#SAD! by G.B. Trudeau

Although I have more libertarian political views that tend to skew conservative, I have usually enjoyed reading the comic strip “Doonesbury.” Sometimes the satire in the strip is really funny and right on, other times it seems to be edgy for the sake of being edgy. #SAD! is supposed to be a collection of comics reflecting “Doonesbury” in the age of Trump. I say supposed to be because there are several comics (especially in the first section of the book) that really have nothing to do with Trump at all and I’m not sure why they were even included with this collection. The first section of the book also jumps around: there are comics next to each other that were published months and in a few cases, years apart from each other.  While it might be argued that they are included in this first section (entitled “The Gathering Storm”) because they foreshadow what is to come, many of them seem out of place to me and only used because they needed some filler.  The rest of the book, once most of the strips are published in chronological order, is better than the first section. With that said, towards the end of the book there are again gaps. I’m not sure why the gaps are there; maybe the strips that seem to be missing didn’t seem to fit with the tone of the book or maybe they were another one of Trudeau’s notorious sabbaticals (Trudeau has taken more sabbaticals from cartooning than any educator or college professor ever has). Anyway, while there were parts of #SAD! I enjoyed, I felt that the tone was not consistent. The book claims to be a lifeline for those living through the time of Trump.  However, to me, it seemed to be highly inconsistent and only dealing with Trump on occasion. Those who purchase the book new also receive a pull-out poster of the updated Doonesbury Trump Board Game.