Doonesbury question: What am I missing?

Ulf the Unwashed · #1 07-19-2012, 10:51 AM

Okay, so we recently saw Alex get married to Leo. In the last couple of days (see for instance http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/7/18) we've seen a couple of characters discussing this event...I believe one of them is Zonker's nephew, whose name I'm blanking on (Zipper??) and the other, I think, is Jeff Redfern. Jeff, if it IS Jeff, is pretty clearly bummed about Alex marrying someone other than himself.

But if I'm remembering my Doonesbury family tree correctly, and I may not be,

--Jeff is the son of Rick Redfern and Joanie Caucus Sr.
--with Joanie also being the mother of Joan Jr.
--with Joan Jr. being the mother of Alex

So Joan Jr. and Jeff are half-siblings, and so Alex is Jeff's half-niece.
And he's wishing she'd married him??

I admit I don;t follow the strip all that closely, so my family tree may be wrong--heck, it may not even be Jeff. But if I'm right, anybody else finding this whole thing a little...peculiar?

Maus Magill · #2 07-19-2012, 10:59 AM

I don't think we're the ones confused. I'm wondering if the dialog is being said by the wrong characters. I know Zipper has been carrying a torch for Alex since she went out with him... once.

BrotherCadfael · #3 07-19-2012, 12:06 PM

Y'know, I was wondering about this myself. Trudeau may have finally lost it...

The Second Stone · #4 07-19-2012, 12:19 PM

They both have a thing for her and Jeff is clueless that he is her uncle unless someone reminds him. Jeff and Zipper are losers. Zeke is Alex's stepfather, and he has a thing for her too. He's just a creep.

TriPolar · #5 07-19-2012, 12:22 PM

Yeah, I think his unrequited love is just an indication of the amount of air in his head.

Biffy the Elephant Shrew · #6 07-19-2012, 12:37 PM

Let the sequence play out. Zipper giving Jeff a headsmack moment by reminding him of his relationship to Alex may turn out to be the punch line.

Lamia · #7 07-19-2012, 01:18 PM

In the "Blowback" section there are several comments from people who were creeped out by Jeff's interest in his relative. There's an Editor's Note in response that says "GBT inadvertently mixed up the two boys during the course of the week. While Jeff is threatened by Leo's warrior bone fides, it's Zipper who's had the crush on Alex. Apologies to the many horrified, genealogically astute readers who noticed."