveen, Galt, CA
SECOND RUNNER-UP (signed copy of Doonesbury collection Got War?)
Bush and
I were together during those months on a mission so secret it's taken years of therapy for me to
remember. We were on board an alien vessel during the time in question, emissaries of the Pentagon on a
successful mission to obtain "mental weaponry" far in advance of anything the Soviets had. Our memories
were then wiped clean, except for the deepest recesses of the unconscious. I weep for the president's
struggle with this trauma, and am coming forward to share my pain in interviews, book contracts, and the
like. God bless America.
-- Matthew Wills, New York, NY
THIRD RUNNER-UP (fully-branded Duke swizzle stick)
I am an employee of the Nigerian government
Toastmaster's Club. I am in hiding while rebels loot my country. In 1972 I was a colonel in the Alabama Air
National Guard and flew many aircrafts. I was Bush's wingman. I was with him for his dental exams. I
warned him against medical physical exams. You must keep this in strictest confidence. If you wish to
pursue this business venture, then I shall need your fax and baking preferences.
-- Dr. Abdula E. Fraudena,
Lagos, NIGERIA
Note: Management apologizes to those contestants whose testimony does not appear in the following sampling. In some cases, recent FCC rulings were an inhibiting factor. Essays over 10,000 words in length were not posted out of respect for those using dial-up modems. Special thanks to everyone who offered to sweeten the kitty. If we'd had a winner and all of you had followed through, the USO would have received an additional $16,590. If you would like to contribute directly, write to: Edward Powell, President, USO World Headquarters, 1008 Eberte Place SE, Suite 301, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 20374.
You're focusing a lot on the war in Iraq. I've noticed that your military characters, like B.D. and Ray, sound like real soldiers. Have you been talking to the troops for research?
Yeah. During the first Gulf War, I'd meet them because they contacted me. This war is a lot easier, because it's an e-mail war. I hear from soldiers who are actually in the field. That changes all the rules of the game. They can't censor soldiers with laptops -- it's literally impossible. It's a way for somebody like me, sitting in this office, to get a view of what soldiers are experiencing.
What did you do to prepare for B.D. losing his leg in combat?
In the case of B.D. suffering this grievous wound, I went down to Walter Reed hospital, in Washington, D.C., to talk to some of the amputees. It's important to me to get the details of his recovery right. There's a great deal of pain on Ward 57, where the amputees are sent. Most of the soldiers will admit to having bad days when they feel overwhelmed -- either by their physical pain or by the hard work of looking at themselves in a new way. But it's not as depressing as you might think. In fact, it's uplifting and inspirational. Part of it has to do with the fact that these guys are wrapped in a culture that is very positive, very can-do. Their whole mind-set is: This is a problem I can overcome. Almost all of them want to return to their units, which is a fascinating response to the crisis they're undergoing.
Asked by Editor and Publisher magazine to comment on Continental's decision, Trudeau said:
"The popularity of individual comic strips naturally waxes and wanes, and newspaper lineups tend to reflect the evolving preferences of editors and readers. Moreover, a newspaper consortium will represent those tastes imperfectly, a price the individual papers pay for joining it. However, in this case, Doonesbury was singled out for internal polling because of the views of a single individual; other competing strips were not put to the same test. In this way, one opinion drove a process that eliminated the strip from 38 newspapers across the entire region, including 15 papers that wanted to keep it.
I greatly appreciate the Anniston Star's speaking out against such an unfair process, asserting its right and responsibility to put in front of its readers a diversity of opinion. This seems particularly important during a time of war, with all its grave implications to public life."