Storyline
FAQs
Beta-fresh answers, uploaded occasionally
Lets face it, our favorite comic strip is often obscure or inconsistent, and key characters are sometimes left stranded for years. Long-suffering readers are within their rights to demand some clarification. Use the "Ask GBT" form to email us your questions, and we will answer those we can on the Blowback page, and also archive the answers here.
--David L., Indialantic, FL
With all the current Swift Boat Vets and Bush Guard brouhaha I was just wondering -- did anyone ever collect on the $10,000 reward for confirming Bush's Guard service in Alabama? Thanks.
-- C.A., Milton, MA
While waiting for the recent Texans for Truth reward offer to produce results, we invite you to peruse our contest winners and selections from the Bush Guard testimony.
FIRST RUNNER-UP (original of the 2-26-04 Doonesbury strip, signed by G.B. Trudeau):
I can't verify Bush's
presence in Alabama, but as a dental professional I am intrigued with his dental records. Generally, an
individual with a large bank account doesn't have any missing permanent molars without receiving a fixed
bridge (#3 is missing, yet no bridge is placed between #2-4, #2 has a crown, but #4 only has a three
surface restoration). The American public needs to see his posterior bitewings from 1973 and a current
series of bitewings to better judge the authenticity of the information provided.
-- Barbara
Vanderveen, Galt, CA
SECOND RUNNER-UP (signed copy of Doonesbury collection Got War?)
Bush and
I were together during those months on a mission so secret it's taken years of therapy for me to
remember. We were on board an alien vessel during the time in question, emissaries of the Pentagon on a
successful mission to obtain "mental weaponry" far in advance of anything the Soviets had. Our memories
were then wiped clean, except for the deepest recesses of the unconscious. I weep for the president's
struggle with this trauma, and am coming forward to share my pain in interviews, book contracts, and the
like. God bless America.
-- Matthew Wills, New York, NY
THIRD RUNNER-UP (fully-branded Duke swizzle stick)
I am an employee of the Nigerian government
Toastmaster's Club. I am in hiding while rebels loot my country. In 1972 I was a colonel in the Alabama Air
National Guard and flew many aircrafts. I was Bush's wingman. I was with him for his dental exams. I
warned him against medical physical exams. You must keep this in strictest confidence. If you wish to
pursue this business venture, then I shall need your fax and baking preferences.
-- Dr. Abdula E. Fraudena,
Lagos, NIGERIA
Note: Management apologizes to those contestants whose testimony does not appear in the following sampling. In some cases, recent FCC rulings were an inhibiting factor. Essays over 10,000 words in length were not posted out of respect for those using dial-up modems. Special thanks to everyone who offered to sweeten the kitty. If we'd had a winner and all of you had followed through, the USO would have received an additional $16,590. If you would like to contribute directly, write to: Edward Powell, President, USO World Headquarters, 1008 Eberte Place SE, Suite 301, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 20374.
We've borrowed the following explanation of the physiatrist's role from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilition Web site, where you can go to get more information.
What is a Physiatrist?
A physiatrist (fizz ee at' trist) is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists treat a wide range of problems from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. They see patients in all age groups and treat problems that touch upon all the major systems in the body. These specialists focus on restoring function to people....
Physiatrists treat acute and chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders. They may see a person who lifts a heavy object at work and experiences back pain, a basketball player who sprains an ankle and needs rehabilitation to play again, or a knitter who has carpal tunnel syndrome. Physiatrists' patients include people with arthritis, tendonitis, any kind of back pain, and work- or sports-related injuries.
Physiatrists also treat serious disorders of the musculoskeletal system that result in severe functional limitations. They would treat a baby with a birth defect, someone in a bad car accident, or an elderly person with a broken hip. Physiatrists coordinate the long-term rehabilitation process for patients with spinal cord injuries, cancer, stroke or other neurological disorders, brain injuries, amputations, and multiple sclerosis.
Physiatrists practice in rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and in private offices. They often have broad practices, but some concentrate on one area such as pediatrics, sports medicine, geriatric medicine, brain injury, or many other special interests.
As to the unfortunate coincidence of the last panel's artwork (drawn in April) with the recent grisly tragedy in Iraq, Trudeau shares your chagrin: "Most Sunday sections are prepared five to six weeks in advance, and today's strip was unfortunately overtaken by events. To 'hand someone his head' is a common expression, not normally associated with actual violence. I regret the poor timing, and apologize to anyone who was offended by an image that is now clearly inappropriate."
Those newspapers around the country who print their Sunday sections late were offered a substitute strip.
The strips are about sacrifice, about the kind of shattering loss that completely changes lives. In B.D., I've placed a central character in harm's way, and his charmed life takes a dramatic turn on a road outside Fallujah. In the opening panels, he's in shock, hallucinating, with voices cutting in and out. Medics call this time the golden hour, that small window of opportunity when lives are most easily saved. B.D. is medevaced out, and in the third strip, the point of view is reversed, revealing just how grievous his wound really is. We also see his hair, its presence almost as startling as the absence of his leg.
What I meant to convey is that B.D.'s life has been irrevocably changed, that another chapter has begun. He is now on an arduous journey of recovery and rehabilitation. What I'm hoping to describe are the coping strategies that get people through this. There is no culture of complaint among the wounded -- most feel grateful to be alive and respectful of those who have endured even worse fates. But for many, a kind of black humor is indispensable in fending off bitterness or despair, so that's what will animate the strips that follow.
I have to approach this with humility and care. I'm sure I won't always get it right, and I'm also sure people will let me know when I don't. But it seems worth doing. This month alone, we've sustained nearly 600 wounded-in-action. Whether you think we belong in Iraq or not, we can't tune it out; we have to remain mindful of the terrible losses that individual soldiers are suffering in our name.