Doonesbury Marks 35th Anniversary

From Vietnam To Iraq And Beyond, Garry Trudeau's Satire Is Still Sharp

(AP)  Some observers say the war has given "Doonesbury" a new energy, one that they say was largely absent during the 1990s, when American politics and culture didn't deliver the high-stakes issues that experts say satire needs to thrive.

"I think 'Doonesbury' was really of the Vietnam generation and became a voice of the Vietnam generation, and what's interesting to me is that decades later (Trudeau) tapped into that exact same thing with the Iraq war," said Matt Davies, a political cartoonist for The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y., who beat Trudeau for a Pulitzer Prize last year. "Because of his reputation and perhaps his infamy, he rose to the challenge with the Iraq war and was back throwing barbs on the comics page. He's still got it. He's still an angry young man."

Of course, "Doonesbury" is no longer the oddity it once was. During its heyday in the 1970s - Trudeau in 1975 became the first cartoonist to win a Pulitzer - the idea of using humor to skewer the political and social issues of the day was still rare in popular culture.

"Those were very self-serious times," Trudeau said. "The end of the Vietnam War changed all that. The nation exhaled, 'Saturday Night Live' hit big, and satire really took off."

Now, "Doonesbury" has been joined by politically minded strips ranging from the racially charged "The Boondocks" to conservative-leaning "Mallard Fillmore" and "Prickly City."

Internet blogs broadcast a wide range of perspectives and television viewers can tune in nightly to the late show monologues or Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

Is "Doonesbury" still relevant?

"That's for the readers to adjudge, but I will say that in general public commentators have nowhere near the clout that we enjoyed 35 years ago, the age of four TV channels and no Internet," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's all good. You can't have too many voices in a democracy. Talented people will find their audiences."

Others say Trudeau is too modest.

Christopher Lamb, an associate professor of communication at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, dedicated a chapter to "Doonesbury" in his book "Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Political Cartoons."

"Satire is ephemeral. It doesn't last. For Trudeau to do it for so long is just incredible," Lamb said. "He may be competing with satirists like Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and H.L. Mencken. He rides the cultural, political and social waves. He's a heck of an observer."

Walker, while disagreeing with Trudeau's recent work, said his legacy is the stamp he has left on political cartoonists of today.

One of those is Scott Stantis, a Birmingham, Ala.-based cartoonist who writes "Prickly City" for 75 papers. Stantis disagrees with Trudeau's politics, but he said he learned character development by studying "Doonesbury" and thinks his latest war-related work has been "genius."

"The stuff on B.D. losing his leg, while not comic writing, is great writing," Stantis said. "After the Iraq war broke out, he got re-energized."