Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 16, 2020

Yeah, we didn’t see this side of the story when Joanie ran off.

Alex’s words should repay Mike for the disappointment.

Call how? Where? This was in the day of analog phones, and unless she gave you her number, you don’t have it.

Make JJ tell Alex that she is not going to return, so that Alex will believe you. IF you can get JJ on the phone.

It’s to be inferred that Alex put all that together for herself, right? Because if Mike himself fed her the material earlier, it loses some of its dramatic impact.

Sad what kids in broken families have to put up with.

There was a woman that worked where I did, who left her husband for another man, and abandoned her kids. Her sister told me that when she thought about her nieces crying and asking their daddy why mommy wasn’t coming home, that she wanted to choke her.

notice how round alex’ eyes are. this is before she hit puberty and the shape changed to look more like mike

Remember the old movie, Kramer vs. Kramer? In it, when Meryl Streep leaves her husband and child, she writes a long, loving letter to her child, explaining that she loves him but she has to be away for a while. I thought that is a model of the only way to handle this.

They have to be brave for each other now. Sometimes it takes the sting out of things when we have someone else to be strong for.

When a young girl starts switching from calling her father “daddy” to “dad,” she’s growing up.

Precious child ♡.

People go away; sometimes they come back. The only question she will ask that matters is, “Are you glad to see me?”

Alex has drunk the Kool Aid. In a good way =)

It’s a tribute to GT’s genius that he still manages to make this utterly tragic moment funny.

As I recall Alex never really forgave her Mother & she despised her stepfather

Her leaving would lead to Kim…

Sad. It’s the children that pay…..

Well, Mike would ultimately move to Seattle to run a web company with Bernie. He would also marry Kim (but that’s not for another few years). As for Alex, she would grow up, marry Toggle and have kids of her own. And to this day, calls Zeke “Uncle Stupidhead”.

I love the nickname she gave Zeke: Uncle Stupidhead. LOL