The Comics May Be Making A Comeback

I have long-since quit reading the comics ... or the funny papers as we once called them. I guess I really quit when the papers decided Doonsbury was funny, rather than the liberal political commentary it was. And then Pogo ceased to be, and except for Dennis and Family Circus I figured it was over with.

Anyway, the other day a friend called my attention to a strip in last Sunday's paper called "Millard Fillmore." It, too, had a political tone but at least it was funny. It was supposedly a series of comments from various people at the Faculty Club at some University, and as could be expected all of these professors, probably tenured, were making comments about the current political climate. It is obvious the male and female professors, politically correct racially, were a; product of the 1960's. One complained she led a protest the other day and only professors showed up. Another, a now-balding male, griped that his students had protested his protest. The black professor suggested there should be limits on free speech because some of his students showed up wearing "support our troops" T-shirts, and a sour-looking female teacher said she didn't trust anyone UNDER 30 years old ... a reminder that one of the great credos of the hippie era was "never trust a person over 30."

The clincher was an older professor who said: "We have met `the establishment' and it is us" ... a direct take-off on the great Pogo comic strip that stated: "We have met the enemy and he is us." You know what? The comics may be making a comeback as political commentary ... on the conservative side.

This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.