Once a week, I am a very desperate man.

I try not to second-guess editors; they're the clients, and I have no expectation that my strip is going to make it into every paper every day.

Well, it's a humor strip, so my first responsibility has always been to entertain the reader... But if, in addition, I can help move readers to thought and judgment about issues that concern me, so much the better.

The strips about the military do seem to provoke moving and thoughtful responses. It's nice when the strip resonates, but more importantly, I need to know when I'm getting something wrong. The last thing I want to do is contribute to the suffering that wounded warriors already endure.

In any event, it's not exactly a secret to regular readers what my views on the war are

America is one of the few places where the failure to promote oneself is widely regarded as arrogance.

Keith Knight is mapping out a previously unknown vector of the vast cartoon universe.