Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 11, 2011

What a guy!

Was the book translated into Dari or Pashto?

Jeff Rides again! C’mon all you Jeff haters out there, accept it. Trudeau favors this dude, and he’s gonna be rich and famous. Sorry ‘bout that. Makes me wonder: • Is there any resemblance between Jeff now and the early early Trudeau, i.e., before his comix caught on? • Is this a real movie made of his first published book, or a fictional one that this arrogant writer has conferred upon himself in his next manuscript? • What’s Becca up to? • On a scale of 1 to 10, if you give Roz a 3 and Mel a 7, what do you give Becca? A 12? I’ve got more, but this is enough for tonight.

In case you wanted to know: A “comp” is short for “complimentary copy”. Authors get a certain number of free “comps” on first printing; how many depends on the publishing house. Jeff is so arrogant (and dumb) that he gives all of his away, not knowing that some of those he’s gifted will hang onto their signed copies for later mega-bux in case he strikes publishing gold. Like, say, J.K.Rowling.

Adios?

Jeff just pulled a Bill O’Reilly.

Jeff? Rich and famous? I don’t think GT himself could figure out a credible way to make that happen. Jeff is a legend in his own mind only. A $50-million-dollar, friendly-helo-downing screw up. Every character in the strip who knows Jeff knows that—isn’t that right? Name one—beside Jeff himself—who doesn’t know he’s a loser.

Gotta be stoned to have the book.

Jeff has learned that old axiom “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story”

The knife he’s waving is meant to cut the mines to pieces – I hope.I apologise for my earlier antipathy for Sorkh Razil. I…I’m sorry, but I’m beginning to become a fan.Someone stop me, quick!

“No. dumdass.” LWP may be alotta things, but he’s . . . . . . no dumbass!

How many hit movies have there been in the last ten years based on comic-book characters? And I am not talking satires or comedies. What better way to illustrate that American culture is fantasy-based (all too often, violent juvenile revenge fantasy)? Or of demonstrating that making money and earning money are two different things, than by having Jeff’s book become first, a best seller; second, a hit movie? Becca sees right through him, all the way to the bank looming behind him. Jeff has the boundless ego, utter disconnect to reality, and woeful ignorance to make a fine guest “expert” on Fox.

After all, why would he need copies from the publisher if he’s already got the original on his computer?

Look at panel 8. Jeff is tapping away within his word-processor app while Zip is looking on, breaking into Jeff’s concentration. This shows that Jeff isn’t all bad. A lot of writers would heave Zip outside on his ear and lock the door. Writing is hard work. One of the hardest in the world. Whether you are writing a novel, a novella, a short story or some other genre, you have to develop a consistent (and interesting) plot. You have to develop your characters and have them interact convincingly with each other. You have to convincingly describe the various settings — such as the Afghan countryside, mountains, ravines, villages, people, people’s garb, languages, etc. You have to write a build-up to the story’s climax, then power it down with a denouement and ending. And there is SO MUCH MORE. I’ve edited hundreds of novels, etc. I’ve written lots and lots of short stories. I tell you, it’s the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life. And I’ve worked in construction, in a woodmill, in maintenance of a unversity, as a steel-lathe operator, as a mid-level administrator in a top medical school. Nothing, I tell you, nothing, is harder work that creative writing! And I invite you to ask other writers. Bottom line: as depicted by Trudeau, Jeff is a HARD WORKER. And he is successful. Becca knows, and it’s her job to know. It takes horsepower under the hood to be a high-powered book acquisitions editor like her! Jeff is a CREATIVE type, and creative types are often egotistical, dumb in other areas (such as keeping track of their own stuff), etc.  So if you want to dump on him, go ahead. It won’t do you any good.

Is this a subtle dig at Greg Mortenson?

The truckload of complimentary copies shows Trudeau mocking himself. The Doonesbury store has overstocked Red Rascal’s War, so why not donate this piece of fiction to a fictive bunch of Afghans who can at least enjoy the pictures?Besides, Jeff can buy up the remaindered copies when the publisher offers them to him for ninety cents apiece. They’ll never even get to E-Bay..

whoa! the venom….no wonder you changed your name…78^)

Adios? Por Dios! On silver away big fella!

I think it is time to move on from Sorkh Razil

Jeff is one of the few storylines I’m really entertained by. But what’s even more entertaining is seeing so many people here jealous of a fictional character’s success. It goes to show how deep Trudeau’s leftist audience is of anyone’s success.

“Somebody stop me!”

What’s Doty DT trying to tell us?

A number of the films on DTPi’s list are either wrong or misleading; at the very least, it’s over-inclusive to the point of diluting the argument. Perhaps all of them feature characters and concepts which have appeared in movies at some point (and perhaps not; has there ever been an “Avatar” comic book?), it would be a mistake to claim that, say, the “G.I. Joe” movie was made from a comic book. Same with “Transformers.” The toys came first, then the TV show, and finally the movie; that there was a comic book for a while during that sequence is beside the point. And if there was an “Incredibles” comic book at somepoint, it was adapted from the movie, not vice versa. If the list were limited to “movies which originated in comic book/comic strip/graphic novel form” (i.e. not toys, not videogames, not TV, radio, or written serials), half of them would have to be struck. If the list were “heroic adventure/fantasy”, some of the names could remain, but some would have to go (does “The Road to Perdition” really have anything in common with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”?).

So why should making a movie from a popular comic book be any less reputable than making, say, James Bond movies? Or a movie of “Gone with the Wind”? Or of “A Streetcar Named Desire” for that matter? An adapted screenplay is an adapted screenplay, and some end up good and some end up bad, and some of them are “good for what they are”, like “Dark Knight Returns” or the first “Iron Man.”

Believe that Becca is a “canyon yodeler”…

Now, now… Until Trudeau lets us know otherwise, tcambeul has as much right to project his (or her) fantasies onto la belle Bickle as anyone else.

Personally, I suspect she’s bibliosexual, and will go for anyone who can crack the New York Times Best-Seller List(not that there’s anything wrong with that). So maybe, just maybe, Jeff still has a shot…

“I didn’t read Miller’s comic book, but I did see the movie “300”. It was a silly right-wing-agenda-driven distortion of an historical event.”

There were also those who saw it as a left-wing-agenda-driven distortion. It depends on who you see as the numerically-superior, decadent invaders, and who you see as the scrappy but out-manned freedom fighters.

The political agenda of “300” aside (which, even if it’s Miller’s, is not necessarily that of the filmmakers; they wanted to sell popcorn), the point still stands. And if you’ve seen the way the U.S. Military has been treated in, say, the “Iron Man” or “Hulk” movies, you know that at least no such agenda is universal.

Comic books are a medium. Superhero adventure is a genre. Movies are likewise a medium and not a genre. They stopped making Westerns when people stopped going to see Westerns, and they’ll do the same with Superheroes when they stop being profitable, and no sooner.

I’ve said it before, but I see a spiritual sisterhood between Becka Biccle and Diana Christensen (Faye Dunnaway) in “Network.” I think she cares about publishing above all, and nothing excites her more than a best-seller. She may think Jeff is a dim bulb, but jump into the sack with him anyway. Or do you imagine only men do that?

For the record: I don’t think Becca cares much at all for the hundreds of best sellers that are published in the world (in English alone) every year, much less would she become sexually excited over their authors. She’s way too classy for that.

I don’t mind you quoting me, DTPi, but bear in mind that I included “I think…” in my original post. I’m projecting, you’re projecting, everybody’s projecting. I haven’t seen any evidence for “classy”, but neither have I seen its opposite. What I’ve seen is “focused.”

You’ve also put expanded my comment far beyond what I in fact wrote. If I say “Nothing turns me on more than a woman riding a motorcycle,” that doesn’t mean that I want to sleep with EVERY Motorcycle Mama that I see.

No possibilities about Ms. Bookle’s private life are excluded yet, because nothing about it has been revealed yet. And as far as using population demographics goes to predict based on probabilities, that’s entirely up to Trudeau. If Trudeau wants to make Becca Straight, she’s straight. If he wants her to be Lesbian, she’s a Lesbian. If he wants her to be bisexual, or a virgin, or have an erotic fixation on dairy products, “probability” isn’t going to be a factor. I have no reason to believe Trudeau lurks on the comments page here, but if he did, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes her celibate just to mess with us. :-)

Finally, the person whose postings about Becca smack most of jeaslousy seems to be YOU. Do you think somehow YOU have a shot at her?

Don’t forget, Jeff blew a lot of C.I.A. megabucks. Someone’s gonna come a-callin’.