Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 31, 2012

Doonesbury is turning into the Archie Comics?

Please…no.Otherwise I shall have to blow something up.

Hubris has a way of tripping itself up. This is only Tuesday.

I think GT’s just yanking our chain.

(I hope)

This had better be a spoof by GD…

This re-boot of Doonesbury is not making it. If I want juvenile angst and melodrama, TV is full of it (pun fully intended)

Relax people, it’s friction, not fract.

Okay, what’s Mike saying? “Don’t you occasionaly feature me?”

I don’t think it’s about Occam’s Razor.

Also, if this story arc continues, do we get to see a catfight between Alex and Drew about Drew’s nose?

Snoopster, ever hear that saying about people who live in glass houses?

Garry… Take your meds.

Ya want NEW Alex…start with a new HAIRSTYLE! You’re the one holdin’ onto that hippie look! Even Madonna doesn’t keep the same hairstyle for very long.

I forsee a curtain lowering….

Well, if they did go all Archie comics Jughead would fit right in nose-wise.

Not even funny.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Be the summer daydream!!!!!

You told @too-zonked:‘your the worst speller, you ment to say"Relax people, its fiction, not fact."’

I think too-zonked said and spelled exactly what he wanted too. As newyorkjetfan1 pointed, out living in glass houses can be dangerous. It displays not only an inability to get a kjoke but a lack of grammar skills:

“Your” is a possesive pronoun.

“You’re” is the contraction for “you are”.

How could we read the text of the new generations bubbles?

That would be the joke, Ted.

GT is just having fun with us, while spoofing the way the networks hype all the new fall shows and spinoffs.

Hi there Drew.

Oh one more thought if the kids do take over the strip that means no more politics since these kids don’t vote anyways.

No way they’re going to take Zonker out of us!!!! :)

You’re not your.

Has Jeff Redfern gotten wind of this yet?

And Alex will have an identical cousin. Chuckle along to the zany antics that ensue as they get mistaken for one another. Or has that been done before?

Poor bhinkle. His moral majority is melting away, even as we speak. Don’t worry, bhinkle. There are potential friends in other countries. Air Uganda is ready when you are.

Mike’s Annual Summer Daydream, maybe?

Noooo. This character is my least favorite and I don’t want to see her every day. Gary, please tell us you’re just kidding. This would end it with us (me).

are they going to hunt ghosts with a talking dog?

This is terrible news. Don’t do it; run back to the old strip.

It’ll be like a Mary Hartman Mary, Hartman spinoff.

This is great, I’m digging this arc. As a 40 year reader it’s so cool to see Trudeau still being creative, still doing things that we’ve never seen other artists do. Change is good and ironically it’s the one constant in the universe.

There is no reason to think that Alex can’t be on top of all the sociopolitical topics of the day. She will be able to carry on. Stay calm and carry on, as they say across the pond.

I’m guessing that Trudeau wants a cast of younger characters because it’s hard to put his political opinions into the mouths of characters who are old enough to have witnessed liberalism’s failures. The naivete of youth gives him a clean slate to work with, without having to worry about actual history.

Try spelling “you’re.” “Your” is the “you’re” of yore. (sigh)

Quit worrying. It’s a send-up on the self centered youth culture.

Is someone new drawing and inking today’s strip?

This is f#%!! up, A-men.

No, YOU are the worst speller! You meant to say “you’re” and “meant”….

With all the Alex & Red Rascal arcs what would be so different?

No way should Trudeau let go of our favorites of years.

Remember the character who died recently? The one who ran for office? A grandmother type? Well, she couldn’t live forever. This strip is not like others. People change and grow. It is more like life. Maybe we should appreciate that aspect of Doonesbury. Lots of other comic strips have characters who never change. Doonesbury is different. Beetle Bailey was always a private and Sarge was always Sarge, etc.

To those of you who are worried, please, either get a sense of humor or go read old “Nancy” strips!

Folks, if there is one thing that Garry Trudeau is acutely aware of, it’s his reader demographic. Short of a swan song – which I doubt – he will not be deep-sixing his stock characters. How many of the commentators on the strip are below the age of 36 ? How many are above the age of 5O ? I’m betting there are way more over 50’s than under 35’s.Relax readers. He’s having a good leg pull, while temporarily, cooling the political jets. ( Excuse the mixed metaphors ).

well, she’s not wearing dark celebrity glasses yet…..

!Hay, guyz, i thinke snopster is yank’in your’e chane tooo¡

iz

Please, people, read the comments before you post the obvious thing that will be posted a dozen times by the end.

On Sunday I was convinced that Trudeau was pulling our collective leg, but I don’t think so anymore. It’s been clear for a while that Alex’s stories and Jeff’s stories have been getting more attention than Mike’s stories or Mark’s stories (BD has been pretty visible, but I think Trudeau still has a lot he wants to do with BD). This is simply an acknowledgement of something that’s been coming on for a while.

I trust Trudeau; if he’s doing this, he must have thought about it long and hard. But I ALSO think he’s still pulling our leg about how drastic the shift will be; I suspect he’s getting us prepared for the worst so we’ll be relieved when “Doonesbury: The Next Generation” doesn’t turn out to be THAT different from what we’re used to. The anxiety that Mike’s showing mirrors the anxiety that Trudeau knows his long-time readers are feeling.

I too am not one of Alex’s biggest fans, but let’s face it, the lives of 20-somethings tend to be more tumultuous and unsettled than the lives of 60-somethings; hence a greater potential for storylines. And Alex & Co. are largely around the same age as the core cast were when Trudeau made is FIRST radical shift in direction, when he had everybody graduate Walden and move out into the wider world. This ain’t “Archie”; as young as the “D:TNG” cast is, they will get older, as will Mike and the rest. There’s zero likelihood of the strip turning into “Luann” (thank God), but if Trudeau didn’t make a change like this it would eventually turn into “Elderberries.”

In short, nothing’s fract yet, let alone frakked.

I’d like to see a bit more of Alex’s wacky mom & BF…

You can tell it’s a slow day with all the angst over faulty smelling.

Please whatever you do keep Zonker. And Duke, Boopsie, Jeff Redfern, Roland Hedley, and everyone else except maybe that guy Sid can go. I like Alex but would hate to have the strip revolve around her.

giggling It’s funny!

That’s why he’s doing it!

And if it stays this way, it will be because it is funny.

And if it goes back, he’ll find a way to make it funny!

That’s why they’re the funnies! =^____________________^=

Anyone remember Steve Dallas and his visit to the dentist right before his class reunion? FUNNY!

If this is not a summer daydream, Alex could decide she needs a different nose and perform the operation under artistic license instead of plastic surgery.

Might GT have a daughter that he might be handing the strip over to?

Watch your language, young man. You’re not to old to have your mouth washed out.

One logistical consideration I’m wondering about (I’m not worried about it; as I said, I trust Trudeau) is if/how he’s going to “close the circle” of the younger cast. Again, when the core group graduated Walden, they scattered in various directions, but they had a shared history that provided a means to bring them back together as his storylines could benefit. But what connects the NEW core except the OLD core? Alex has SOME shared history with Jeff and Zipper, but has she met Mel? Is she LIKELY to meet Mel? (And I’m hoping we continue to see lots of Mel.) If Earl ends up being New Duke (just speculating, but Duke’s about a generation older than Mike, if Trudeau doesn’t suspend his aging any more than he already has), what’s his connection to any of the others? Drew is close, but so far Drew is barely a character; she’s just Alex’s hot-but-brilliant friend. Sam hasn’t really come into her own yet, but does Alex have a relationship with Sam?

(It just occurred to me: “Alex”; “Mel”; “Sam”; maybe even “Drew” – Trudeau’s NextGen females all go by names more commonly associated with males…)

I want the hippies back. I was one once.

If you make this change to younger characters, I will no longer read your strip. Bad idea.

I agree with lightearth. I mean come on! The younger generation of today is no better and somewhat worse than my in my younger generation, i.e. stupid as the day is long!

There’s nothing funnier than watching middle aged hippies complain about how awful youngsters are today.

maybe next week will be better. think I’ll skip the rest of this week.

Oh, Lordy, not Alex! She is one of my least-liked characters: egocentric, disconnected, spoiled. Might as well be Mitt Romney.

I don’t follow this strip as closely as most of you experts, but doesn’t Mike have an annual summer daydream ? Would this abomination qualify?

I can’t believe people are taking this seriously!Yeah, the strip has changed directions many times, and characters have matured, and evolved……but never (that I can recall) with a 4th-wall-breaking announcement.

These set-ups are used for humor….

If Trudeau were seriously changing the strip…well, if you think about it….he HAS….We’ve had Alex storylines, Zipper… and Jeff….A little with Sam, and more will be coming…Haven’t seen Duke or Jimmy Thudpucker or Phred in ages….Trudeau already keeps it lively.Sometimes the “kids” edge out the old characters, but it just happens.My take is there’s a punchline coming….comic timing….(And if I’m wrong…I’m giving you a chance to laugh at me instead.Call it a public service.)

I’m wondering: could this be the annual summer daydream, and Alex is having it this year?

♪♫ Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way.Oh what’s the matter with kids today? ♪♫

Are there comics that draw over a hundred comments as often as this one? I haven’t checked too many, but it would seem not. D’bury is hard to beat lots of ways.

If there were one character I had to choose to whom the axe would be given—it’d be Alex. What a self-centered, insecure, hopeless mess she is.

Oh, for the halcyon days…

I just wonder if this for real or not. A little hard to tell. The strip has done fine for so long, my gut feeling is if Alex & Co. do indeed become the focal point, it’s Adios, Trudeau for me.

Am I the only one who thinks these characters don’t look like their usual selves (especially Toggle)? I wonder if someone else is drawing them this week. P’raps the strip has been (temporarily or otherwise) hyjacked by a younger Trudeau. Now that would be funny!!

I think you just proved your own point!