Tee Time in Berzerkistan: A Doonesbury Book Volume 31

This book is a collection of the Doonesbury daily strips, and cover some of the more recent events in both the strip and in the world. As always, the wit is fun, the content is sharp, and the characters are pieces of art in themselves. I realize that Doonesbury is not for everyone, and so this book is pretty much for those that are fans of the series. Another stretch in the lives that are the Doonesbury cast is presented here, as they react to and live in the world today. Whether it's multi-war veteran B.D. (quickly becoming one of my favorite characters) coming out of his own shell and helping other vets with their lives following deployment and injury, constant schemer Duke putting together a team of second string Olympic hopefuls for a dedicated Beloved Benevolent Dictator For Life, of MIT student Alex Doonesbury finding her place in the big world, this book keeps you laughing all the way along. Add into this the recent arrival of injured veteran Toggle and his "Not always the class act you see before you" mother, and the little jabs and nods to the current world events are a pleasure to read through.

When you read through this volume,you see what an amazing strip this has become.We get it in small doses of 4 panels a day;but to really put it all into perspective,you need to take a few hours and take in the year as a whole.Surprisingly,even then they couldn't cover everything.Trudeau deals with the wars in the Mid East,by concentrating on an injured soldier ,his recovery and attempt to return to normal life at home.Duke is at it again, by trying to set up operations with His Excellency,President for Life,TRFF BMZKLFRPZ in Berzerkistan.There are a raft of other things going on.Thudpucker is down to writing songs for cell phones.Redfern is let go from his paper and attempts to enter the blog world.Trudeau has Alice and Elmont dealing with the recession by trying to set up and francise "Tarp Cities".Bush's term comes to an end with a great lack of fanfare.Obama enters the White House,doesn't seem to know where or how to get started;and Trudeau really doesn't seem to be able to make anything notable about it either.What is he to do when Obama only acts through a teleprompter,and everything he promised ,just doesn't get anywhere.Poor Trudeau can't even equate Obama to an Icon,as he was able to do with the other Presidents.The feather for Quale,waffle for Clinton,helmut for Bush,etc., were priceless;but the only thing that would be appropriate at this stage for Obama would be a teleprompter,but that would be an uninspired understatement.We'll just have to wait ,I guess. There are a lot of other issues that Trudeau had to cover such as poor enrolement and a new president at Walden,Zonker's problems with calories at McFriendley's,all the goings on with Joanie,Alex ,Mrs Deluca,Ginny,and particulatly Alex's attempting to make a movie about Lucy Davenport. Trudeau has really been taken by the appearance of Palin on the scene you can see where she is going to be a major force ,more like a major storm,particularly to the liberals and the "libbers".His icon for her of a little doll,is what they see her as;but dolls and "tea Parties" is rapidly turning into a cyclone. I am surprised that Trudeau had spent so little effort on things like Health Care,Gitmo,Terrorist Trials,Stimulis and Earmarks,Acorn,Rev Wright and Bill Ayres,etc.And what happened with Pelosi and Reid? Trudeau was great dealing with Newt;but he seems not to have noticed his replacements.And how about all Obama's sidekicks and Czars? It's been over a year now,there is lots to work with,let's hope Trugeau isn't getting tired of it all.Political satire is great,and the material is endless;maybe Trudeau is just having difficulty in trying to figure out where to go with all that is happening. While this book is a summation of 2008,I am wondering why some of the panels are being repeated.For instance ,Duke having to lay off his employees ,close shop,billables down by 85%,no employees left to fire;was covered on pages 197 and 198;and it is now appearing in the newspapers dated February 1 to 4? I

Gary Trudeau's with and razor sharp pen are in fine form in this collection of Doonesbury strips. We follow BD through the trauma of helping his former GI, Toggle, recover from being hit by a bomb. Mark lists all the Congressmen who became lobbyists after losing elections. Zonker serves up 5,000 calorie meals at McFriendly's. And above, all George Bush's final days, the rise of Barack Obama as a political force are covered. The most hilarious segments have to do with Roland Hedley's moronic twittering! I recommend this to anyone who's enjoyed Doonesbury in the past, and others who want to get a decidedly anti-Bush perspective on American life during wartime.