Doonesbury's DB Will Lose Leg in Iraq

The AP reports:

"A main character in the Doonesbury comic strip will lose a leg while fighting in Iraq, one of two strips published this week that feature soldiers getting injured in the war.

"In Monday's Doonesbury, B.D., a football coach-turned-soldier, was injured after being reactivated in the Army at the end of 2002, following a losing football season.

"Later this week, he will wake up to find his left leg amputated, according to Universal Press Syndicate, the strip's distributor.

"Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau said he wanted to illustrate the sacrifices American soldiers are making.

"'It's a task any writer should approach with great humility, but I think it's worth doing,' Trudeau said. 'We are at war, and we can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individual lives."

"Trudeau said B.D. would learn to deal with his injury 'probably the same way so many wounded vets seem to - with gratitude for having had one's life spared, empathy and respect for those who have suffered worse, and a grim sense of humor indispensable to fending off despair.'"

Hey, Gary (and, while we are on the subject, Aaron McGruder as well). Aren't newspaper strips supposed to be funny?

Other make believe cartoon characters slated for untimely incidents:

Charlie Brown loses his combover after an aggressive chemotherapy treatment for a brain tumor.

Marmaduke will endure stones in his urinary tract.

Garfield will contract feline AIDS

Dilbert gets a painful case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Andy Capp gets cirrhosis of the liver.

Apartment 3G burns down.

Mary Worth gets diagnosed with diabetes.

Brenda Starr reporter is captured by Al Quaeda.

Dagwood becomes obese.

and, in positive news:

Lil Orphan Annie gets a successful eye transplant.