The surprising daily comics

It's been an interesting week in the world of newspaper comics.

The hot topic has been Doonesbury, with a sequence dropped by about 100 papers due to its satirical take on the Texas law requiring women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram.

Here's the one that got dropped:

Our local editorial cartoonist responded with this. This is just an excerpt:

(Sorry, due to the litigious nature of my local daily newspaper, which guards its online properties with the fury of a mother grizzly, I am not allowed to show you the whole editorial cartoon. But you can find a link to it here.)

Editorial director George Pyle explains the little bespectacled fat guy with fat lips is Bagley's generic Utah legislator. The hot tub reference is to Kevin Garn, a self-righteous legislator whom, when a nude hot tub party a couple of decades before with a then-15 year old girl was revealed, basically ended his political career. However, when he resigned before the body his fellow legislators hypocrites gave him a standing ovation.

Here's the story of the hot-tub legislator's resignation, if you're interested.

For me, just as interesting as the buzz over Doonesbury is the non-buzz over two more daily comics, which could just as easily cause outcries from groups of readers.

In a strip from March 16, 2012, Luann wonders if her friend, Gunther, is gay because he is "an only child raised by [his] mom and [he is] into sewing."

The Pardon My Planet panel, also from March 16, shows Jesus in a situation that could upset religious Christians.

Why would editors of newspapers, shy about offending anti-abortion forces, not feel the same about gay activists or the religious right?

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