Iraq in the funny papers

[Spastic Minnow]

I wasn't sure if I should put this here or the Comic Book Culture thread, thought it might make more sennse here. Permission is granted to close it if it becomes a political flame war.

Now get this one.
in TWO comic strips in the funny papers there are storylines about soldiers who were injured in Iraq and had to have an amputation. disturbing for a couple reasons. They are two rather different strips yet both somehow came up with the same story independently and started them in the same week.

Doonesbury, you could expect something highly politically charged from Doonesbury but it's been done to B.D. one of the strips main characters, an athlete and "macho" man.
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2004/db040423.gif
so, it's not a throwaway plot, it'll have permanent repercusions on a main character.

Get Fuzzy. Happens to a character I don't think we've ever seen, the brother of Rob Wilco, but this is not a normally serious strip. The previous storyline was about the cat with a bad attitude being forced to baby-sit a mouse! The writer has touched on serious subjects but barely. The worst thing to happen to Rob and the pets so far was the Red Sox losing the penant (for which Rob had to take a vacation- to forget).
http://www.comics.com//comics/getfuzzy/archive/images/getfuzzy2004036603423.gif

I guess it's possible the two writers coordinated this to double the effect but Gary Trudeau is one of comics veterans who made comics for close to 30 years and Darby Conley is a very fresh face who has only been around about four or five years.

Whatever the cause, you have to take notice.

[Tienshin]

I haven't heard of the second strip, but the Doonesbury strip wraps up a pretty intense week of comics, with as Spastic Minnow mentioned permanant repurcussions for the character B.D.

I was kind of surprised to hear that some newspapers decided not to run todays comic because of language "not fit for general reading audiences".

[FredNash]

I haven't heard of the second strip
Get Fuzzy (http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/index.html) is pretty great. Comics.com (www.comics.com) is pretty great too come to think of it. The have most of the political cartoonists there too...

[ToOn~g@l]

I just read at yahoo.com that they had to pull the Doonebury strip out of several newspapers because of the language. I don't really blame them since children often read the comics.

Check it out
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040423/ap_on_re_us/iraq_war_doonesbury_2

[Carolina Red]

Usually people like to stay away from current events in the comics. Dilbert (the best post-Calvin and Hobbes strip) is a definite example, and because of this Scott Adams can concentrate on working on it without too many outside influences. But I would agree that sometimes cartoonists know that it's not something that goes away easily in society. Foxtrot has done lots of stuff on random news topics, including some 9/11 related strips in late 2001 I recall.

Also, the Boondocks does this all of the time, only in a more hardcore tone. And Non Sequitir does it sometimes, but usually it doesn't touch heavy stories like war. Wiley Harris does a great job with it, especially with Danae and her "pygmy horse" Lucy. :D But I should say that if you want to touch stuff like war, murder and crime then you should be at least understanding of what you can say and what you can't or shouldn't. I'm all for freedom of the press (obviously), but unfortunately it's hard to do it when millions are reading.

P.S. There was a good Onion article in the AV Club section about random strips, and they talked about some of this stuff.

[Eddie G.]

I just read at yahoo.com that they had to pull the Doonebury strip out of several newspapers because of the language. I don't really blame them since children often read the comics.

Check it out
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040423/ap_on_re_us/iraq_war_doonesbury_2Kids don't read Doonesbury... I read it now and when I was a kid I never read it. It's a comic strip meant for adults and I don't really see much a problem with the line, it wasn't graphic or anything. And come on this strip has had a talking joint in one strip. I don't mind some papers changing the word, however removal of the strip altogether is an over reaction, and so is basically insulting the writing because it used the word. Anyway both the strips were interesting and pretty well done.

[The Frog]

Yea, I noticed this as well. The Doonesbury wasn't censored in my paper, though they have censored other strips (The Boondocks) on occasion. It's odd that they would both have similar plots, but I think it's just an unusual coincidence.