8. Wouldn’t a Gremlin Have Been More Sensible? (Dec. 1975 [?])

This collection overlaps with the previous book and reprints 124 daily strips from:
June 4 1974 to June 15 1974
July 1 1974 to July 12 1974
July 29 1974 to December 20 1974
22 strips from these blocks are not included (see comment for list).

Trying to guess the logic about why storylines were included, excluded, skipped, or shuffled out of sequence from one book to the next is usually a fool’s errand, but you can make a pretty good guess about this one, in part. The sequence from July 1 to 12 is the one where Zonker accompanies Joanie to California, and looks up his Uncle Duke, who makes his first, fleeting appearance here. By keeping these in the same collection as the subsequent stories of Joanie, her new rommate Virginia (“Ginny”) and her hopeless dolt of a boyfriend, Clyde, it forms a more satisfying read.

On the other hand, that logic doesn’t apply to moving the second series of strips about Czar Simons from the previous book, where they should have appeared, to this one. The character is retired from the strip after the June 4-15 strips.

While Uncle Duke doesn’t get much screen time here – only four strips, just enough for him to make an impression as a Hunter S. Thompson parody and exit stage right – we do meet two new, very young characters of Rufus’s acquaintance, Bobby Matthews and Malcom DeVeaux, aged seven and dealing with the effects of bussing.

7. Dare to be Great, Ms. Caucus (June, 1975)

This collection overlaps with the next book and reprints 124 daily strips from:
Dec. 26 1973 to May 31 1974
June 17 1974 to June 29 1974
July 15 1974 to July 27 1974
Aug. 12 1974
36 strips from these blocks are not included (see comment for list).

The major storyline reprinted in this book is Joanie’s long wait to be accepted into law school. She finally gets the good news that the University of California has offered her a place. Zonker, though heartbroken that she’s leaving the commune, accompanies her… but wait, that was the first of July, and those strips were held over to the next book.

Other major storylines include Mark meeting up with a trucker and helping him organize a demonstration in Louisville, Kentucky over gasoline rationing. This leads to a confrontation with the Energy Czar, “Bill” Simons, who brings an end to the energy crisis simply by declaring it over. Personal to Glenn Beck: yes, the US government had czars in 1974.

Roland B. Hedley Jr. is introduced, at this point working for Time. He interviews our heroes about college life, leading to Zonker’s surprise appearance on the magazine’s front cover in a feature story about “The New Hedonism.” This is one of my all-time favorite Doonesbury storylines.

There are several curious omissions from this book. A six-day storyline about the university’s “Conference on the Mid-East Crisis,” in which Mark debates a fellow student, Ollie Amen, is excised, as are the first, fleeting appearances of Universal Petroleum CEO Jim Andrews, some time before he crosses paths with any other characters, and years before he was shown to be friends with Phil Slackemeyer. Most bafflingly, B.D. does not appear in this book even once. All of his appearances, including an argument with Zonker about the phone bill during a far-too-short “state of the commune” meeting in March, and four days’ debate with Mark on his radio show in defense of Nixon, were cut.

Left in, happily, is a strip from May 15 which introduces Lacey and her future husband, Dick Davenport, as old-timers enjoying their class reunion. The characters would be revisited and developed some time later.

6. “What Do We Have for the Witnesses, Johnnie?” (Jan. 1975)

This collection overlaps with the previous book and reprints 124 daily strips from:
June 14 to June 30 1973
July 16 to Sept 15 and Sept 22 1973
Oct. 2 to Dec. 13 1973
Dec. 17 to 21 1973
16 strips from these blocks are not included (see comment for list).

The major storyline, which takes up most of the second half of the book, concerns Phred bringing 300 Cambodian refugees to the US after his sightseeing expedition to that nation goes awry. The refugees become status symbols for the various congressional wives who take them in.

Other key moments in this book include Zonker’s arrest for pot possession in California, the introduction of Alice, not yet homeless, as a regular barfly in a pub where Zonker works as a summer job, and Mike getting lost for three days in the woods while camping. That actually happened to an old friend of mine in Idaho.

5. Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! (June, 1974)

This collection overlaps with the next book and reprints 124 daily strips from:
Jan. 8 1973 to June 13 1973
July 3 to July 14 1973
Sept. 17 to Sept. 29 1973
Dec. 14, 15, 24 and 25 1973
38 strips from these blocks are not included (see comment for list).

Key moments in this book include Joanie’s divorce from Clint, the arrival of a former POW to the campus as a freshman, and Mark’s first stint as a DJ on WBBY. The famous strip about John Mitchell which gives this collection its title originally appeared on May 29, 1973.

Storylines excised from the book include the birth of Rufus/Thor’s sister, Norma Jean – Mike is her godfather – and a sequence in which B.D. returns home to force his father, recently unemployed, to quit watching repeats of Mannix and Star Trek.

4. Call Me When You Find America (Oct. 1973)

This collection reprints 124 daily strips from June 28 1972 to Dec. 29 1972
34 strips from the period are not included (see comment for list.)

Obviously, the key sequence from this book is Mike and Mark’s road trip and the introduction of Joanie, whom they meet in Denver. Henry Kissinger is shown as an on-camera player – Mark takes him to lunch at a Washington McDonald’s – for a five-day sequence. When the character returns as a lecturer later in the 1970s, he is an off-panel voice only, as is standard for celebrities in the strip.

At present, I have a 1976 Bantam edition of this book, which seems to replace the previous Popular Library reissue editions. Interestingly, this book is the first to correct Trudeau’s idiosyncratic “goodby” with the modern “goodbye.” The Doonesbury Flashbacks CD-ROM packaged with The Bundled Doonesbury book shows that the original strips were still using the old-fashioned spelling when they appeared in newspapers.

3. But This War Had Such Promise (June, 1973)

This collection reprints 124 daily strips from Dec 27 1971 to June 27 1972
33 strips from the period are not included (see comment for list.)

As the cover indicates, the bulk of this book deals with B.D.'s time overseas. Key moments in this collection, therefore, include the introduction of Phred and the founding of Walden Commune, which happens while he's in Viet Nam.

This book was later repackaged as two titles under HRW’s Popular Library imprint, “Bravo for Life’s Little Libraries” and “I Have No Son.” These books are reformatted to only contain two panels per page. This is the last HRW edition to be split in such manner for many years.

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.