Mike Doonesbury
Mike Doonesbury | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Universal Press Syndicate |
Created by | Garry Trudeau |
Michael James "Mike" Doonesbury is the main character in
Mike is a fairly normal, well-adjusted individual to whom most readers can relate, in contrast to the often surreal, crazy and extreme characters that populate the strip. Trudeau based Mike's personality on his own and for this reason it is usually Mike who speaks the creator's own viewpoints. Mike's name was taken from the word "doone", meaning a person who is not afraid to appear foolish, and Charles Pillsbury, Trudeau's roommate at Yale.
History
In the early strips (from 1970), his primary traits were his inability to hit it off with any girl, and his refusal to admit his lack of success with women. Mike was initially set as a "preppy" counterpoint to his college roommate, B.D., a stereotypical
After a couple of years on campus, he moved to Walden Commune, along with
In the Doonesbury musical that ran during the strip's hiatus in 1983–84, he graduated from Walden and married Joanie's daughter,
After this, Mike took a career in advertising in New York City at the World Trade Center, and frequently found that the jobs he was assigned to violated his values and caused him a great deal of moral anguish over whether he should take the job or rebel. These assignments included selling Ronald Reagan to black voters and the creation of a new mascot for the tobacco industry. The latter caused him to have disturbing dreams, which came to life in the form of Mr. Butts, who occasionally haunts Mike's dreams to this day. Despite his qualms about his work, he usually accepted the tasks he was given, as he was too timid and too worried about finding another job to resist.
Mike's marriage was rocky from the beginning, and only got worse as time went on. He was down to earth and sensible, and J.J.'s "artistic" behavior became increasingly erratic. The two had trouble relating to each other, and he was almost tempted into an affair with Nicole. He relented at the last moment when J.J. revealed that she was pregnant. She gave birth to
After his stint as an ad-man, Mike found himself unemployed for an extended period of time, and became increasingly desperate. Eventually he landed a dream job working for Bernie's software company, moved from New York to
Like many people, Mike knew someone who died in the
Politically, Mike started out as a very liberal Democrat, campaigning for George McGovern in 1972. In 1980 he supported independent candidate John B. Anderson. In 1994 he became a Republican, supporting Steve Forbes and later Bob Dole for president. He since has expressed views that reveal him as being more moderate-leaning-to-conservative. However, he did vote for Barack Obama in 2008. During the 2016 elections, he stated that he would not be voting for Donald Trump.[1]
Mike's Summer Daydreams
One of the strip's traditions is Mike's Annual Summer Daydream. Once a year starting in the 1990s, a week of strips during the summer is devoted to him fantasizing about how he feels things should be. The daydreams sometimes cross over into actual plotlines: in 1995 Mike dreamed that he was being offered a fantastic job from Bernie, and was suddenly informed that due to a mix-up this was actually happening.