Doonesbury Anti Gun Starbucks Comic – Day 5

Wow, 5 days.  Talk about beating a dead horse:

The negativity isn’t as strong in this one.  I have a feeling there is more to come though.

Doonesbury Source – HERE

The previous comics:

Day 1 & 2 – HERE
Day 3 – HERE
Day 4 – HERE


Comments

17 responses to “Doonesbury Anti Gun Starbucks Comic – Day 5”

  1. I wonder what he is saying or trying to say with the Dodge City/Wyatt Earp reference.

    It is just concerning Starbucks or US in general.

    1. I don’t think Trudeau wanted to make a comparison to the actual Dodge City- check the Wiki article on the “Dodge City War”. Plenty of shootouts, almost no deaths, and all caused by crooked politicians and lawmen vying for control of the whiskey and prostitution trades.

      Also, I’m not sure, but I think Trudeau is conflating Tombstone’s disallowing private arms, with Dodge City. Dodge may have had a similar rule, but it was Tombstone’s law that led (in part) to the infamous OK Corral shootout.

      But hey, a good satirist never lets facts get in the way of a good jab.

      Doc.

      1. Interesting about the Dodge City thing; I wouldn’t have picked up on it. I did some searching on the internet just to see if I could find anything about a gun ban. The only places I found anything about guns being banned in Dodge City were comments left on stories about gun laws. Obviously, the people leaving these comments could be confusing Dodge City and Tombstone as well.

        Also, I did find the following interesting bit in a story from http://www.examiner.com:

        “The Los Angeles Times also mentions “…cattle towns, like Dodge City Kas., required cowboys to turn in their guns.” I don’t know if this is an intentional half-truth or ignorance on the part of the times but the full truth is that Dodge City was a small town, divided into two by railroad tracks. It was also the destination for the cattle drives of the Old West. When the cowboys brought their herds of cattle to town, the city would be inundated with every low life element imaginable; gamblers, prostitutes, saloon keepers. The towns people got tired of drunken cowboys and prostitutes and scum in general disturbing their peace but, at the same time, loved the wealth the cattle drives brought to town so they established what is known as a “dead line.” Anything and everything was allowed on the south side of the railroad tracks which divided the town but anyone who crossed to the North side of the tracks would be shot down, dead. I suppose it was theoretically possible some cowboy might want to visit someone on the otherside of the tracks where the proper folk lived, other than that, cowboys kept their guns, and knives, on them in town. I mention knives because most deaths between cowboys did not occur as a result of duels in the street. Most resulted when one drunk stabbed another in a saloon. Gunfights make for better movies. When did you ever see two drunks knife fight in a Western? That’s Hollywood for you.”

        1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
          Admin (Mike)

          hmmm Interesting info, thanks!

  2. Yeah, I guess Doonesbury is too pussy to make Muslim comics.

  3. Farm.Dad Avatar

    I do love the glorious smell of hippy heads exploding in the morning .

  4. I’m out at my father’s farm right now and, after writing my earlier response, I was explaining to my younger brother (a high school senior who’s home on spring break right now) the whole Starbucks-gun-carry-Doonesbury thing.

    His response was, “ ‘Doonesbury’? Sounds more like ‘Douchebury’ to me.”

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      hahahha Douchebury! The suspense is killing me to see if there will be a Day 6 :P

  5. SPC Fish Avatar

    the cartoon was never funny in the first place. they always have just a depressing feel when you read them and the characters ar just depressed people that all they can do is complain and never be happy.

    what an all around shitty cartoon strip

    1. Like most “legacy” comics, DB was better back in the day. Anyone remember the *old* Broom Hilda, who smoked cigars, drank whiskey (the strip had more than a few jokes about he crashing her broom because she was drunk) cursed violently (it was sanitized “typewriter cursing”, but still) and would magic-zap people pretty much whenever she felt like it?

      Every comic writer has his day, so to speak. Gary Larson quit because he knew he was running out of ideas. Watterson quit because the syndicates wanted him to keep doing the same newspaper-approved gags over and over and over, and hated it when he tried to stretch himself artistically. Berke Breathed’s “Bloom County” was on the decline towards the end anyway- in part, interestingly enough, because he was doing *less* politics (presidents, senators, bills) and more sociopolitical crap like cosmetics testing on animals and veganism.

      Either the artist gets tired of the ‘grind’, or decides he wants to move on, or just plain runs out of ideas- or the syndicates throw truckloads of money at him and he waters the strip down to keep it ‘family friendly’.

      Early to middle Bloom County had a razor sharp wit. Sure, it was mostly lefty-leaning, but the satire was spot-on and the story was still fun. Early Doonesbury was the same way- and by “early” I mean about through the middle of the Reagan administration. Back then, he still had his pet peeves (his still-hypocritical interest in the legalization of pot alongside the criminalization of cigarettes) but he’d skewer both sides of the aisle.

      But, like dozens of comics before him, the writing and art of Doonesbury are now done by syndicate-contracted artists, with Gary doing little more than giving the yes or no to certain storyline ideas. As I noted earlier, neither he, nor- I’m sure- the syndicate, want to satirize or insult Obama or his administration.

      So all that leaves is side issues. Guns have always been a peeve of Trudeau’s, and having one of his lefty-elite Sanctuaries invaded by them “teabaggin’ rednecks” must grate on him like a 36-grit thong.

      Doc.

      1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
        Admin (Mike)

        hahah I almost forgot about Broom Hilda.. she was a feisty one.

    2. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      I agree, I hate comics like that which almost never have a start, end, and punchline. Who the hell wants to read 4 panels of a depressing boring story once a day.

  6. Once again, the words of Jeff at the now-defunct Beautiful Atrocities come to mind:
    “I really admire the fact that your politics & technical abilities haven’t evolved at all in the many, many decades you’ve been turning the crank. Most shallow, fickle people have world outlooks that grow & mature over time, so it’s a relief to see you’re still flogging that same carrion after all these years.”

    1. Very nice. And from 2004, no less. Makes it even more poignant in 2010 imho.

    2. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      Nice! How did you remember that from so long ago?

      1. It was just that great. Summed up perfectly my feelings about Garry Trudeau and his wretched “cartoon.” Great blog, by the way.

  7. […] Day 1 & 2 – HERE Day 3 – HERE Day 4 – HERE Day 5 – HERE […]