“It’s nice to stand here without any form of grief,” said Trudeau, who spoke to editors during the 59th annual American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors convention in Denver. Trudeau addressed the Hall of Fame luncheon at the historic Brown Palace Hotel.

Doonesbury, created 35 years ago, is known for its fresh look at current events, said Trudeau, who credits curiosity as his inspiration. “It’s a tiny piece of real estate where I wave my hands.”

He sees himself as a writer who researches and reports via his comic strip about war and other social and political issues. He spices it up with humor.

“It’s mostly preparation, front-loading,” says Trudeau of how he develops Doonesbury. For example, for his character B.D., he flew to Kuwait in a trip he described as “strange tourism” to “make real what is happening to the soldiers.”

When he was researching post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States, he found stories that shook him to his knees, like a candid soldier who said he nearly killed a Arab-American cab driver in a fit of rage because the driver resembled those who tried to kill him.

“I try to make it funny without contributing to their suffering,” said Trudeau, referring to the soldiers he features in his comic strip.

After research for Doonesbury, the art comes in a “spasmodic frenzy,” he said. In one day, he creates six daily strips, and in another day, the Sunday strip.

As for the future of his 30 comic strip characters, Trudeau plans to keep “watering” them, making them grow, and he hopes that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stays put. In the strip Schwarzenegger is portrayed as a large, groping hand. Trudeau told the group of journalists that he always has been fixated on drawing hands.

He also revealed his secret for keeping more controversial components in Doonesbury: “If you knit it into the context with care, most editors will keep it.”