Book Description

It is a rare cartoonist who can introduce new characters into a successful strip without upsetting readers. But since Wiley introduced Lucy, the lovable Pygmy-Clydesdale-with-an-attitude as the companion to Danae, Non Sequitur's cynical anti-heroine, fans have been clamoring for more of the pair. Now readers can enjoy the adventures of Lucy and Danae in the first Non Sequitur collection dedicated to their exploits, Lucy and Danae: Something Silly This Way Comes. Lucy's lovable equine goofiness tempers Danae's overdeveloped cynicism as Danae struggles with school, her father, and her sunny little sister, Kate. World-weary beyond her years, Danae sports a skull-in-heart T-shirt and perpetual scowl, while Lucy embodies unbridled optimism with her horsey grin. From their first meeting at summer camp, to Danae's "sneaky yet noble" plot to train Lucy as a guide horse for the blind (they do exist!), to an unplanned expedition to Santa's Workshop (in Maine, not the North Pole), Danae and Lucy turn the clich� of a sentimental girl and her horse upside down and inside out. With Lucy and Danae, Wiley Miller has found a winning combination that readers can't resist.

Reviews (1)

"Death Before Conformity!"
Danae, the queen of attitude.

She's the one who wraps herself in an American flag, so that any offense against her whim of iron is an offense against all that America stands for. She's the one who feels that explosives, combustibles, and Ken dolls have a natural affinity for each other. She's the one who wants to preach the pleasures of the Taliban to the Jehovah's Witnesses, which she describes as "enlightening the deserving."

Then there's Lucy, the pygmy pony. I'm not sure what to say about Lucy, except that she's the best critter in comics since Calvin's Hobbes went off to that "Best Of" collection in the sky.

Wiley's cartoons always present a warped, cynical, and utterly accurate view of the world. He keeps Danae around as the voice of his most thoroughly warped accuracy. I gues that's part of what earns her a whole branch of her own in Santa's "naughty or nice" division - the branch that keeps putting in for overtime and hazard pay.

This collection brings over a hundred pages of dailies and Sunday color funnies. I could wish that the Sunday strips were a bit bigger - some are small enough to interfere with easy reading. And, as with every other Wiley collection I've seen, the back cover comes way too soon.

Still, this one is worthwhile for every comics fan and essential for Wiley fans. In fact, it might even turn youinto a Wiley fan - but then you'll have the book already and be way ahead of the game. Go ahead, enjoy Danae in all her dark-clad glory.

//wiredweird ... Read more

Book Description

On the comics scene of late, Get Fuzzy has made the fur fly.Now syndicated in more than 175 newspapers, this freshly amusing strip has rapidly become the new darling among readers who enjoy pets with an attitude.This wry cartoon features Rob Wilco, a mild-mannered ad guy who's guardian to two rambunctious pets:Bucky, a temperamental cat who carries a boom box and goes on spending sprees, and Satchel, a gentle canine who tries to remain neutral even when he bears the brunt of Bucky's mischief.Together, this unlikely trio hang out together, watching TV, cooking for friends, and attempting the occasional adventure outside.Anyone who has a pet or even knows one will find Get Fuzzy an astutely witty take on relationships between the species. ... Read more

Reviews (118)

Meet "Get Fuzzy" - you will never regret it.
I couldn't believe the comic strip. I actually laughed out loud at Bucky, Satchel and Rob's irrepressible antics. The comic strip was the first thing I looked at when I opened the paper in the morning.

Then - while browsing at a book store - I found it . . ."Get Fuzzy: The Dog is Not a Toy (House Rule #4)," Darby Conley's first book. Yes Virginia. . .there is a Santa Claus!

If you haven't met Bucky, Satchel and Rob yet, this book is a great introduction to the threesome. Bucky the cat is so irritating, he's lovable. Satchel, the mixed breed canine, has a heart of gold and gives everyone - even Bucky - the benefit of the doubt. Their human, Rob, is the glue that holds everything together.

In no time at all you'll be believing the three are real and you'll wish they lived next door to you. Don't miss this opportunity to laugh out loud.

Infectious Giggles for Pet Owners
"Get Fuzzy" chronicles the day to day life of Rob and his "friends" (pets) Bucky, the psychotic (is there any other kind?) cat and his hapless, loveable shar-pei Satchel. This comic is the most precise, dead on accurate portrayals of pet life ever written. Artistically, "Get Fuzzy" is one of the most detailed comics out there (artists and other funky people will love Conley's attention to detail - like lamps that are plugged in, slogans on shirts) and really well drawn (check out Bucky's little belly and alarmingly astute facial expressions). Sometimes he doesn't even need words and you will be rolling on the floor laughing. But he uses words well, too. My favorite aspect of the comic is that the character development is extremely advanced. Satchel, Rob and Bucky (and even Rob's dad and my favorite character, Joe Doman)have distinct, hysterically funny and spot-on personalities. Almost every strip of "Get Fuzzy" gets a laugh ... but funny though it is, it is also poignant. Satchel, an innocent in a mad, mad world, offers moments of "Oh, Satchel!" when you remember that pets aren't just for entertainment, they're part of a symbiotic relationship - we need them, and they need us. In short, I LOVE GET FUZZY. I am the proud owner of a Satchel and a female-Bucky (I know, you pity me yet you are strangely drawn to my world) and I discovered "Get Fuzzy" last year. Any pet owner should read this comic - not only are you not alone, you are in great company!

Funniest comic strip today!
Get Fuzzy is simply the best comic strip around. The trio of Bucky Katt, Rob, and Satchel creates some of the most engaging humor in today's newspapers. When I first read the strip when Bucky destroys the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll that was laughing at him, I was hooked. I'm not a cat person, but as was said in a recent Pearls Before Swine: Bucky Katt Rocks!

The reason I get up in the morning.
As a kid, I went straight to the newspaper every morning and read the comics. Like everyone else, The Far Side and Calvin were my favorites, but I also enjoyed Garfield, Beetle Bailey, and the others. As I grew up, the two truly funny comics (The Far Side and Calvin) were retired from the paper and I began to realize that Garfield Beetle Bailey and most of the others were only funny if you had no more than a 4th grade education. There was no innovation or storyline and the artists were just rehashing the same old sight gags and puns every day. I quit reading the comics.

Then came Get Fuzzy in my LA Times, and whoa, life is good again. Get Fuzzy is the freshest, funniest, and most sarcastic comic written in years. I really look forward to reading it in the morning, and (yes, I know I'm a little geeky about this) sometimes I even go online late at night (early in the am) to comics.com and read what happens the next day.

Thank you Darby Conley.

Garfield started the War between Cats and Dogs, but...
Bucky and Satchel perfected it! As the Garfield comic strip has gotten older, we've seen Jim Davis struggle to keep it fresh. Don't get me wrong, I own every single garfield book out there, but Get Fuzzy has definitely come into it's own as a successor to the throne. The adventures of Rob, with Bucky and Satchel are even funnier then Garfield, because in contrast to Garfield, Bucky and Satchel actually can talk and interact to humans. They are very up to date with the times, and will talk about issues that happen in real life in the strip quite often. One of my favorite strips is the one where Rob won't give up his Red Sox hat to Bucky, so Bucky goes out into the world and finds a Yankees hat much to Rob's mismay. As a Red Sox fan, I love how Conley is a huge Red Sox fan and portrays that in his work. As I've grown up, Garfield has grown with me, but now I feel I've grown out of that and into Get Fuzzy. Highly recommended for a good laugh! ... Read more

Book Description

History will never forget the Kahleefornia recall debacle, which jerk-pressed Arnold "the Gropenfuhrer" Schwarzenegger to a position of power, despite the unexplained existence of dozens of women claiming to have been sexually assaulted by him. Among the hundreds of also-rans and also-almost-rans are Zonker Harris and his mom. While some in the Doonesbury universe seek office, others serve. Alex and her Seattle co-hordes devote their young, restless, and body-pierced Deaniac energy to hooking up "flash art" with politics. Half a world away in Iraq, a major bad boy from stateside devotes himself to liberating the city of Al Amok, ruling with a steady hand, a full glass, a devoted Chinese handler, and an economy based on looting. As fate would have it, B.D. finds himself heading upriver on an apocalyptic mission to terminate Al Duke with extreme prejudice, a story line so made-for-TV that B.D. feels compelled to bang out the screenplay on his laptop in real time. Fortunately for the man known to Honey as "sir," the media red-lights the hit, though car bombers quickly pick up the option and put the project back in play. In the homeland, a wartime president has the answer to almost all the questions ("9-11") but tries to shelve the still incomplete story of his own National Guard duty back in the daze. Mark and Zonk join the war against trash politics by offering a $10,000 reward for any witness who can collaborate the flightsuit-in-chief's account, but their efforts, alas, come to naught. Yes, it's a divided nation. On the west coast sexual assault charges accompany a rise to power, while back east they mandate a fall: Walden College's acting coach, Boopstein, lets accusations of way-personal fouls force her football team off the field. Sex parties for recruits? "Who knew we were that competitive?" marvels President King, ending Boopsie's gridiron apprenticeship with two little words: "You're fired." ... Read more

Book Description

The creator of Dilbert, the fastest-growing comic strip in the nation (syndicated in nearly 1000 newspapers), takes a look at corporate America in all its glorious lunacy. Lavishly illustrated with Dilbert strips, these hilarious essays on incompetent bosses, management fads, bewildering technological changes and so much more, will make anyone who has ever worked in an office laugh out loud in recognition.

The Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage — management.

Since 1989, Scott Adams has been illustrating this principle each day, lampooning the corporate world through Dilbert, his enormously popular comic strip. In Dilbert, the potato-shaped, abuse-absorbing hero of the strip, Adams has given voice to the millions of Americans buffeted by the many adversities of the workplace.

Now he takes the next step, attacking corporate culture head-on in this lighthearted series of essays. Packed with more than 100 hilarious cartoons, these 25 chapters explore the zeitgeist of ever-changing management trends, overbearing egos, management incompetence, bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, three-hour meetings, the confusion of the information superhighway and more. With sharp eyes, and an even sharper wit, Adams exposes -- and skewers -- the bizarre absurdities of everyday corporate life. Readers will be convinced that he must be spying on their bosses, The Dilbert Principle rings so true!

Reviews (82)

A much needed parody with some decent advice hidden inside
If there's a mascot for Internet users, it's the nerdy engineer Dilbert from Scott Adams' comic strip of the same name. No other character in the mass media combines the feelings of technological superiority and wage-slave hopelessness present in the lives of most computer users. But the play of computer users versus management is only part of Adams' comic ouevre; his hilarious take on everyday blue-collar workers touches not only on computer use in companies, but the combined forces of Total Quality Management, endless meetings, doughnuts, cubicles, business plans, and all the other aspects of working in a modern office. Although most of Adams' strips play on the plight of the nameless cubicle worker against an uncaring and oblivious management, he also covers the flip side of work where managers are unable to motivate employees beyond using the office LAN for Doom and the fine art of making sleep look like work. Given all of this familiarity with business, and the increasing popularity of business books, it makes sense that Adams' most recent book, The Dilbert Principle isn't a collection of Dilbert strips but a incisive look at the frailty and foibles of self-help management books under the guise of being one itself.

Business books were overdue to move from the bestseller list to the parody shelf. What was once simply just a few "feel-good"self-help psychology books for managers like Stephen R.Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Kenneth Blanchard's The One Minute Manager is now a plague, including books like The Management Secrets of Attila the Hun and The Star Trek Guide to Management. What these books spend so many words doing that Adams deconstructs so brilliantly is to take what is common sense to anybody else and grafting the buzz words of business schools and management training on it. Take, for example, this wonderful bit of normal business communication that might have come straight from Management 101:

"Perform world-class product development, financial analysis, and feet services using empowered team dynamics in a Total Quality paradigm until we become the industry leader.

Take out the double-speak, and what you have is a mission statement that says:

"Do the best work to provide the best product with the best people until we become the best in our field."

Unfortunately, the first statement probably took ten people who get paid in the high five figures (if not more) at least three days at an exclusive resort in Florida to write. Even more than mission statements such as this, business double-speak of the nineties has centered around terms such as "downsizing" and "re-engineering". By putting a different spin on the timeless tradition of firing and re-organization, today's companies act more like politicians than producers.

Ninety-five percent of Adams book is examples such as this, cartoons illustrating the examples, and email from Dilbert readers telling how their companies have fallen into the Dilbert Zone. All of this is great reading, although sometimes disconcerting when you see your own company being portrayed. The last five percent of The Dilbert Principle is Scott Adams' own philosophy for managers. He says, in the introduction to unveiling his company model OA5 (standing for "Out at Five O'Clock"), that:

"In this chapter you will find a variety of untested suggestions from an author who has never successfully managed anything but his cats. (And now that I think of it, I haven't seen the grey one for two days.) ... I doubt that anything you read here will improve your life, but I'm fairly confident that it won't hurt you either, and that's better than a lot of things you're doing now."

Although humble, his suggestions have much merit because they return the business of work to common sense. When a company remembers, as Adams suggests, that it has three main reasons for being (its customers, its employees, and its stockholders), and treats all three fairly, then the rest will fall into place. If all the management consultants and business book authors condensed their theories into brief summaries such as this, it would be tough to charge [amt]an hour and [amt] per book for it. Which means that there will always be consultants and treatises for the clueless, and an endless supply of material for Adams' cartoon.

Dilbert 101
The reason for the remarkable success of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon strip is obvious; he has captured the flavor of modern business and held it up to the light of truth, revealing all of its quirks, crazy strategies, and downright insanity for all to see. Dilbert is the working man's hero; while we toil away in our little cubicles, waiting for quitting time and weekends, Dilbert and his pals are fighting back - well, not fighting, but they are doing all kinds of complaining, the same complaining most office workers do, albeit not so forthrightly. The Dilbert Principle is the book that made a cult comic strip a treasury of American humor; taken outside the frames of his heralded daily comic strip, Scott Adams is even funnier and more insightful than even many a Dilbert fan would have thought possible. He's been there, and he knows what he is talking about.

In this bestselling book, Adams basically defines corporate culture; telling us many things we already know yet doing so in a fashion that is brilliantly funny. His explanation for the craziness of business today is a simple one: People are idiots, which is something I've been saying that for years. Adams includes himself among the idiot population. We all do stupid things from time to time, and those who do more stupid things than others wind up in corner offices with windows and a secretary while the majority of folks toil away in their sensory deprivation chambers (or cubicles). Adams explains the nature of this beast we call the workplace, illustrating his points with the help of over 400 Dilbert cartoons and reinforcing even the most seemingly inane assumptions he makes with actual case reports of real people who have written to him of their own experiences.

The Dilbert Principle covers almost every aspect of the workplace: management, performance reviews, marketing, business plans, budgets, sales, those awful meetings, projects, etc. He shows you how to get ahead at the expense of your co-workers, delineates the lies of management so that you can be on the lookout for them when they come, defines modern terms such as downsizing in the simple, more direct meanings of days gone by. He describes the process by which one becomes a leader, exposes team-building exercises and group projects as the useless vehicles they almost always are, and provides advice on keeping afloat in the business world by means of hoarding information, avoiding doomed projects, and surviving those you can't avoid; from there, he goes on to offer his knowledge on topics such as: how to participate in a meeting based on the things you want to get out of it, and (as if most of us even need a refresher on this) how to avoid actually working while at work.

The whole book is just brilliant, hysterical satire built on things millions of us know all too well, and one finds oneself nodding or agreeing with far too many of the silliest notions and business practices Adams rakes over the coals. The book is a fountain of knowledge, with each page containing terrific quotes along the lines of three of my favorites: 1) The best thing about the future is that it isn't here yet, 2) The great thing about the truth is that there are so many ways to avoid it without being a "liar," and 3) The only constructive criticism is the kind you do behind people's backs. If you are a Dilbert-type worker (and odds are pretty good that you are), you will find comedy and a sense of comradeship with Dilbert and his cohorts. If you really want to get ahead and assume the increased lack of intelligence needed to become a manager, though, you should pick this book up for one chapter alone: Machiavellian Methods penned by Dogbert himself.

Another good Dilbert book
For sheer humor, the Dilbert books and strips are great. The way Scott Adams is able to illustrate the insanity of many common business practices in a few scenes or sentances is incredible. On the bright side, because there are so many stupid things being done commonly, almost everyone can relate to Dilbert. On the down side, there are so many stupid things being done commonly.

Relative to other Dilbert works, The Dilbert Principle is almost as good as Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook and considerably better than Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel.

Sad & True, Dilbert embodies life of todays' office techie!
I've worked as an engineer or technician, both for big companies and small. Before Dilbert, in all but the most restrictive environments, a small office underground poked the same kind of fun at management. Some offices even have their own cartoonists. A mega-sized company in Texas had a talented, cartoon artist, who did satirical office cartoons, with great caricature likenesses. He signed his work "The Phantom", and because I think even management knew who he was, he stayed restrained enough to keep it funny, but not too insulting. One possible exception, was a cartoon that mimicked the classic road gang movie, "Cool Hand Luke". He depicted an office corridor which as management walked by each office, they would say "Still shaking that work order there, boss". It did not go over too well with management.

The Dilbert Principle is loosely based on the long discussed phenomena, called the "Peter Principle". Which I always thought means the biggest "prick" rises the highest. Usually it's the most unqualified as well. In this age we pay CEO's millions in salary, and then give them massive stock options. In return, they bankrupt the company with shady accounting practices, and sometimes, outright theft. You have to wonder if the term "business ethics" is an oxymoron. It's good that most offices have people like Dilbert, and we all have artists like Scott Adams. The humor allows many of us to survive the droll, office existence day after day. The unrewarding existence, of working in a system where incompetents profit, often on our good works.

Prior to Dilbert, I may have considered myself unique, or just unlucky to be employed by some of these bozo's in suit and tie. I've been through the improvement meetings, sensitivity, and those focus groups. The "one on one" carpet sessions with my boss, which accomplished nothing, except to try my patience, and then waste my time. Still, management needs to feel they do something, and if it can't make a new report to show their own boss this week, it may be time to try out the latest management fad. Adams collection of cartoons, groups these into common categories of management tactics. If you look hard enough, you may even find a cartoon, that help you avoid experiencing the same Hell in your own office. It's too bad the managers don't seem to read these books, or if they do, they don't seem to be telling.

Perhaps the most important thing found in The Dilbert Principle, is that it gives some of us a better understanding of what's really going on. Unless you're fairly astute, you will occasionally find yourself buying into a lot of management disinformation. Information, that could clue you into a "downsizing", a company sale, management change, or other "issues", that may give you reason to brush up the old resume. At the very least, if gives you a chance to know what's probably going on behind the scenes, and decide how to best keep your own house.

Another thing that is uncanny about Scott Adams, is his depiction of the characters. It seemed like, the company I worked for in Texas, was chock full of those little balding management guys. Middle managers with overly short wide ties, and always carrying a cup of coffee in their right hand, as they walked about. They'd ask us about what we were doing, and when we told them they'd look confused, say something cleverly non-committal, and move on. It used to be a competition to see who could confuse them first, and move them on to the next persons office or cubicle.

Classic Dilbert for any fan!
I may just be a kid, but I am a big fan of workplace scenarios and, especially Dilbert. I read straight through this book and never failed to agree with Scott Adams's perspective of modern work life.

The only concept I did sort of disagree with was the "hoteling" method. I think that if we are to rent a "thing" that we will be using for a long portion of time, then we should keep it. I have no problem renting a movie, because I "use" it for barely a eighth of a day.

But to close my review, I agree with pretty much everything Scott Adams has to say about these common workplace situations. He is very funny when writing about these, and that it the reason you should get this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Essentially, this is the best of the best 50 years of Peanuts, the comic strip by the late Charles Schulz featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, and the rest of the beguiling little gang. Peanuts debuted in 1950 and became a global phenomenon, with book collections selling more than 300 million copies in 26 languages and television specials rerun year after year. To create this all-new Peanuts Guide to Life we've combed through decades of comic strips to find those single panels which contain such pithy observations as "Babysitters are like used cars. You never know what you're going to get," and bits of wisdom like "Never lick ice cream off a hot sidewalk." Each droll, stand-alone "speech bubble" or punchline appears with cartoon art. The panels are organized into short chapters, such as "Love" and "Life's Little Quirks." For the millions of faithful Peanuts fans, this is a collection of "greatest hits" to cherish and enjoy again and again. ... Read more

Book Description

Return of the Bunny Suicides follows over one hundred bunnies as they find ever morebizarre ways to end their fuzzy little existences.From swimming with nibbly fishes, to hidingunder an elephant’s footstool, to getting on the sharp end of a Venetian gondola—no stone goesunturned (or undropped, or uncatapulted) in the twisted little creatures’ next installment.

Illustrated in a spare and simple style, Return of the Bunny Suicides is a collection ofhilarious and outrageous cartoons that will appeal to anyone in touch with their evil side. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

On the Road to Oblivion... one more time
I loved "Return of the Bunny Suicides". If you liked the first book, "The Book of Bunny Suicides," you will most likely enjoy the sequel. The bunnies find even more creative ways to end their lives. It is funny and amusing, if you don't mind seeing cartoon bunnies execute both simple and complex plans to end their lives. Although the reader does not know why the bunnies are so willing to die, (s)he can certainly appreciate the bunnies' formulated deaths. The drawings are relatively simple, not too gory (yes, some decapitated heads but nothing graphic), and allows the reader to anticipate what happens instead of always giving the end picture.

Obviously this book isn't for everyone. But if you think you can appreciate the humor in suicidal cartoon bunnies, it's certainly worth flipping through.

By the way, I love bunnies and am against animal cruelty, but have enough of a sense of humor to laugh at silly things such as this.

Not funny at all
What does Mr. Riley have against bunnies?I read this book in the bookstore and found it disturbing. The truth is bunnies don't contemplate suicide but sick people contemplate killing helpless animals. Perhaps thats where the ideas stem in this book. I'm asking the bookstore to remove this book from its shelves. It is a sick and cruel attempt at humor. It belongs in the same wastebasket as the "roadkill" candy.

Not quite as good as it's Big Brother...
Worth a look nonetheless, for it is the genre of these books which is so amusing and intelligent. I get so tired of this notion that by acknowledging the purile, wicked and taboo we somehow become all of those things ourselves and worse still, evil. These books encourage us to see the natural and lighter side of wicked and intrusive humour. Far healthier to do so than claim not have such thought or feeling because it's inhuman, it is very much so human! What better way to develop greater understanding of your own mind than through humour?
Incidently, to any detractors of this theory, no actual little fluffy bunnies were hurt in the making of these books!

Goodbye Cruel World!
I love the Bunny Suicide books!Mr. Riley makes them so funny, and we should all be ashamed for enjoying them so much.I enjoy the way he works in current pop culture and events to some of the suicides, making them that much more hysterical.

My favorite in this one has to be the bunny who ate all the beans!A laugh riot.

Like the first one
Like the first one, it is sometimes funny, many times sick. The drawings are sort of crude, but I can see this is the kind of material that has its fans. ... Read more

Book Description

The 2001 Festival Of Cartoon Art at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library will feature Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes.The exhibit will be called "Calvin and Hobbes:Sunday Pages 1985-1995."It is scheduled to run September 10, 2001 to January 15, 2002.Andrews McMeel will publish the exhibit catalog that will reprint all 36 of the works in the exhibit, and it will include an essay by Mr. Watterson abou this work on the strip, plus his comments on each of the strips in the display.This book is a must-have for all Calvin and Hobbes fans. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A MUST-HAVE for all fans!!!
Bill Watterson--the reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbes--shares his personal insights on creating this incredible strip. If you're a fan, there's no question that you should buy the book. It's like being introduced to Calvin and Hobbes all over again. The strips you've seen before, but you'll learn things you never knew.

Waterson Does It Again
This book is awesome! If you are a true Calvin and Hobbes fan, you will get this. It has two versions of every 36 strips in the book, you can even see white-out and erase marks on the rough copies that are shown on the left side. Watterson talks about each strip, including a six page introduction. Calvin and Hobbes fans must get this book!

Insightful looks at classic sunday strips
Calvin & Hobbes was much more than a really good newspaper comic strip.

Created by Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes will be hailed among the greatest ever created, right alongside Peanuts and Krazy Kat for its creativity, scope of influence and the enjoyment it offered the reader. It was a strip capable of being all things gleeful and all things sad, all things goofy and all things serious.

Bill Watterson's genius cannot be overstated. He was a master of the comic form. He somehow managed to be funny, clever, touching, insightful, warm, cynical, uplifting, devious, nostalgic, and mischievous, all in the space of a little three- or four-panel comic strip.

And his Sunday strips? A feast. His use of space and color, especially in the strip's later years, was masterful. He knew how to work a page like no other.

In this collection, some of the best Sunday strips are collected in glorious color. Each is amended with footnotes and annotations by the creator himself, along with early pre-newspaper versions of the strips. While many of these can be found elsewhere, this collection is a nice look back at some favorites, made even better by the insight and observations of the man who drew them. Even those intimately familiar with these cartoons will learn something new about the craft of comic creation through his annotations.

Each comic strip is a story - and for longtime Calvin & Hobbes readers, a memory. That final strip, with its clean slate of white snow into which Calvin and Hobbes disappear, talking of discovery and exploring ... just fantastic.

If you're a fan of Watterson's work and Calvin & Hobbes, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

Bill Watterson. Cartoonist exrtodinaire.
Another in a collection of zany, wonderful episodes brought to us by a cartooning master. Keeps us in touch with sanity and makes us laugh because we need it! Good job, Bill!

Six stars would be better!
Who could say too much about the genius of Bill Watterson? The introspective Calvin and fun-loving Hobbes combine to make even the most dense of society roar with laughter! Kudos, Bill. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Catastrophic, world-altering events like the September 11 attacks on the United States place the millions of us who experience them on the "fault line where World History and Personal History collide." Most of us, however, cannot document that intersection with the force, compression, and poignancy expressed in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, cartoonist Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary of his experience of September 11 and its aftermath. In 10 large-scale pages of original, hard hitting material (composed from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2003), two essays, and 10 old comic strip reproductions from the early 20th century, Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks---and the subsequent "hijacking" of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda. Readers who agree with Spiegelman's point of view will marvel at the brilliance of his images and the wit and accuracy of his commentary. Others, no doubt, will be jolted by his candor and, perhaps, be challenged to reexamine their position.

The central image in the sequence of original broadsides, which returns as a leitmotif in each strip, is Spiegelman's Impressionistic "vision of disintegration," of the North Tower, its "glowing bones...just before it vaporized." (As downtown New Yorkers, Spiegelman and his family experienced the event firsthand.) But the images and styles in the book are as fragmentary and ever-shifting as Spiegelman's reflections and reactions. The author's closing comment that "The towers have come to loom far larger than life...but they seem to get smaller every day" reflects a larger and more chilling irony that permeates In the Shadow of No Towers. Despite the ephemeral nature of the comic strip form, the old comics at the back of the book have outlasted the seemingly indestructible towers. In the same way, Spiegelman's heartfelt impressions have immortalized the towers that, imponderably, have now vanished. --Silvana Tropea ... Read more

Book Description

a modern
ballet
where
lovers are ground
to hamburger
wives are turned into chairs
TV sets eat people
flowers grow from
children's heads
God is uncovered -- and
re-covered
and men are hung
by the instrument
of their desire

Startling, irreverent and provocative, the incomparable creator of poems and fables for children turns his eye and pen upon the social calamities and absurdities of the adult world.

Reviews (8)

Fun and thought provoking
I came across this book on my honeymoon five years ago. Our dinner reservation was in an hour, so we decided to hang out in the little reading room in the bed & breakfast. At first, I just looked around and my eyes caught sight of a large Shel Silverstein book that I had never heard of. I spent the entire hour enjoying every page of it. It was then that I first learned that Uncle Shelby hadn't always been writing for children! Buy it if you can!

ONE MAN'S GARBAGE IS ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE
My introduction to DIFFERENT DANCES was by way of a trash can. A good friend of mine had given his father a copy of DIFFERENT DANCES his immediate reaction upon opening it was "this is pornographic trash " He then put it into the garbage can . My friend ,being thrifty by nature and knowing that I appreciated both art and humor retrieved it from the trash and his father's trash became my most treasured Christmas gift of that Christmas and many more . Shel's mastery with a pen was unmatched whether he was commenting on "civilization"with words or pictures he ran the gamut from children's books ,Dr. Hook songs ,Playboy cartoons to Different Dances He was most definitley a MAN FOR ALL AGES. We'll miss you SHEL but we are richer due to your legacy,THANKS for showing us a little bit more of ourselves.

The best Coffee Table book
This book is geared for the Adult viewer. This books gets lots of attention when friends come over.

A Masterpiece
Rarely a single day goes by that I don't recall to mind one of the many incredible stories told in this amazing book through pictures. It has changed the way I look at the world over and over again. The last three years or so, I have been miserable without my copy as someone cold-heartedly stole the book from me. Not that I can blame them really, but I fail to believe someone could treasure this work as much as I ever did or will. If you are lucky enough to own a copy - hold it tight. Thank you Shel.

I miss you Shel!
I first found 'Different Dances' about 22 years ago when I was 15. I bought two copies and gave them as gifts because they said so much about humanity...and said it without words. My favorites are 'The Bridge' and the story of a woman chained and ignored by her mate hiding behind a newspaper. She manages to slip away from the one only to be attached again to a musician. I found that to be very eye opening for sure. I am in desparate need to find a copy for myself as the copies I bought long ago were given away as gifts. I have searched local and not-so-local book stores and have found none. Please readers, help me locate a copy. ... Read more

Book Description

"Keep this cartoon book with Dr. Spock and all the other baby-care tomes.... You'll like the whole book." --Booklist

Reviews (10)

Delicious!, A must have for all parents!
This book chronicles The macphersons first year at raising a family. It is one of many Baby blues collections and provides humourous and touching insights on raising children. From Darryl sticking the daiper shut with Post-it-Notes to to the baby sitter running out of the house screaming that she's going to have her tubes tied, this is the perfect book for those stressfull midnight feedings.

If you missed the early ones, get this book!
"Baby Blues : This is Going to be Harder Than We Thought" is the first book of the series and a must for "Baby Blues" fans. You can really see how much this comic strip has evolved, but yet, some things will never change. With great expressions and witty lines, it will have you smirking in no time. I recommend.

A must have book for all parents and kids!!
I got this book about 3 months ago, and I loved it! It shows you that parenting isn't the most easiest thing in the world. This book has lots of laughs and good times in it. So if you want lots of laughs (100 percent guranteed) then get this wonderful book!

True to Life!
I have been a fan of Baby Blues since my daughter was born, eight years ago. I sometimes think that Mr. Kirkman and Mr. Scott hide outside my windows and take notes, because so many of their strips are right on the mark! If you have small children, are thinking about having small children, or just want a good belly laugh, I highly recommend the entire series of Baby Blues collections. Enjoy!

The best gift for new parents you'll find...
We received this as a gift from friends when we had our first child, and could not stop laughing as we gained a new appreciation for what it meant to be parents. Whether you're new parents, know someone who is, or have been parents for years and want to remember what it was *really* like, this book needs to be on your list.

We've now given this book as a gift to four other couples who've had babies recently, and all agree that it's their favorite new book on the shelf. It covers everything - changing the first diaper, the first visits from the parents (both sets), sleepless nights, and the joy of teething, to mention a few.

Buy this book. You'll laugh for a long time, and will probably end up sharing it with your other friends fortunate enough to have kids of their own. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This book am so funny me cried.
This is the sequel to the Bizarro Comics anthology from a few years ago.Like that book, this one features "alternative comics" types doing their versions of DC superhero comics.There are some great comics here, and also some not-so-great comics.But almost all of the comics are at least interesting.One thing I have to say is that you really need to be a fan of DC comics in order to understand the references in many of these stories.I don't think someone who is not into superheroes will get very much out of this book.But for those of us who do like superheroes, it's a lot of fun.

This book rocks!
Man, I am glad I picked this one up! I bought the first Bizarro book in softback format, and so I figured I'd order this one when it came out, and it is every bit as good as the first one IF NOT BETTER!

It's really well produced book, nice thick pages and good color.
As far as stories and art goes, DC again paired up underground/alternative cartoonists with each otther (one writing and one drawing) to hilarious and/or strange outcomes. But it works, though!

I think the best story in the book is either Batman & Monkey by M. Wartella, or Tony Millionaire's Batman. I guess it looks like I'm biased towards Batman, but I'm not. I like Wonder Woman best of all. But back to Bizarro World... other notable sections of the book were drawn by James Kochalka, Jason Paulus, Bagge/Hernandez, Rick Altergott, and Evin Dorkin.

Some things I DIDN't like about this book: The cover pales in comparison to Groening's on Vol.1. and some of the art is actually piss-poor (notably Kyle Baker, Brian Ralph, Michael Kupperman, and Scott Morse), looking like the artists spent, like, one hungover morning working on the art and just rushed it in.

Actually, there are a few other good stories
worth mentioning by Hunt Emerson, Ellen Forney, Tim Laine, & Danny Hellman. And how can I not mention excellents scripts by Peter Bagge, Harvey Pekar, Evan Dorkin (+++),uh... and others I can't seem to locate write now.

Oh, one other thing. Notably absent are these people who appeared in the first anthology and for some reason (idiocy?) were not in this vol.2:Stephen DeStephano, Bill Wray, Ariel Bordeaux, and, as I mentioned earlier, Matt Groening!

OK, so that's enough of my yappin'. BUY THIS NOOK!

Less than the first but still great
Bizarro World had a lot to live up to following in the footsteps of the award winning Bizarro released several years ago and well... it fell short. The new Bizarro book is excellent but just not as memorable as the original. The Bizarro books (can it now be called a series?) use popular alternative cartoonists to create short stories featuring characters from the DC universe from icons like Superman to obscure characters like Kamandi.

Here are some of my favorite stories from Bizarro World.

In "The Wonder of it All" a high school aged Wonder Woman learns that using her new Golden Lasso to force her friends to give their honest opinions about her nets her more information than she wanted.

The Spectre/Jim Corrigan unleashes his ghostly vengeance on his fellow officers at the police station for such minor infractions as hogging the copy machine. It's actually pretty funny.

Green Lantern has a revelation about his weakness to the color yellow in "It's not Easy Being Green". The story seems like a homage to the old EC Mad magazine comics.

In "The Power of Positive Batman" Bruce Wayne finally resolves his issues with the murder of his parents and decides to retire and sail around the world. Clark Kent decides to join him and the two sail off.

Aquaman decides to attend open mic night and sing a song about his relationship with Mera. Like a lot of the stories this one is just sort of a slice of life tale showing the private lives of superheroes.

Tony Millionaire returns with another strange Batman story. His art has a very old gothic style to it as if the story were something dug up from the 40's rather than a brand new tale.

In "Personal Shopper", Alfred is out describing, to a mechanic, the specifications for a car he wants to purchase. You know, bulletproof, 200 MPH, space for rocket launchers, huge bat like fins on the rear. Wonder who that might be for?

There are also some clunkers in the batch. Lantern Sentai in particular seemed pointless besides showing the Lantern Corps as Manga. In "Jing Kal-El" the Superman origin is rewritten with Kal landing at the North Pole and taking on the mantle of Santa Claus. I just couldn't figure out why. Some of the stories just stopped as if they're meant to be continued in another edition of Bizarro. "Bizarro Schmizarro", for instance has Luthor change Bizarro no. 1024 into a normal looking Superman (save for the Question mark on his chest) and then the story stops with a promise of more to come.

Bizarro World is sometimes great and sometimes not so great. It's less than the original book but I still recommend it. The Bizarro series has a long way to fall before it can be considered average.

Better than the first!!!! Me am like!!!
This second collection of stories (the first being Bizarro Comics) again turns DCs icons over to some of today's best alternate cartoonists and is a very enjoyable romp through the DC Universe. Take underground comics, your favoite DC comics, old Mad Magazines and your favorite strips from your local alternate newspaper, blend and this is what you get.

The framing sequence with Bizarro was more enjoyable to me than in the first one and seemed to blend in better with the rest of the volume.

The book seemed a little heavy on Batman stories, but don't worry there are a broad range of characters that get the "Bizarro treatment". The tales ranged from homage, to parody, to satire to dope dreams to slice of life pieces that would almost (heavy on that word) be welcome in a regular DC comic or annual.

Particular standouts were:

Tony Millionaire taking on Batman again in a story thatevokes a 1930's Batman feel.

A Legion of Super-Heroes tale where a corporation driven Brainiac Five drives the Legion to rebellion. The story and art makes you think Kurt Swan and Shooter could have drawn and written this on some crazy rainy night.

Evan Dorkins and John Krewson turn Kamandi into a slacker who'd rather veg out than help talking tigers, and lions and apes (oh my!).

This volume was fun. The hits far outweighed the misses. If you did not like one story don't worry the next one will be along soon.

Well worth it. ... Read more

Book Description

Millions of readers share a daily relationship with Lynn Johnston and her cartoon family, the Pattersons. Suddenly Silver: Celebrating 25 Years of For Better or For Worse now allows these faithful friends-and new readers, too-to honor that long association through a one-of-a-kind collection of strips and Johnston's musings and comments about her real life and how it's reflected in one of the cartooning world's most loved and followed families.Suddenly Silver is divided into three sections using cartoons from the strip's early, middle, and recent years. This insightful structure enables readers to revisit favorite earlier strips and to watch the development of storylines and the growth of characters over the years. Throughout it all, readers will find the same focus on everyday family life humorously portrayed through the good and the not-so-good days. All the cherished characters are present, including parents Elly and John; their children and grandchild; Grandpa Jim; and the dogs, Farley, Edgar, and Dixie.Johnston's thoughts about them, their individual development, and their familial evolution makes Suddenly Silver particularly captivating. As Lynn describes her work, readers get to share in the Pattersons' rendition of real life, through the heartwarming and the humorous, the tragic and the triumphant. This book, like the cartoon it honors, will make readers smile while emphasizing what's important in life. For Better or For Worse: What a run! What a celebration! What a future to look forward to! ... Read more

Reviews (16)

So orginal it's hilarious!
"Why not write a cartoon book that doesn't bother with a main character and where each joke is totally different from the next?!" That must have been similar to what Gary asked himself when starting to write his hilarious comic books. Every joke is truly different from the next one! And every joke is refreshingly original! Each joke comes from a thoughtful, clever and of course playful mind.

A Great Book
If you like Gary Larson but don't know which book to buy, this is the one. It is hilarious, has cow stuff. I asure you you'll laugh your brains out. Well, at least it happened to me

A Successful Quirky Comic Series!
This is a great book! Gary Larson's Farside comic strip was quirky and fun and it's a shame that he retired from writing his sydicated comic strips in the paper because it was so original and unlike any thing else on the newspaper comic pages. There are newer comic strips that try to copy Gary Larson's Farside but they aren't as good. It's great to have this book and look at Farside when I feel I need to look at some funny quirky comics and I recommend this book!

Keeps Getting Better
I don't know how the guy does it. They keep getting funnier and there are always ones I've never seen before, as well as the ones I've always loved. You won't be disappointed if you are a Far Side fan. If you're not a Far Side fan, well, then I can't help you.

A New Office Ritual
When I started work at my present job almost two years ago, I found that the place needed a little 'lightening up'. It was casual already, to some extent, so on my next 'office supply' shopping 'trip' I picked up this calendar for my desk. Well, it began a new office ritual; everyone wants to know the "Far-Side-of-the-day"! Sometimes, it's the only funny thing to happen all day. Larson needs to come out of retirement! ... Read more

Book Description

In the grand tradition of Krazy Kat & Ignatz Mouse and the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, the Spies (one dressed in black, the other in white) are an endless variation on a Cold War theme—forever one-upping the other, til death do they part. This diabolical duo of double-cross and deceit are, as Art Spiegelman described them in The New York Times Magazine, “the comic strip equivalent of the yin-and-yang symbol, good and evil, interdependent and inter- changeable,...forever chasing each other’s tails.”

2001 marks the 40th anniversary of Spy vs. Spy, which made its first appearance in MAD #60, January 1961. The feature has run in virtually every issue since with nearly 1000 installments. Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook chronicles the creation and history of the Spies and features all 247 of the strips written and illustrated by its illustrious creator, Antonio Prohias.

Delighted fans will discover a virtual treasure trove of fun-loving Spy vs. Spy material. Here for the first time are unpublished and never-before-seen preliminary sketches and artist roughs, photographs from his family scrapbooks, and rare political cartoons. Also included are eight biographical and historical essays, each detailing a different aspect and perspective on the Spies and their creator. A special color section reproduces dozens of Spy collectibles from over the years, including paperbacks, Super Specials, computer games, trading cards, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Extra material puts this book over the top.
I'd give this book 5 stars regardless, because I've always loved Spy v Spy -- and this book delivers the goods: Every Spy v Spy Prohias worked on in his life.

But, what REALLY sets this book apart is the the wealth of OTHER material: His other MAD features, cover ideas, and a lot of biographical information covering his life in Cuba and the comics he did there. How many of MAD's contributors can say they were chased out of Cuba by an angry mob (with Fidel himself leading the pack)?

But, the bottom line is the material: If you like Spy v Spy, you'll love this book. The extra material is just icing (albeit extremely intersting and diverting icing) on the cake.

The Usual Gang Of Idiots
This is a great collection of spy vs. spy cartoons. It took me nearly 4 hours to read it all. If you have been a fan of mad magazine you will love this book. It is at a reasonable price too, so I recommend to buy!!!

Joke & Dagger Rules!
I just barely got the book today and finished every page because I was hooked. I love Spy Vs Spy, my number one reason of collecting MAD is the Spy Vs Spy comics and collectibles. My favorite strip is the one where both of them get runned down by soldiers. True classic to Antonio Prophias and his wonderful drawings. This book is highly recommended!!

PROHIAS WAS A RARE SPIRIT
In my early MAD Magazine days, I naturally took to the more visually-oriented stuff (Don Martin, Aragones's "drawn-out dramas," etc.); the movie & TV satires I didn't graduate to till I began actually watching the stuff they satirized. Among the former things above, Antonio Prohias's iconic spies ruled the day.
I know the strip wasn't to everyone's taste; I guess it's a matter of being reared in the uninihibitedly-violent era of cartoon humor I grew up in. Indeed, there's something rather childish about the bonk-about retaliation engaged in by Prohias's venerable creations (I'll confess- I was always rooting for the White Spy!!--I guess he fought DIRTIER).
But there's another side to Prohias many will find relevatory. He fled to the US from Cuba in 1959 to escape arrest & execution by Castro; this book does show us his earlier strip, "Tovarich," depicting a despicable Soviet dictator meant as indirect reference to the situation of Prohias's native country. Other entries in this book show "one-shot" cartoons he did for MAD: One such article is "The Pearl." Not many have seen this cartoon, but its 2 pages are potent stuff indeed. It's an incredible story of a deep-sea diver who kills an octopus to claim a pearl; the diver's pummelled by a one-eyed old salt, who rides the high seas and whose lifeless hand provides a sunbather with the stolen clam; the sunbather's given one too many strong drinks by a floozy, who nabs the clam; she's shot to death by the bartender. He breaks open the clam, only to find a paper advertisement for Earl's Pearl Shop!
Powerful stuff, and you'll see more of the same in "Spy Vs. Spy--The Complete Casebook." He's no longer with us, but Prohias's work collectively tells us a whole lot about human greed and oppression.

...vs. Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy...
I always loved Mad Magazine, whether it was for its sometimes brilliant satires or just for its whacky zaniness. But Spy vs. Spy has always been my least favourite of its features. There is some creativity at first in its Rube Goldbergesque depiction of complex schemes involving cross and double-cross. However, try reading more than 5 of the strips in one sitting and the repetition of its themes becomes more and more unbearable.

Perhaps it was a brilliant attempt at metafiction with the goal of illustrating the pointlessness of violence through its repetition, or an illustration of the nature of intelligence agencies whose sole raison d'etre appears to be to create and sustain their own enemies in order to perpetuate their existence (look up the histories of Reinhard Gehlen, Batista, the Shah of Iran, Air America, Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein to learn how the CIA has contributed to the world). Or perhaps the total interchangeability of its characters belies the absurdity of the world's conflicts which are all rooted in meaningless trivialities (skin colour, religion, nationality, etc). However, having read reprints of some of Prohias' unsophisticated (albeit extremely courageous)political cartoons from when he was still a resident of Castro's Cuba, this would appear highly unlikely.

Any one of Sergio Aragone's "marginal drawings" from Mad has far more contextual complexity than every Spy vs. Spy strip put together. ... Read more

Book Description

Dan Savage is irreverent, irrepressible, and opinionated. He's held his own on Politically Incorrect, told tales on This American Life, continues to write a beloved nationally syndicated column-and he's had it up to here (my hand is higher than my head) with the moral, conservative scolds who proclaim America is slouching towards Gomorrah (to use Robert Bork's phrase). Are we really that bad?

Yes, we are! And in Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Dan Savage eviscerates those cynics as he commits each of the Seven Deadly Sins himself (or tries to) and finds those everyday Americans who take particular delight in their sinful pursuits. Among them:

Greed: Gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune.
Lust: "We're swingers!"-you won't believe who's doing it.
Gluttony: Dan meets gluttons with attitude at a pro-fat conference.
Sloth: Leave it to Dan to find a way to celebrate this sin that will get him in trouble with his mother.
Anger: Texans shoot off some rounds and then listen to Dan fire off on his own about guns, control, and the Second Amendment.
Envy: Meet the rich-then be glad you're not one of them.
Pride: You'll never look at a gay pride parade the same way again.

Couple all this sinning with a unique history of the Seven Deadly Sins, a new interpretation of the biblical stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, and enough Bork, Bennett, Buchanan, et al, bashing to more than make up for their incessant carping, and you've got the most provocative book of the fall. ... Read more

Reviews (54)

Funny 'Gomorrah' States Case for Live and Let Live
"Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America" feels like one part travelogue and one part memoir, pieces stitched together with an attack on the "virtuecrats" of the American far right. William Bennett, Robert Bork, Pat Buchanan, Dr. Laura, Jerry Falwell and Bill O'Reilly all take their turn on the chopping block as author Dan Savage traverses the country in search of hot spots where he hopes to commit each of the seven deadly sins.

And he nearly succeeds.

In one of the book's funniest episodes, Savage calls a prayer line that he found advertised on a Christian cable network, only to be informed that as a gay man who cannot marry, he is doomed to a life of fornication and shall never rise to adulterer status (he is reassured that "fire is fire" and he's bound for hell right alongside the adulterers).

"Skipping Towards Gomorrah" is funny. Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny, but as one would expect from Dan Savage - author of "The Kid," regular contributor to "This American Life," and editor and sex columnist for The Stranger - this book is not for the prudish. It's replete with four-letter words and anatomical descriptions that will make Mom blush, although Savage's forays uncover interesting and entirely unexpected snippets of American culture.

Hoping to indulge himself in a little "Falwell-style" gluttony, Savage attends a conference sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) in San Francisco. He soon realizes that the meeting is little more than a thinly-veiled meat market. BBWs (big, beautiful women) attend primarily to try and attract an FA (fat admirer).

In Las Vegas, Savage attends the annual Lifestyles Organization (LSO) convention which hosts a weekend of frolicking for more than 3,000, mostly suburban, "playcouples." He calculates that with many such groups across the country, there are more people involved in organized swinging than the entire gay male population, underlining the irony that while swinging is ignored by conservatives as a fossil from the '70s, gay marriage is blasted as an irreproachable threat to the American family.

Savage begins each chapter by detailing the historical legacy of one of the seven deadly sins - greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, envy, pride and anger - pulling references from the likes of Dante and Saint Jerome on gluttony and Peraldus, a 13th-century Dominican friar, on envy. He ends each chapter with ruminations on the appeal of the sin. We gamble not because we are greedy, but because our lives are too safe and predictable. We need sloth because of increasingly hectic schedules.

Savage does pull a few surprises. He points out that Osama bin Laden and Jerry Falwell harbor similar ideologies. They both hate liberated women, sexual freedom, secular culture and fundamental human rights. But then he goes on to unconditionally support the war on Afghanistan. In the chapter on pride, he offers a strong argument against gay pride, claiming that the gay community has moved far enough forward that simply being out is no longer challenging enough to merit full-fledged pride for most. In the chapter on anger, he begins with a long and eloquent gun rant, only to blow a hole the size of Texas in his argument by admitting that he intends to take up shooting, having discovered in the Lone Star State that, lo and behold, he's a natural shot.

"Skipping Towards Gomorrah" conveys the strong impression that it was not written for kindred spirits but for those it attacks. Savage seems to hope that his words will reach - and irritate - his nemeses. He admits to having devoured their books, and his title itself is a play on "Slouching Towards Gomorrah" by Robert Bork.

But ultimately, one has to wonder what all the fuss is about. If Bork, Bennett and Buchanan on one side, and Savage and his friends on the other, agreed to simply ignore each other, this country could be a far more quiet and peaceful place. At heart, "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" asks for just that: the freedom to live life as one see fits without having someone else's concept of morality get in the way.

POW! Take that virtuecrats! Smart, funny, and provocative
Dan Savage has written a very funny yet thought provoking book about America and American morality. Much of the book is a travelogue, where Dan goes out and meets people pursuing happiness (which some would call sin). The point is that these people are doing what they want to and in a way that doesn't involve anyone who doesn't want to participate. The virtuecrats of the world may take offense at all of this, but our man Dan is quick to point out (often using their own words) is the hypocrisy that often goes into the criticism of others' morals and behaviors.

As readers of Dan Savage's sex column know, he can be a very, very funny writer and there are definitely parts of the book (both the situations and choices of word) that will leave you howling. At the same time, it covers some various serious topics (which I guess a sex columnist does too) central to how we lead our individual lives and how our society (and in particular our government) affects our ability to lead our lives.

This is a book very well worth reading, in that it will not only make you laugh, but will also make you think a lot about issues of personal liberty, tolerance, and what we should expect of our government in establishing and and enforcing laws. The book is actually quite well researched, not only in terms of what today's virtuecrats (e.g., Bill Bennett, Jerry Falwell, Dr. Laura) have to say, but what Founding Fathers may have had in mind in defining personal liberty. Liberty doesn't mean you can do anything you want (like blow up a building) but that you can do what you want in your own life in a way that does not harm others.

In reading this book (along with "The Kid," his very touching book on adopting a child), I had the sense that Dan Savage is a very nice guy who would be a great neighbor, friend, or work colleague. You may not agree with some of his opinions or some ways in which he leads his own personal life, but the point of this book is who cares about other people's personal lives. The book presents a very compelling case that it is best to live and let live and to realize that we are a great an diverse country (not slouching toward Gomorrah) without pushing any one view of morality on others.

A great book!

the reviews are even funnier than the book
The negative reviews here are even funnier than the book! But then I'm not a homosexual so I can't really take offense at people recoiling in moral shock from Savage's politics. On the other hand I suppose if you are gay, the negative reviews on this site are a depressing reminder that people like Savage are judged for their sexuality and not for their ideas.

But still, the reviews make me laugh even more than the book.

It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive?
Who knew that the 7 Deadly Sins could be so much fun? Well, actually, they're NOT always so much fun, at least not the way Dan Savage describes them. And that's one of the things I really liked about this book: it's brutally honest about these "sins," the motivations behind them, and the people who pursue them in hopes of finding...fun? happiness? friendship? excitement? meaning in life? None or all of the above? Perhaps these "sins" are more complex and less, well, "sinful" than some might think. Perhaps it's not that eating or sex or gambling are good or bad in and of themselves, despite what the preachy moralists like Robert Bork (author of "Slouching Towards Gomorrah," which Savage's title plays off of) and William J. Bennett (he of the not-so-little gambling problem himself) would have us believe. Perhaps, Dan Savage suggests, it's more that any one of these activities has the potential to be good, bad, or indifferent. It all depends.

Take gluttony, for instance. What, you might ask, could possibly be wrong about eating a giant piece of chocolate cake? Sounds great to me, chocolate lover that I am! But as the culmination of a humongous meal at a chain restaurant called "Claim Jumper," the two huge hunks of greasy, gritty, cheap chocolate cake that Dan Savage and a friend each scarf down can only be described as surreal, bizarre, and worst of all, not much fun. Actually, I would say that there's something pathetic and sad about the whole experience -- giant onion rings, giant glasses of water, giant roast chicken, giant order of ribs, etc. Maybe this "sin" stuff ain't all it's cracked up to be?

A couple of chapters are truly memorable, including the one on "anger," which centers on guns. The title of the chapter, "My Piece, My Unit," alludes to the strange, semi-sexual appeal that guns apparently have for some (many?) people. Now THAT should be a sin! But the funniest thing about the chapter is that Dan Savage turns out to be quite a shot. Who knew that a liberal skinny gay guy from Seattle could be so good with guns, someone with a "gift" who could "learn to be a real marksman" with some practice (according to his instructor, Paul)? So much for stereotypes!

Personally, I found the chapter on Greed ("The Thrill of Losing Money") to be one of the most interesting and insightful. Are people who gamble sick, depraved sinners? Are they greedy? Or are they just out to have a good time? How about "none of the above" or "it depends?" In just one of the insights that Dan Savage arrives at in his explorations, in this case he comes to the conclusion that "it's not about money, it's about risk and danger...and feeling alive." And to quote Bruce Springsteen (a bit out of context, but what the hell?), "it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive!"

Besides gluttony, anger, and greed, Dan Savage's other chapters cover the rest of the deadly sins ("lust," "sloth," "envy," and "pride") more or less effectively and entertainingly. And all throughout the book, Savage manages to, well, SAVAGE the finger-wagging hypocritical ultra-moralists out there in a bitingly funny way. So funny, that you may commit the sin of Envy by the end of the book -- wishing you had Dan Savage's writing, journalistic and story-telling talents, that is. On the other hand, if you are a finger-wagging hypocritical ultra-moralist, you might want to avoid reading this book altogether, because it will probably just make you angry. And since we all know that anger's a sin, we certainly wouldn't want that! Personally, I enjoyed spending a nice weekend reading Savage's book and not doing many of the chores I was supposed to be doing. I believe that's called "sloth," and that it's a sin. Whoops!

all is well in gomorrah
As usual this book conveys that all is well amongst the hedonists.I would'nt blame Jefferson with todays descent into the maelstrom.Though he was a deist, he did recognize a Creator and a moral system based on the teachings of Jesus--Even O Rielly accepts that which he calls Judeo Christian Philosophy--This book negates a moral sense. It says that man should make his own rules and call right what he thinks is right. Christians call this Original Sin.No wonder this thing was remaindered.Being cute and call it humor says something about this author. ... Read more