...and they would like you to know about it. It goes on sale March 14th.

Trump's War On The Media-And How Journalism Can Prevail:

Doonesbury and Columbia Journalism Review join special Nation issue on covering a hostile White House and regaining public trust and audiences.

This release is also published here.

New York, NY -- March 2, 2017 -- Donald Trump loves to attack the news media, but he wouldn't be president today without them, argues acclaimed press critic and guest editor Mark Hertsgaard in this special issue of The Nation. Gracing the cover of "Media in the Trump Era" (March 20, 2017) is a lacerating cartoon by legendary Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau. The issue's articles -- some published in conjunction with The Columbia Journalism Review -- stress solutions, not lamentations. Plus, something not normally associated with The Nation: laughs! The issue's overriding purpose, however, is deadly serious: How should the news media cover the combative new president, and how can American journalism regain public trust and audiences?

Continued at https://www.thenation.com/article/the-nation-special-issue-tackles-trumps-war-on-the-media-and-how-journalism-can-prevail/

Trudeau extends 'Doonesbury' sabbatical to finish work on new TV series 'Alpha House'

By Michael Cavna, 

Washington Post September 8 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trudeau-extends-doonesbury-sabbatical-to-finish-work-on-new-tv-series-alpha-house/2013/09/08/f42f9c34-18ae-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html

The Washington Post repeated two Doonesbury strips in the print newspaper last month (see above) - skipping the actual strips for December 15th and 16th, which can instead be seen at the Doonesbury archives. The Post didn't mention it, but the Toledo Blade explained why the strips were substituted for certain sensitive newspapers. My neighbor Bill. C came through with the print edition so I was finally able to confirm that the Post hadn't run them.

I got mine!

SIGNED BOOKS OF THE WEEK

We are really excited about our offerings this week. And the Doonesbury collections are both discounted 20% for members since they are featured in our holiday catalogue! JUST KIDS Signed by National Book Award Winner Patti Smith (Ecco, $16) Paperback - September 2010 40: A DOONESBURY RETROSPECTIVE Signed by Garry B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel, $100) Hardcover - October 2010 First editions, first printings. and DOONESBURY AND THE ART OF G.B. TRUDEAU Signed by Garry Trudeau (Yale Univ., $49.95) Hardcover - November 2010 First editions, first printings. When Brian Walker first interviewed Garry Trudeau in 1973, it was for an article on the new comix for the alternative weekly, Silver Lining. While Trudeau denied being a spokesman for the counterculture, it became a label that he had difficulty shaking. Walker later curated the first exhibition of Trudeau's work. DOONESBURY AND THE ART OF G.B. TRUDEAU (Yale Univ., $49.95) explores the evolution of the artist from his prep-school drawing to Bull Notes, the predecessor of Doonesbury, and the impact the series has had on pop culture, from the Broadway musical to ties and Starbucks mugs. Walker also introduces the collaborators Trudeau has worked with over the years. There are plenty of strips here as well, from those early days to the present. It's a lovely companion to 40: A DOONESBURY RETROSPECTIVE (Andrews McMeel, $100), which contains 1,800 strips Trudeau selected as representative of the 40 years since Gonzo, Mike, J.J. B.D., and the huge cast of characters first appeared in papers nationwide. He also provides bios of these iconic characters—all contained in a beautiful slip-cased box. - Deb Morris   Click here to see more of our Signed Event Books. Also, for only $1.50 additional per book, Politics & Prose now offers an Archival Book Covering Service. Click here to add this item to your order!

Politics & Prose Bookstore 5015 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20008 (202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790 Fax: (202) 966-7532 www.politics-prose.com e-mail: books@politics-prose.com Click here for directions to Politics & Prose ---------- Modern Times Coffeehouse (202) 362-2408 www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com moderntimescoffeehouse.blogspot.com Opens daily at 8 a.m. ----------- Store Hours Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday (December Hours) 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Garry Trudeau looks back at 40 years of 'Doonesbury'
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 26, 2010

From the 2/10 Chatalogical Humor:

Washington, D.C.: Gene - what did you think of last Friday's Prickly City where they call Rush Limbaugh a jerk? It actually made me laugh.

Gene Weingarten: I would like this better if it were funny. I applaud the stance, but I think political cartoonists -- and political standup comics -- have an obligation to be funny.

_______________________

"...I think political cartoonists -- and political standup comics -- have an obligation to be funny." : Unless their name is Trudeau, the Garfield of political "humor."

Gene Weingarten: I was thinking specifically of Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. He is the perfect example of the political satirist who sees his mission as humor first.


and 2/17's Chatalogical Humor:

Alexandria, VA: Hi,

No, Prickly City wasn't funny, and did you leave the "ly" off your link intentionally, or Freudian slip of a sort?

Gene Weingarten: I always call it Prick City, because of its politics. Been doing that for years.
_________

Richmond, Va.: I have a great Ralph Steadman story for you. At some point he was in town doing a book signing for his illustrated version of "Animal Farm" (it's so amazing). He was giving each signature a unique ink-blot and a fan came up and said "do something really crazy to mine!" So Steadman took out his lighter and set it on fire.

Gene Weingarten: Excellent. I have that Animal Farm book. It is brilliant.

------

UPDATED 2.20.09

Gene Weingarten: I want to begin with an important clarification. In yesterday's update I was asked if I found THIS photograph interesting in light of the sharply debated prior discussion involving posteriors. I responded with laughter. At some point during the day yesterday, the link mysteriously shifted to a different picture, namely THIS one, which was a highly controversial political cartoon from the New York Post. This cartoon was seen by many people as a racist commentary directed at President Obama. This one I would not have laughed at.

But let's talk about it!

It's by Post cartoonist Sean Delonas, a man whose work I have read and loathed for years. Delonas is strident, unfunny, rabidly right-wing and a virulent bigot, portraying gay people in a way so revolting you would think it's parody if you saw it in The Onion. It's not. Here is Sean Delonas, for example, on gay marriage. Here is Sean Delonas on Governor McGreevey. See that oddly raised leg? That is Delonas's signature move to show someone is gay: Gays are prancing lilyhoppers!

So what do we make of the furor over the chimp cartoon? Is it racist? Does Delonas get the benefit of the doubt?

Sure. I'll give it to him. This cartoon is interpretable without racial overtones: The stimulus bill is stupid, he thinks: It might as well have been written by a rabid chimp. The cartoon coincided with the story of the crazed chimp in Connecticut who ripped off a woman's face, and was shot to death by police. Obama wasn't really the author of the stimulus bill, though his was the most public face behind it. Mostly, I think comparing a black person to an ape is so archaic, so Depression-era, and so primitive that even a Neanderthal like Delonas wouldn't do it.

No, what Delonas would and did do is create a totally pathetic cartoon using the unspeakable tragedy of the chimp attack, which left a woman horrifyingly maimed, to make some lame political point about the stimulus package. It's inappropriate, unclever, and makes senseless use of a shockingly violent image. Pure Delonas, pure crap, but not racist.

Here's a couple of pictures with cartoon themes that have shown up in the process of doing a photo book on Walter Reed Army Medical Center:



Early 1970s ward in Walter Reed Army Medical Center hospital where soldiers wounded in Vietnam were treated. Note the Uncle Scrooge poster on the wall. From the WRAMC DPW collection.



Garry Trudeau visits wounded soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center hospital. Courtesy of the Stripe newspaper.

From the October 7th chat:

Op, US: I can't believe Berke Breathed is retiring...again.

Seriously, I was a huge fan as a high school student, a moderate fan as a college student, and a passing fan as an adult. I mean, it's a character-driven strip that hasn't been daily for nearly 20 years, so it's not like we had much opportunity to get re-attached for the last three. I just can't get choked up the way I would for, say, Trudeau or like I did for Larson or Watterston. Or like I did for Breathed, twice already.


Gene Weingarten: Well, Berkeley has been teasing us for weeks now. It's no surprise.

I liked Opus, and it remains one of the best drawn strips on the comics pages, and I will miss it. But I think the decision to go Sunday-only may hae doomed it from the start. It's very hard to gain traction without a daily dose of your characters, particularly, as you say, with a character-driven strip.

I began to feel that Berkeley's heart was not entirely in this latest enterprise when more than once we found ourselves looking at recycled Bloom County gags.

Gene Weingarten: But: Week after week, Opus delivered some of the best sky-is-falling allegorical hang-wringing about the political hypocrisy afoot in our land. It's not a voice I would vote to lose and I'm sorry to see it go.

and one of his readers feels strongly about Doonesbury in a positive way, as do I:

B.D. Grins!: Hi Gene,

It's been over a week, but I'm still smiling about seeing B.D. smile in Doonesbury.

I loved Trudeau's whole sequence about Sam's Sarah Palin doll, but the most touching thing was seeing B.D. get so tickled as Boopsie tried to explain to Sam that Palin shouldn't be her hero (or her vice president). We've seen B.D. recover from his amputation and deal with his PTSD and even reach out to other characters -- but I'm pretty sure this is the first time he's smiled. It made me unreasonably happy.

And wide-eyed Boopsie has come a long way since B.D.'s injury, too. She's been a rock for B.D. And it's nice to see her get steamed about Palin.

I can't believe how emotionally invested I've become in these characters lately. Trudeau has always been brilliant, but this is ridiculous.

Gene Weingarten: Yeah, this was the best day of a good week.

Following hot on the heels of the Family Circus, Mark Trail is visiting Washington to see the Smithsonian and meet with Christian Samper, the head of the Natural History Museum. Meanwhile, in Doonesbury, NPR host Mark Slackemeyer has a Library of Congress archivist on his show to talk about a new document she's acquired. Unfortunately last week the Post laid off reporter Rick Redfern... well, they offered him a buyout. Perhaps he can work for them on contract!

Comic Riffs quotes Trudeau in "The Morning Line: "Doonesbury" Sings the Newspaper Blues," By Michael Cavna, September 16, 2008.

I read this earlier in the week, but the quotes didn't click until Brian Steinberg blogged about it in his Comics Examiner.

They're both interviewed for "Comedians Of Clout: In a Funny Way, Satirical Takes Can Color Perceptions of the Presidential Contenders," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, June 12, 2008; C01 which mainly deals with television comedians. Cavna did a nice cartoon illustration for the print version - he's done some editorial cartoons for the paper in the past. They're usually on entertainment, not politics. I think I've sent all my tearsheets of them to Michigan State.