Iraq-Related Strips Get Positive Reaction

By: Dave Astor Many e-mailers are praising Garry Trudeau and Darby Conley for bringing the realities of Iraq to their comics in sequences that began Monday.

In Trudeau's "Doonesbury," B.D. is badly hurt -- and will reportedly have his left leg amputated. In Conley's "Get Fuzzy," a cousin of the strip's main human character also loses a leg in Iraq.

David Stanford, who works for Trudeau, told E&P Tuesday: "I'd say the messages are 90-10 in support of the series -- including kudos from people who say upfront that they generally don't agree politically with the strip but appreciate what Garry is doing with this storyline. There's a lot of emotion."

One e-mailer from Hawaii wrote that the B.D. sequence "puts a finger of reality into the cold news of today, and contrasts starkly with the blather from the White House. ... You have made up for a multitude of cheap shots at incumbent presidents and other dimwitted ideas. ... I salute you on behalf of those who know that war and empire are not the solutions to our problems."

A partially disabled veteran from Illinois wrote: "Regardless of your politics, this is a moving tribute to the service men and women who are daily receiving real, life-altering, and life-terminating battle wounds in Iraq. This is a damnable affair and the sooner it is finished the better."

Some "Doonesbury" newspaper clients have also reacted. "Editorial got under 10 calls from editors whose opinions on the strips were mixed, but mostly positive," said Kathie Kerr, director of communications at Universal Press Syndicate. "Only one, I believe, said he would not run the Friday strip with the 'sob' word, but that he planned to put the strip online and even was going to offer to fax it to readers if they wanted a copy."

At "Get Fuzzy" distributor United Media, Promotion Manager Linda Kuczwaj said: "The mail that we have received here from readers has all been positive." It is unknown what kind of mail Conley has been getting; he has opted not to do interviews about the series in order "to let the work speak for itself."

The 1999-launched "Get Fuzzy" runs in more than 400 papers. The 1970-founded "Doonesbury" appears in about 1,400 newspapers.