#SAD!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump

Doonesbury on Trump #2

by G.B. Trudeau

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist whose acclaimed Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump blew up the bestseller list, comes the sequel millions prayed would be unnecessary. #SAD!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump tracks the shocking victory, the inept transition, and the tumultuous eternity of POTUS’s First 500 Days.

Citizens who rise every morning in dread, braced for disruptive, Randomly Capitalized, atrociously grammarized, horrably speld, toxic tweeting from the Oval Office, can curl up at night with this clarifying collection of hot takes on the First Sociopath, his enablers, and their appalling legacy. Whether resisting or just persisting, readers will find G.B. Trudeau’s cartoons are just the thing to ease the pain of remorse (“Could I have done more to prevent this?”) and give them a shot at a few hours of unfitful sleep.

There are worse things to spend your tax cut on.
 

Genres: Humor, Comics, Politics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Strips

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip. In 1970, Trudeau's creation of Doonesbury was syndicated by the newly formed Universal Press Syndicate. Today Doonesbury is syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide and is accessible online in association with Slate Magazine at doonesbury.com. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer, traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film, for A Doonesbury Special, in collaboration with John Hubley and Faith Hubley. A Doonesbury Special eventually won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Special Prize in 1978. Other awards include the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1994, and the Reuben Award in 1995. He was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. Wiley Miller, fellow comic-strip artist responsible for Non Sequitur, called Trudeau "far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist in the last 25 years." In addition to his work on Doonesbury, Trudeau has teamed with Elizabeth Swados and written plays, such as Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy. In 1988, Trudeau joined forces with director Robert Altman for the HBO miniseries Tanner '88 and the Sundance Channel miniseries sequel Tanner on Tanner in 2004. In 1996, Newsweek and The Washington Post speculated that Trudeau wrote the novel Primary Colors, which was later revealed to have been written by Joe Klein. Trudeau wrote the political sitcom Alpha House, starring John Goodman and Bill Murray. The pilot was produced by Amazon Studios and aired in early 2013. Due to positive response Amazon has picked up Alpha House to develop into a full series.

Reviews

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a non-American some of the scripts/characters went over my head. When the man himself appears the satire is at its best. Some of the pages were a bit flat and lacked the tangy controversy of Doonesbury's earlier works. Still its a reflection of life in the USA of today - unfortunately only the fans will read this book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better to laugh than to cry. Comic Artist Trudeau admits that his satire probably won’t change any Trumper’s mind about 45 but at least it gives the rest us an outlet. I read Doonesbury in my local newspaper every weekend but this full-color collection of Trump and Trump era brings them all together. The fact that we need is satire instead of fiction… #SAD!

Thanks to NetGalley, Andrews McMeel Publishing and G.B. Trudeau for an advanced electronic reading copy.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'd expect Trudeau to have a heyday under the Trump presidency, but this is a pretty standard collection of color Doonesbury Sunday strips. Published between June 2016 and May 2018, most of the original regular characters are still here, showing their age and sharing the stage with the next generation.

If you've enjoyed Doonesbury in the past and want to revel in anti-Trump outrage, you'll probably get a kick out of this new book.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike the Mad Magazine series of "funny" strips about Trump, that I could not read a year later, these strips, unfortunately are still talking about the big problem the US is facing with the current president.

This is a collection of Trudeau's strips, he is only doing Sunday ones these days, from the lead up to the election, to Spring of 2018. The strips are funny, but not outrageously funny. It is hard to make fun of this man in the white house, because each time you think you have come up with an outrageous thing to make fun of, he does another thing.

The two strips below, though funny, are only funny because they are actually what it feels like is going on now.



If you love Doonesberry, and have been following it since Nixon, as I have, this would be a good book to add to your collection.

But if you are tried of all things Trump, I would stere away from this, as it will only remind you how crazy things are, still.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know about anyone else, but I was really beginning to miss the brilliance of Garry Trudeau and his "Doonesbury" comic strip, in the Age of Trump. His strip just disappeared and I couldn't find it til I saw the website a couple of months ago. Evidently, he's only publishing six-panal cartoons on Sundays. Well, now we have "#SAD! Doonesbury in the Time of Trump", which is a compilation of the strips from the past couple of years.

The book actually begins during the 2016 elections. I get the feeling that Trudeau, much like many of the rest of us, didn't really think Donald Trump would actually win. And become president. And throw us into disorder and despair. But he did win and Trudeau's wit does take some of the sting off the bitterness many of us have been feeling.

Donald Trump is not the subject of all the comic strips. Doonesbury and his family of characters make up most of the strips' casts. But most refer to things going on from 2016 to 2018. Garry Trudeau, as always, is witty but mostly punctures with a gentle edge. And that's what we need most.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

G.B. Trudeau is back to reflect on Donald Trump's first 500 days in office. Some of the satire will make you laugh, some will make you cry but it is also guaranteed to leave you shaking your head. This book is a take on how ordinary Americans are coping with the unpredictable POTUS. Emotions abound, be it desperation, worried anticipation of what will come next, shock at what used to be unthinkable, fear of the future and out-and-out laughter because sometimes laughter is all that prevents tears of discouragement. Take a peek in Doonesbury and see how ordinary citizens are adapting to the unadaptable. You will be rewarded with HUGE belly-laughs. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of #SAD! Doonesbury in the Time of Trump by G.B. Trudeau in exchange for an honest review.

[Tori (alwaysbookphoenix) Kisamore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this as an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This comes out 9/18/18

Ahh, good ol' Doonesbury. Satire comics at its finest. This was pretty enjoyable to read since I grew up thinking of these as the "boring" comics in the Sunday paper. But now I am older and more involved in the American political scene so this was interesting to read. Some of these comics were amazing and true, really showing the circus that is the current presidency. But others were bland and didn't make much of a stance or point to me. Needless to say, my response to this book was positive and I will be looking forward to more Doonesbury comics in the future.

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trump is a popular target and he is an easy one. The author openly admits that he doesn’t believe satire and his work is likely to change minds, but he sees it more along the lines of a cathartic device, a place to release the pressure.

This is very much an American anthology for an American audience. The parody of the Trump board game was well done, and I enjoyed the use of colouring, but overall there is nothing particularly memorable, funny or original about this compilation.

Part of the problem is that this has been done to death and is still continuing to be done to ever diminishing returns. I couldn't really think of much to recommend this to anyone, the art work was OK but the humour was almost non-existent. As far as these kinds of US political comic works go, I much prefer the work of Ted Rall.

[ReadThruTheNight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laughter may be just what we need to deal with the struggles ahead. If you’re a Doonesbury fan or revel in anti-trump satire you’ll certainly enjoy this book.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the cartoons are funny and some just rang too true. Hence, #sad!

[Hal Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trudeau's trademark smugness becomes more endurable as the foes lined up against him devolve into the caricatures he has always depicted them as.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Trudeau! Doonsbury! And Trump. Trudeau deftly mixes his crew of characters into the surreal world of Donald Trump...Including interludes with "Jim Crow," reminding us that he's in our lives and gumming up our lives because of the decades of voter suppression practiced by libertarians and Republicans.

Funny, insightful, and poignant. So thankful for artists like Gary Trudeau.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impulse purchase that I definitely did not regret. I used to read Doonsebury religiously in the Washington Post, and then buy the collections as they came out. We had all the older ones in my house as a child, too. So I've read a LOT of Doonesbury. In the new media environment, I don't read the comics anymore, just the Post. So almost all of these were new to me. I thought for a moment--do I want a piece of dead tree around the house when I'm pretty sure I could read all of these online? But the truth is, I wouldn't. So I plopped my $17 down and bought it. So glad I did. There aren't as many distinctive plot lines as in his heyday. (maybe there are in the daily, but this is the Sunday only). And the characters lose some of their distinctiveness, as there are a lot more of them by now, and some of the younger ones seem interchangeably generic? But--the quality of the satire is remarkably high, with only a couple misses in this collection.

Trudeau is a genius, and his gift remains unsullied by time.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Sad is a short retrospective of Doonesbury comics during the Trump era. It is organized into four parts: The Gathering Shitstorm, American Carnage, Team of Deplorables, and Stormy Weather. The first section has comics from the campaign, the other sections are during the presidency.

There are several comics taking the real text of Donald Trump’s tweets and speeches with his inane syntax and ignorance made hilariously manifest–or it would be hilarious if he were president in some comic dimension, not in this dimension all of us inhabit and are all endangered by his ignorance and belligerence. Of course, if this were fiction, we would not believe it. But then, did we ever imagine the day when evangelicals would defend having sex with minor girls as biblical?

Doonesbury and Garry Trudeau give us that moment of levity and shared consciousness of what is good and decent we need in these trying times. Authoritarianism is a real threat and humor is a real and powerful challenge to authoritarianism. We have not yet lost our democracy and one of the strongest weapons we have to safeguard our rights and our freedoms is humor. Of course, we have to organize, we have to vote, we have to keep informed, but if we forget humor, we lose.

If you doubt the power of humor, consider the tyrant Slobodan Milosevic whose downfall was precipitated by OTPOR and their brilliant tactics using humor to put the regime on the defensive. In the preface, Trudeau cites Finley Dunne’s prescription for journalism to “Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” There is comfort in humor, a shared feeling of getting it, of seeing other people get it. It also drives the comfortable around the bend. Nothing makes them madder than being the butt of a joke.

I enjoyed the comics. They were well-chosen, capturing the zeitgeist. I just wish it was really fiction. I wish we were in a different dimension, one where we have a legitimate president who is not a corrupt Russian puppet, where the public rejected the candidate whose only campaign consistency was racism. Then we could read this book and say with perfect confidence, that such a ridiculous person could never get elected.

#Sad will be released on September 18th. I received a copy of from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

#Sad from Andrews McMeel Publishing
G.B. Trudeau’s Doonesbury on Facebook

★★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny....Sad!!

I remember reading Doonesbury in the 70's. Vietnam, campus unrest, changing sexual mores, the counter culture, grass, the silent majority, Nixon. The strips were pointed and controversial. Debate raged over whether the strips should appear in the comics section or on editorial pages. Sometimes strips were censored or storylines were dropped from the papers, (depending on the papers' ideological bents), because they were too pointed or disrespectful. My how times have changed.

Now the president and the political process are beyond parody. These strips are funny, insightful, and arresting, but there are only so many ways you can point out the obvious. Trudeau is still wise and calm, and his characters are still thoughtful and surprising, but it's all in the service of things we already know. In the 70's Trudeau spoke truth to power, and the truth would set us free. Today, Trudeau speaks truth to power, and power doesn't seem to notice or care.

I get that. Parody and satire, no matter how edgy or apt, can only go so far. Even Trudeau addresses that in his rather wistful preface. So, take comfort. Appreciate the skill and style and near perfect timing and structure of these strips.

That said, and to be fair, Trudeau tiptoes around the harder truths. We get Trump's narcissism and childishness and general obtuse incompetence and all of that. But there is nothing about racist dog whistles or about the callous manipulation of immigration or black athletes or gun control or evangelicals in order to firm up the political base. The subtitle of this book is "Doonesbury in the Time of Trump", and that title may be more telling than might have been intended. At bottom, this is more about Doonesbury than about Trump, and maybe more about us.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Saimon (ZanyAnomaly) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Some of the comics satirically portrayed Trump's motivations to have done some of the things he did so far in office, while the rest showed the perspective of the citizen's when they happened. There were some character tweets which I didn't really get, but I've never read Doonesbury comic strips before, so that could be it. I am updated on all the things going on in the Trump Administration though, yet some of the comics strips required some sort of expert knowledge of some of the people in the administration and of Doonesbury characters.
If you like political satire, or if you just wanna have a few laughs at Trump's expense, check this book out. Make sure to talk about it on twitter so it reaches him! I'm sure he'd be pleased!

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, I really enjoyed the range of the cartoons in the collection. It wasn't all about Trump, a lot of it was capturing society in general. Compared to "Yuge!", I thought this was better, because it covered not such a long time span, but was really more concerned about what's happening right now.

[Michael Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recent collection of Sunday strips focus on America's #1 tragically comic reality show - The Trump Presidency. If you haven't been reading Doonesbury since the Nixon 70's, some of the characters you may not find relatable, however if you have, this is latest collection of satire from the decades-spanning, best political comic strip in America.

[David]

I wish this was an innocuous comic strip, full of invention and exaggeration. #sadisnow

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't laugh much, reading this at the start of the second Trump term as president and reflecting on his first term. Trudeau writes about the purpose of satire in the preface. The goal isn't to change minds. It's more of a variant of Finley Dunne's prescription for advocacy journalism: "to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." Trump doesn't like being mocked, and it may only harden the views of his supporters...but for the rest of us, it's a bit of a salve. I, for one, determined to read more parodies of Trump the moment I saw him and J.D. Vance bully President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

[LadyS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being reading Doonesbury for a long time. I read the previous book in the continuous 'mock trump' era and thought it fun. My expectation of this book to be something creative that I could snicker at proved to be overly ambitious. Those claiming that originality and humor is quickly dying in this age have a solid point. This was lackluster, predictable and boring. Its sad when everything becomes the same because all the trump critics say the exact same thing. There are no refreshing takes, even in a comic. Anyway, as usual, I enjoyed the drawings which was a (little) saving grace. But just a little.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hadn’t spent any time with Trudeau’s characters in decades, so it was good to curl up on the couch with old friends and see how the years have and haven’t changed them as they observe and endure DT’s election and first two years in office. The book’s humor is trenchant, thoughtful, and generous. WTF moments abound. Sometimes it’s better to laugh than to cry. Sometimes the laughter fortifies you for the struggles ahead.

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

One more thing against Trump... Not really great illustrations and not funny, more like a long complaint, presentation of absurdity, just really sad... but I've seen enough of that and just don,t want to see more... still plenty on the news!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book of Doonesbury cartoons. All took place during the Trump presidential era.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

SAD

It took me long enough to get to this one but it was worth it. Turned out to be a bit longer than I expected and I loved it. I've been reading Trudeau's work for many years and it always satisfies. Everyone should read these books.

[Reverenddave · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://trumpreviewed.wordpress.com/2...

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doonesbury in the Trump era. Still sharp, usually funny, but the continual focus on 45 wore me down. It's a narrower world than the one that makes me love Doonesbury. Not that he's wrong about anything important.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

#SAD! from the sharp mind of G.B. Trudeau is an accurate portrayal of the insanity that is this illegitimate administration.

There has been a common comment ever since he took office that reality is so surreal that it is hard to write satire because the actual events are mind-boggling in themselves. Trudeau both illustrates this and uses it to his advantage. With almost every other figure he had to paraphrase what was said to subtract the subterfuge and leave the chilling core of what figures mean with what they say. Trump is too stupid to use subterfuge and he does not have enough command of the English language to weave a complex web of plausible alternatives. So, true to the common comment, Trudeau often uses Trump's own words to make it absolutely clear to any rational mind that Trump is both imbecilic and dangerous. Of course, one problem with this is that most of Trump's comments, can't really call them sentences, he hasn't advanced that far in his language skills, are gibberish. So his quotes work best in the strips where his childish narcissism is highlighted. Other figures in the regime have to be used to actually express policy comments since Trump doesn't know or understand anything.

I would highly recommend this to any fan of Trudeau and Doonesbury as well as anyone who needs a laugh while waiting for him and his moronic followers to destroy the world. If you're not a fan of Doonesbury and are one of Trump's moronic followers, well, you may not like this and will overlook the use of Trump's own words and call this slanderous. Poor things, just keep your guns pointed at yourselves.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is only fitting that a cartoon who got it's start during the Nixon years is still around to give it's take of the Trump years so far. This is a follow up to previous Trump era book "Yuge!" that came out a couple years ago(seems like a couple of decades in the Donald era). I find that Doonesbury style humor sort of like a thinking person's type of political and society humor. Sort of the NPR or C-Span of cartoons.

The book isn't long and is separated into four parts without any particular obvious theme. They are not in chronological order although they generally start from 2015 and go to 2018. It does focus on the Trump years may of the cartoons are not just about Trump but it also comments on society in general during this era. The previous book on Trump, "Yuge!", covered him back to his early days.

Although the book was funny the humor seem to miss the mark sometimes, at least to me it did. The previous Trump themed book seemed to be a bit more coherent as this one seemed a bit all over the place. It's still a good read if you're trying desperately to find some humor about politics these days. As the author Gary Trudeau noted in his introduction "At this benighted moment, it's all we have.".

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trudeau's amassed a biting selection of his strips showcasing the sheer buffoonery and embarrassment of Trump and his administration along with the rippling effects rained down upon our culture; for example, our attitudes toward the sea of contradictions, the attempted gaslighting, and the abandonment of common sense. There are many more, obviously.

The satirical collection calls it like it is, and you'll laugh, but there may very well be a sigh of acknowledgement (or a single tear of recognition) following it. At just over a hundred pages, it's a jewel of a read and, while familiarity with the characters going in helps amplify the humor, I don't think it's necessary for complete enjoyment.

The art's as snappy as it ever was, the presentation and structure of the book makes it a good page-turner. I imagine any fan of the series will really dig on this.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the advance read.