The Wreck of the "Rusty Nail" (A Doonesbury book by G. B. Trudeau)

Rating:
Summary: Matagordo Island, sans mineral rights, is claimed for China
Review: "The Wreck of the 'Rusty Nail'" offers up an assortment of "Doonesbury" daily comic strips from the period 1981-1982-1983. At the start Duke is still on the run after his unfortunate "accidental" shooting of Zeke Brenner (events detailed in "Unfortunately, She Was Also Wired for Sound") but with Honey (and Honey's $2,000), Duke has grandiose plans for "Rusty Nail Charters." Of course, the ship is doomed, and Duke and Honey end up doing Robinson Crusoe on a "deserted" island (except for the whooping cranes, the pelicans, and a mouthy parrot). Meanwhile Phil Slackmeyer is leaving the Reagan White House to return to private industry and big bucks while President King needs to make some severe budget cuts at Walden University. Dr. Kissinger has to deal with both heart surgery and the concern of his students and there is naked Communist aggression down South American way (with photographs no less). However, I never really enjoyed the strips focusing on Duke all that much, so the best offerings in this collection have to do with Mike Doonesbury discovering his younger brother has gone punk, Joanie tells Rick that she is pregnant, and the Walden War Games provides one possible scenario for how the world will end. I do not consider anything in here to constitute classic "Doonesbury" from G. B. Trudeau, but even on cruise control these strips are still well above average given the rest of what we find on the daily funny pages. Of course, "The Wreck of the `Rusty Nail'" is going to be of interest to those who want to reread the strips rather than those trying to work their way backwards to the beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Matagordo Island, sans mineral rights, is claimed for China
Review: "The Wreck of the 'Rusty Nail'" offers up an assortment of "Doonesbury" daily comic strips from the period 1981-1982-1983. At the start Duke is still on the run after his unfortunate "accidental" shooting of Zeke Brenner (events detailed in "Unfortunately, She Was Also Wired for Sound") but with Honey (and Honey's $2,000), Duke has grandiose plans for "Rusty Nail Charters." Of course, the ship is doomed, and Duke and Honey end up doing Robinson Crusoe on a "deserted" island (except for the whooping cranes, the pelicans, and a mouthy parrot). Meanwhile Phil Slackmeyer is leaving the Reagan White House to return to private industry and big bucks while President King needs to make some severe budget cuts at Walden University. Dr. Kissinger has to deal with both heart surgery and the concern of his students and there is naked Communist aggression down South American way (with photographs no less). However, I never really enjoyed the strips focusing on Duke all that much, so the best offerings in this collection have to do with Mike Doonesbury discovering his younger brother has gone punk, Joanie tells Rick that she is pregnant, and the Walden War Games provides one possible scenario for how the world will end. I do not consider anything in here to constitute classic "Doonesbury" from G. B. Trudeau, but even on cruise control these strips are still well above average given the rest of what we find on the daily funny pages. Of course, "The Wreck of the 'Rusty Nail'" is going to be of interest to those who want to reread the strips rather than those trying to work their way backwards to the beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: More fun and games from the Doonesbury crew. This time, the cartoons first appeared in the early Eighties.

The main tale in this book is of the mishaps of Duke and Honey as they try to run a boat charter operation. When running drugs and refugees doesn't work out, Duke takes a party of tourists on a trip to the Falklands to watch the British blockade. As usual Duke's approach to life is outrageous and totally lacking in shame but somehow, you have to like his directness.

In the meantime, we see the rest of the cast coping with the early years of the Reagan era. The humour is sharp and, despite the fact that many of the themes are now well in the past, this book is still readable today.