War Dispatches To 'Doonesbury'

"I didn't write this to become famous; it was just to capture what I was going through," says Steward. One of his most widely read blog entries was a list of 63 items that every soldier should pack on the way to the Sandbox.

"Baby wipes -- 30 days worth . . . Weapons lube that doesn't attract sand. . . A PSP or some other handheld gaming device . . . Webcam for video calls back home . . . ."

Powell, whose headphone was struck by a sniper's round that exited his helmet but did not wound him, says, "I wanted to write about the visceral experience of being in Iraq. This is what it feels like to drive through Baghdad in a Humvee, this is what it feels like to be mortared or shelled." His blog entries, written under the name of "Sgt. Roy Batty," often refer to recent books and movies. "I always felt life was at its best when it resembled an action movie, or some kind of movie," he says. "It was very interesting to see how real combat compares to the movies or the books. Unfortunately, the movies or the books were more interesting. It's sort of the banality of being shot at."

In one entry, where a stray dog is an unlikely hero, he writes: "This is Iraq in a nutshell. It varies from boredom, to hardship, to hilarity, to violence, back to boredom, into tension, and occasionally it trips across wonderment along the way. Gotta love it."

Trudeau, who has created war cartoons all the way back to Vietnam, and who recently re-read and admires that iconic example of Vietnam literature, "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, says the new war literature is different because of its immediacy: Troops grabbing laptops, filing instant dispatches in their own words. Hotwash.

"It's being published before it gets over-thought," he says.

Time to sign more books. Maria Vi¿a, a VA program analyst, wants three, for her husband, a retired Marine, her older son in the Air Force, and her younger son, a 19-year-old Navy ROTC cadet and "Doonesbury" fan.

Leaving the table with her books, she says, "Coming from a military family, it's important for people to understand and know the stories of people over there. A lot of times people just watch on TV and they don't really care."