# Anybody know what year this Doonesbury strip was printed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510 "2013-02-06T19:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/1 "2013-02-06T19:01:55Z")
Someone on Reddit found [this original Doonesbury strip art](http://i.imgur.com/Le0h3OD.jpg) at a Goodwill for $9. Based on their description, the size of the item, etc, it appears to be the real deal. I’m wondering if any of the big Doonesbury fans here might know what year this strip was printed. The date is 10/26, but no year listed. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/2 "2013-02-06T19:04:30Z")
[1985](http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245617/m1/4/)? (Interestingly, that paper is dated 10/_25_ …?) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/3 "2013-02-06T19:04:37Z")
I believe Doones has complete archives of past strips, searchable. Since you have a partial date, you could probably find it by checking likely years. Just checked; you have to have a GoComics subscription these days to see the full archive. Which I do. Hold, please… Ninja’d, but GoComics is a recommended resource at a whopping $11 a year. It looks like the above paper printed multiple strips per issue - perhaps it was a twice-weekly? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/4 "2013-02-06T19:10:25Z")
Dang timer… It’s not original art, though. It’s a stat, such as used to be sent to papers for printing, or sent by the artist as a gift or such. I have a couple here from Rhymes with Orange, with “Thanks, [NitroPress]!” in the corner since I wrote the idea… ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/5 "2013-02-06T19:26:39Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Dang timer… > > It’s not original art, though. It’s a stat, such as used to be sent to papers for printing, or sent by the artist as a gift or such. I have a couple here from Rhymes with Orange, with “Thanks, [NitroPress]!” in the corner since I wrote the idea… Very interesting. Do the stats usually still include the text alignment lines? [Here’s a close-up the owner also posted.](http://i.imgur.com/gVIJ5sy.jpg) Also, you can see little bits of white-out here and there used to clean up some of the lines (look in the close-up along the lower spine of the bible on the desk). It’s not mine, but it definitely intrigued me. Thanks for the info so far! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/6 "2013-02-06T19:28:17Z")
[October 26, 1985](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1985/10/26) Earlier in 1985 is [a similarly-themed strip about student apathy](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1985/01/27). I guess that was a bee in Trudeau’s bonnet that year. Had he taken a part-time teaching job? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/7 "2013-02-06T19:43:41Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Do the stats usually still include the text alignment lines? Nope. That’s an original indeed, and at a very nice price. My bad; stats are not uncommon out there and are usually given framed or framed by the recipient. Don’t Be Fooled. Look for the gen-you-wine scratchmarks and whiteout to be sure.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/8 "2013-02-06T21:58:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > [October 26, 1985](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1985/10/26) > > Earlier in 1985 is [a similarly-themed strip about student apathy](http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1985/01/27). I guess that was a bee in Trudeau’s bonnet that year. Had he taken a part-time teaching job? No, but that was right around the time Trudeau took his first long hiatus. Reagan’s landslide election really depressed him, and soured him on America as a whole. Moreover, Trudeau was increasingly out to lunch, and halfway suspected it himself. Mike’s brother was “Sal” (short for Saliva) Doonesburry, a punk rocker who proved conclusively that Trudeau knew absolutely nothing about punk music, culture or politics. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-what-year-this-doonesbury-strip-was-printed/649510/9 "2013-02-07T01:21:17Z")
I couldn’t see for sure, but up the left-hand side of the first frame is a minuscule line of type that probably contains the year.