In Search of Reagan's Brain

Doonesbury Annuals #20

by G.B. Trudeau

Satirizes the television coverage of Afghanistan and the 1980 presidential election, the American obsession with suntans, the Billy Carter affair, and the trial of the Gang of Four

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

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Reagan first appeared on the big-time US political scene, Doonesbury made a vague effort to apply rules of fair play. "He's just an old actor!" says one of the Walden gang. "He's NOT!" replies B.D. indignantly. "He's going to be every bit as good a President as he was an actor!" Mike and Mark look at each other. "Do you want to take it?" one of them asks. "Can't," says the other. "Too easy shot."

But now Reagan has been President for a while, and the gloves are off. In a sort of Oliver-Sacks-meets-Fantastic-Voyage sequence, Roland takes a trip through Reagan's brain. Among other things, he discovers a complicated system of prisms and mirrors; as he explains, they prevent Reagan from seeing forwards through clear eyes, and only allow him to look backwards through a rose-tinted haze. Totally below the belt, but very funny all the same...

[Craig Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doonesbury moves into the Reagan era with side trips to China for the Trial of the Gang of Four and Afghanistan where the US is supporting the insurgents (now known as the Taliban) against the Soviets. I'm certainly fine with making fun of Ron and Nancy, but reading this volume made me aware that at this point in the ongoing story, Trudeau had lost his sense of how to vary the rhythm between the personal stories--JJ splitting from Zeke and meeting Mike--and the political panorama. Too much Washington and Roland--probably the recurring Doonesbury character who interests me least. It was somewhere around this point that I stopped reading Doonesbury every day.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

So delightfully snarky. I love Trudeau's take on politicians and investigative journalists.

[Lise · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Doonesbury album

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always worth reading.

[Jennifer Macaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best cartoonists and political satirists out there - Doonesbury pointed his wicked pen at Reagan, and he was almost too kind in this comic strip. From the Iran Contra scandal in Iran, to the White House in Washington, Roland Hedley, intrepid journalist, searches for a clue that Reagan has a brain - in vain - alas - the moron had no brain, and his actions have blighted the United States - and even the rest of the world - for decades.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming out in 1981 with strips from the second half of 80, following the usual pattern for these books. JJ breaks up with Zeke and hooks up with Michael Doonesbury in this segment and Honey testifies in the trial of the Gang of Four, but the most fun of this period was Roland Hedley’s TV tour of Reagan’s brain, much to the outrage of many at the time – considering what we’d latter learn about Ronnie’s level of consciousness at the time, Hedley went easy on him.

[Shoshanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iran, Afghanistan, John Anderson, Billy Carter, election of Ronald Reagan, also Mike and JJ? I think the aging must still be frozen. Looking forward to when the characters age in real time, though I guess that's probably like half way through the series!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book, including issues such as Duke, Gerald Ford, Reagan, and the Soviet-Afghanistan War.

[David]

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

[Kent Archie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read this almost 40 years later.
The concerns about how dangerous Reagan would be seem very quaint now.

[AS · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part was the series of cartoons that went with the title : )
Very clever "internal view" of Reagan's brain.
Fun for the nostalgia but parts of it were kind of dry.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

there are only two character i really don't like in doonesbury; zipper and roland headley

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

They title says it all. This book incorporates all the cartoons from two books I read earlier this week. We Who Are About To Fry, Salute You is the other one. JJ meets Mike.