For twenty-five years (give or take a lengthy hiatus), Garry Trudeau has supplied the American public with Doonesbury, a comic strip that combines pointed social commentary with the day-to-day lives of Michael Doonesbury and all his friends, relatives, co-workers, and all their spouses, siblings and pets. If any criticism can be leveled at this daily institution, it would have to be that it's very difficult for a newcomer to get "into" the strip with all its complicated character relationships. We're talking a quarter-century of back history here, and Trudeau has no qualms about bringing back characters that haven't been heard from in over a decade.
Enter Doonesbury Flashbacks from Mindscape. This CD-ROM is not just a nostalgia trip for fans, it's also the perfect piece of software for people who want to learn what all the fuss is about. The entire first 25 years of Doonesbury is included. Every single strip, including Sunday color funnies, up until mid '95. That's over 9000 strips, and it would be remarkable even if nothing else was included on the disc. But these strips are also organized in every conceivable way to allow for easy access. Read them at your leisure or print out your favorites for the refrigerator door.
In the "Chronology" section, you can look at the strips as they appeared in order, or select any given day, and view the dailies in a newspaper-like format that includes the major headlines for that week and a pithy quote. This section also includes newspaper and magazine articles about Doonesbury and the reactions famous people have had to it. "Characters" lets you get a quick biography of any of the characters that ever had a name in the strip, just by right-clicking. You can also highlight more than one character and get a list showing strips that feature them together. In "Geography", you are presented with a map of the United States loaded down with hotspots where strips have taken place. Just click a location for a list. There's also a map of the Eastern Hemisphere you can check out. "Politics" lets you choose strips that include major political figures or hot topics by clicking on a campaign button. The Doonesbury "Timeline" divides the strip into its interweaving story threads, letting you see an entire story no matter how spread out the strips were originally. And there's just a straightforward search engine that lets you seek out characters, words, dates, and/or topics.
If you've already read all the darn strips, you can kick butt on the "Trivia Quiz", hosted by an animated Mike. You get ten points for a correct answer and ten taken away for a wrong one. When you give up, you are shown the strip that answers the question for you. Every time you get fifty points, the lovely Boopsie presents you with a lovely prize, like a coffeepot or some meat.
And finally, there's the "Media Room," directed by Marvelous Mark Slackmeyer. Here's where you can see all the posters and magazine covers Trudeau has designed over the years. It's also an on-line catalog for the recent Doonesbury merchandise Trudeau has authorized, with all the royalties going to charity. You can look at the covers of the book collections, watch video clips from the 1978 Doonesbury animated special, read the script from that special or the Doonesbury musical comedy (both here in their entirety), or you can read a bio of Trudeau. How's that for comprehensive?
Doonesbury Flashbacks is certainly an impressive piece of work, but it also carries some exciting implications. If 25 years of daily strips can be fit on one CD-ROM, along with all that other material, then almost any comic strip could be given the same archival treatment! This is hardly a crucial issue with Garfield, but what about the venerable Peanuts? Or Alley Oop? Instead of buying paperback after overpriced paperback to see the entire history of a strip, all it would take would be one CD! The picture quality wouldn't degrade and the paper wouldn't yellow. Of course, you also couldn't read it in the bathroom, but you've got to give the technology time.
This is one of a series of Doonesbury multimedia products recently released by Mindscape, and while the screen saver and the election game are both cool, there's a lot to be said for going back to the original material. This strip is an American classic, it's even more valid now than it was during Watergate, and I hope it stays around for another twenty-five years.
