2. The President is a Lot Smarter Than You Think (1973)

This collection reprints 124 daily strips from June 5 1971 to Dec 25 1971
51 strips from the period are not included (see comment for list.)

For a second time, entire storylines were axed from the book. Left behind in this collection are a series where Zonker, who is introduced in this book, is replaced on the football team by a character called The Tree, and one in which Mark films a documentary about all the characters.

Future presidential candidate and “gorgeous preppie” John Kerry is an on-camera participant in three strips. In 1971, he had completed his military service in Viet Nam and was touring the country with other vets to protest the war.

This book was later repackaged as two titles under HRW’s Popular Library imprint, “The President is a Lot Smarter Than You Think” and “Don’t Ever Change, Boopsie.” These books are reformatted to only contain two panels per page.