Doonesbury: What is it, Tink, is Pan in Trouble?

Doonesbury Annuals #37

by G.B. Trudeau

Grab your Dramamine--it's Silly Season, and the election handicappers are losing their shirts. Kudos to Rick Redfern for the first bombshell: His evidence that Quayle handlers conspired to silence a federal prisoner causes Dano to wail and editors to bail. Out on the campaign trail, Mark Slackmeyer tracks His Incumbency, causing a stir by serving up accurate--if incomprehensible--transcripts of primo Bushspeak. Meanwhile, over in aisle two of the Cosmic Supermarket, Jerry Brown, Insider, has doubled his shelf-life by repackaging himself as Jerry Brown, Outsider. And as Roland and Rick find themselves in the tank for the semi-flawed character from Arkansas ("Look out, Mt. Rushmore "), the two Dukes, David and Uncle, conspire as only distant cousins can.Of course, things are tough all over--as everyone but Poppy has noticed. Of the core "Doonesbury" cast in "What Is It, Tink, Is Pan in Trouble?" only one has a job that requires getting out of bed. As Mike enters his second year of full unemployment, and B.D. realizes he needs to get a post-Ground War life, ex-nanny Zonker finesses the recession by returning home to his terrified parents.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, History, Politics, Cartoon

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

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

[David]

On the 5th tour through the entire Doonescape. It never fails.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unusually low rating for this one, too high a proportion of election strips for me.

[Shoshanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soldiers returning home from Desert Storm, unemployment, 1992 presidential primaries

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming out in 1992, strips from late 91 and early 92. BD gets back from the (first) Iraq War, and by the end of the run we see the beginning of the rise of Clinton. Fertile ground for laughs, right?

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ray and BD arrive back from the first Gulf War as Trudeau moves vets to the foreground where they've (unfortunately) remained for the better part of a quarter century. Mike remains unemployed as Trudeau focusing on an economy that for a whole lot of people hasn't improved much over the same quarter century. The volume closes with a really nice sequence on Bill Clinton's seduction of the press corps during the 1992 primaries. Good not great Doonesbury.

[Bunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only Doonesbury book my library has. I need to get them to order more.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

BD and Boopsie split. Ray's girlfriend left him. Zonker went home to his parents. Mike is unemployed. Introducing Bill Clinton.