Readers Draw a Blank on ‘Doonesbury’ Strip

The Universal Press Syndicate has already begun receiving puzzled phone calls from readers and editors about Sunday’s “Doonesbury” comic strip that features--or more precisely doesn’t feature--photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe.

Self-styled artiste J.J. Doonesbury announces she’s going to show readers the Mapplethorpe pictures, which have been at the center of a national controversy over artistic expression and obscenity, so they can decide for themselves whether the pictures offend local community standards. But J.J.’s announcement is followed by blank space, suggesting that the pictures have been removed.

According to a Universal representative, at least two newspapers--which the syndicate would not identify--have refused to run the Sunday strip. Universal Editorial Director Lee Salem sent editors a note with the Sunday panel saying “Doonesbury” artist Garry Trudeau was “just having fun.”