NEWS

Doonesbury@30
uclick re-launches www.doonesbury.com with new features, collectible poster

(Oct. 17, 2000 - Kansas City, Mo.) In politics and culture, there are historical moments we remember - man's first walk on the moon, the JFK assassination and the day Elvis, reportedly, died.

And, then, there's Oct. 26, 1970.

Hmmm. Can't remember the date? Well, you might not have noticed, but history was unfolding: G.B. Trudeau's Doonesbury made its debut in 28 newspapers. (OK, you're not alone. Several people failed to make a mental note of the date.)

Today, as Doonesbury turns 30, Trudeau is still writing his own satirical page in history. His Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip appears in more than 1,400 daily and Sunday newspapers worldwide; its online presence is growing.

"I'm completely knocked out by the new tools that the digital age has provided cartoonists and animators," Trudeau says. "Although I personally love the little static line drawings I've spent my life sketching on rag paper - and can't foresee ever giving that up - I'm skeptical that a generation that's grown up experiencing the world through screens will support comics as I've known them. We have to think of new ways to reach that audience."

… and we have. Take a look at the new Doonesbury Electronic Town Hall. uclick, Doonesbury's online syndicator, is kicking off the 30th anniversary celebration with a redesign and re-launch of www.doonesbury.com, one of the pioneering comic strip sites on the Web. The new Doonesbury Electronic Town Hall signs on Oct. 26, 2000.

"Most visitors come to the site to see the strip," says Matt Miquelon, uclick Web producer. "But the strip is just the start of the fun."

Miquelon says visitors to www.doonesbury.com will have an opportunity to win collectible Doonesbury posters autographed by Trudeau. And, he says, the site will give visitors a chance to "learn more about the characters through new interactive features."

New features include 30 years of Doonesbury archives, with almost 10,000 strips searchable by topic or character; an animated view through the Walden Webcam; interactive games, including Ask Duke and CastMaster; and electronic greetings. The Get Involved section links visitors with E The People, a nonpartisan Web site dedicated to bringing Americans closer to their elected representatives. Visitors to the site also can elect to have the strip e-mailed directly to their desktops every day.

The redesigned www.doonesbury.com also features popular aspects of the existing site, including cast biographies and the Straw Poll.

Since its inception, Doonesbury has been syndicated in print by Universal Press Syndicate. And, since the beginning, the strip has been provocative, highly praised and frequently criticized. In reader surveys, it regularly finishes in both the "most liked" and "most disliked" categories. In his strip, Trudeau has fearlessly weighed in on controversial subjects - Vietnam, feminism, drugs, abortion, gay rights, AIDS - and has weathered many a firestorm of criticism. In 1975, Trudeau became the first comic strip artist ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

The Doonesbury Electronic Town Hall is one of the many entertainment features powered by the uComics.com network. For details on uComics.com (cleverly located at www.uComics.com), read the small print below.

For more information: Susan E. Parker, PR Representative, (913) 897-2400/sparker@bladespr.com Sherrie Stuckey, Director - Marketing, (816) 300-6558/sstuckey@uclick.com

The Official uComics.com Boilerplate:
uComics.com is the leading digital source of popular comics, editorial cartoons and word games. Check it out - you'll find Doonesbury, Garfield, Cathy, FoxTrot, Ziggy, Pat Oliphant, Non Sequitur, News of the Weird and Universal Crossword. In addition to these and other familiar brands, uComics.com is the place to discover great new comics. At uComics.com, you can sign up for daily e-mail delivery of your favorites, get today's comic, retrieve past comics, send funnies to friends, and access a bunch of other free features. Also, you can buy cool stuff related to your favorite comics.

uComics.com - The best comics site in the universe! - was developed by uclick, the largest developer, packager and distributor of branded comics and word games on the Web. uclick has really cool offices in Kansas City, Mo., and Cambridge, Mass. Visit us at www.uComics.com.