Book Description

Random Zits not-so-randomly combines the previous collections Road Trip! and Teenage Tales into one mega-volume. It includes popular story lines that include Jeremy and Hector fixing up their old van and take it for a clandestine joy ride, and Jeremy learning the value of tact on his girlfriend's bad hair days, selling random household items on eBay, surviving sudden radical growth spurts, and being coaxed into a fishing trip with his father, who seizes the opportunity to have "the talk." Zits captures the nature of teenage boys with uncanny precision. In one series of strips, Jeremy's mom is alarmed when she finds a fist-size hole in the wall of his room. Pressed to explain it, he balks. When he finally describes what happened, it turns out that the hole wasn't made in a moment of teen hormonal rage. It was made in a moment of teen hormonal idiocy, when he used his mom's meat tenderizing mallet to swat a bug. Anyone who has spent much time around an adolescent boy will recognize this seemingly inexplicable behavior: intelligence and impulsiveness locked in constant battle. This is the natural state of the teen male, and it's portrayed exquisitely in Zits. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This 75th anniversary collection pulls together a variety of cartoonists ranging from James Thurber and his ever-battling sexes to Bruce Eric Kaplan and his modern urbans. Readers who are put off by The New Yorker's reputation for stodginess may be pleasantly surprised: a city lot offers Extreme Parking, and one of George Booth's crotchety old ladies urges a silent ogler to "Whistle, you dumb bastard!" There are plenty of sight gags and silly puns (a worried buffalo complains about his cell phone's roaming charges), but don't expect to get through without picking up on a literary reference or two. Roz Chast revisits Eloise at the Plaza hotel at the age of 46 and chronicles the Dialogues of Plato over what to have for lunch. And of course no New Yorker collection would be complete without the sly ghoulishness of Charles Addams. The perfect book for anyone who has ever flipped through a copy of The New Yorker just for the cartoons. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection Is Biased
I just read this book cover to cover. I found it a vanity-piece for the editor and was disappointed by the selection and presentation of the cartoons.

The introduction is precious and information-free. On the preciousness, who expects or wants to read the cartoon editor's version of humorous writing? On the content, I wanted to know how the cartoons were chosen and how he chose to distribute them through the book. Also, some of the cartoons were smudgy and hard to read --- it would have been interesting for the intro to discuss the shape the various originals were in.

I was amazed to find that the editor included as many of his own cartoons in the anthology as he did of Charles Addams'. Even if he considers his own work at the level of Addams', it would be more graceful to leave the announcement of this fact to someone else. His parents, perhaps.

Finally, I would have really enjoyed seeing the cartoons grouped in some manner, by genre or by decade for example. Seeing either the evolution of topics or the universality of topics would have been interesting. I suspect that such a sorting would have made the past few years of New Yorker cartoons look topical and transient --- as I have found them in the magazine itself.

Eclectic Collection and Layout of Many Famous Cartoons
I was introduced to the recent books of New Yorker cartoons by The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons, which I liked. Imagine my excitement when I saw this massive volume of 707 cartoons by Peter Arno, Charles Addams, Roz Chast, Mary Petty, William Steig, Jack Zeigler and others.

When I opened the book, I was in for another surprise. The book didn't live up to its potential, which is why I graded it down one star.

First, the introduction was a weak stab at humor that didn't work for me about encouraging the reader to skip the introduction and go to the cartoons. I did learn from the introduction that Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor of The New Yorker, chose these cartoons after reviewing 60,000 cartoons and consulting with the cartoonists, editors of The New Yorker, and readers of the magazine. That research provided the opportunity to insert some of the comments that were made either into the introduction or onto the pages with the cartoons. Neither was done. You can safely skip the introduction, and you will like the book better.

Second, the material could have used some organization. The time periods, subjects, and styles seemed haphazard to me in their order. That robbed the material of some of its strength. The layouts were of 1 to 3 cartoons per page in random fashion. It has a feeling like a scrapbook would.

On the other hand, you'll never find all of these cartoons any place else. Here are a few of my many favorites:

Man in pajamas in a hotel room: "Front desk? There are no little candies on my pillow."

Pilgrim speaking to a Native American: "We're here to escape religious persecution. What are you here for?"

One couple in a living room to another couple: "The work being done on your marriage -- are you having it done, or are you doing it yourselves?

Couple looking at a sunset: "Too much purple."

"Now, if you'll just sign right here . . . you'll be making the biggest mistake of your life!"

The book repeats many of the best cartoons from the various subject series (money, business, lawyers, and doctors) that are separately published by The New Yorker.

The book would make a good gift except that the reproduction of the cartoons is not as sharp as it should be. It seems to have been caused by the digitalization process. Perhaps that's another cartoon for us: "Technology is always a source of progress."

The real strength of the cartoons is to remind us about our stalled thinking: Wanting the world to conform to our ideas about it, rather than perceiving reality and the other person's point of view. The captions take some line or concept that we all use at one time or another, and put them into an unfamiliar setting or turn them around a little. If you treat this as a potential source of self-improvement rather than humor, this will be a five-star book for you.

Sit down with someone you care about and discuss the lessons that you both draw from the humor. That will give you the added benefit of becoming closer, as well as wiser.

If the book doesn't make you laugh, think about why! Why is the humor stalled?

Curiously lacking in social context
Considering how literate and erudite the New Yorker tends to view itself, it's surprising that a collection of cartoons supposedly representing 75 years of social change are presented so randomly and without temporal identification.

The purpose of most cartoons is to make contemporary social commentary in a humorous, visual format. The trouble is, when those cartoons are reproduced years (or decades) later, the cultural situations or mores they originally poked fun at can be meaningless to present-day readers.

Early suburban life, the Organization Man of the 50s and 60s, big business, womens lib, the Me Generation of the 80s, etc., were all fertile fields for cartoonists of the time, but topical humor isn't always timeless and needs to be placed in some perspective if it's to be understood years later.

Most astute readers of this book will be able to place the cartoons in general time periods from clues in the subject matter or the drawing style, but printing the original date of publication in the margins would have allowed this material to be appreciated as timely social commentary and not just a haphazard collection of stand-alone jokes.

Un libro para iniciarse en las viñetas de New Yorker
Este libro es muy adecuado para introducirse en el estupendo mundo de las viñetas del New Yorker. Me fue posible aquí descubrir un montón de autores esenciales para esa publicación y que son de una calidad excelente. Inteligencia y verdadero ingenio están muy extendidos en las páginas de este libro. Lo recomiendo vivamente.

Classic Humor
While I would agree that The New Yorker cartoons in this book could have been better organized and that the introduction was inconsequential, there are many classic cartoons in this volume that are well worth the price of admission. In my collegiate youth, I lived for my weekly New Yorker, just to read the cartoons. I found many old friends in this book and was grateful to be reaquainted with them. ... Read more

Book Description

The second volume in the most eagerly-anticipated publishing project in the history of the American comic strip: the complete reprinting of Charles M. Schulz's 50-year American classic, Peanuts.

Our second volume begins with Peanuts' third full year and a cast of eight: Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, Violet, Schroeder, Lucy, the recently born Linus, and Snoopy. By the end of 1954, this will have expanded to nine. Linus still doesn't speak (except, on a few occasions, to himself, à la Snoopy), but Schulz begins laying the foundation for his emergence as the most complex and arguably most endearing character in the strip: garrulous and inquisitive, yet gentle and tolerant. And he evens acquires his "security blanket" in this volume!

Meanwhile, Lucy, an infant just a year ago, has forcefully elbowed herself to the front of the cast, proudly wearing her banner as a troublemaker or, in Schulz's memorable phrase, "fuss-budget." The strong, specific relationships she sets up with each character further contributes to making her central to the strip. (She has earned her cover status on this volume.)

Charlie Brown is clearly in transition. Although his eventual, best-known persona (the lovable, perpetually humiliated round-headed loser) is in evidence in many strips, his brasher, more prankish side as seen in the previous volume (foreshadowing Bill Watterson's future Calvin) shows up, too.

This period's significant new character is Pig-Pen, who would remain one of the main cast members throughout the decade. And then there's Snoopy. To readers unfamiliar with the early days of the strip, Snoopy's appearances here will no doubt come as the biggest surprise. Although Snoopy has started talking/thinking to himself, he does no imitations (except for one brief shark impression), he doesn't sleep atop his doghouse (much less type or fly a Sopwith Camel), and has no fantasy life—in fact, he doesn't even walk upright! But as we know, he is merely biding his time, and his evolution continues its fascinating course within these pages.

This book collects 730 daily and Sunday comic strips, the vast majority of which are not currently available in any in-print Peanuts collection, and over 400 (well over half) of which have never been reprinted since their initial appearance in papers over 50 years ago. The Complete Peanuts is produced in full cooperation with United Media, Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, and Mr. Schulz's widow, Jean Schulz. Each volume in the series presents two years of strips along with supplementary material in a three-tier page format that accommodates three dailies or one Sunday strip per page. Award-winning graphic novelist Seth is designing the series so that each individual book is sharply recognizable and yet clearly part of a consistent series. Using archival-quality syndicate proofs for virtually every strip in its history, the series boasts the best-looking, crispest reproduction for a classic comic strip ever achieved. The volume's introduction is by revered news journalist Walter Cronkite.

Peanuts is the most successful comic strip in the history of the medium as well as one of the most acclaimed strips ever published. Charles Schulz's characters have become American icons. A Charlie Brown Christmas is as much an annual holiday ritual for families as It's A Wonderful Life. A United Media poll in 2002 found Peanuts to be one of the most recognizable cartoon properties in the world, recognized by 94 percent of the total US consumer market and a close second only to Mickey Mouse (96 percent), and higher than other familiar cartoon properties like Spider-Man (75 percent) or the Simpsons (87 percent). In TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All-Time" list, Charlie Brown and Snoopy ranked #8. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

VERY Amusing!
Very much like her earlier books (same format, same humor). As I've gotten older, I only relate more to her humor of the mundane truth of our lazy, neurotic, full of junk lives. A lot of the cartoons in this book are about parenthood, so I expect I'll like it even more once I go through that. One cartoon is called, "An excerpt from Men are from Belgium, Women are from New Brunswick" and in another cartoon as a woman tries to convince her mother to wear the new bathrobe she sent, mom insists she likes the old one, "YOU remember it- I made it out of the washcloths that I took from hotels we stayed at when you were a little girl!" In seventh grade I discovered Roz Chast's books "Unscientific America" and "The Four Elements" and loved them. I've been waiting nearly 20 years for another of these books and "The Party, After You Left " tickles me just as much as those did.

Wonderful Retrospective...
If you are having a bad day, just open this book and check out a few pages. It will turn your day around and put you in a good mood. So funny and on target. A lot of depth - makes you think while you are chuckling. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Dave Barry's humor speaks for itself. Barry on dating:"These are nonstereotypical times we live in, by which I mean thatit is the responsibility of the man to ask for the date, and theresponsibility of the woman to think up excuses that get progressivelymore obvious until the man figures out that the woman would rather chewon a rat pancreas." Barry on falling in love: "When twopeople have been on enough dates, they generally fall in love. You cantell you're in love by the way you feel: your head becomes light, yourheart leaps within you, you feel like you're walking on air, and thewhole world seems like a wonderful and happy place. Unfortunately theseare also the four warning signs of colon disease, so it's always a goodidea to check with your doctor." If you think you might be indanger of having a date, falling in love, or getting married, buy thisbook immediately. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHH (etc.)
Another classic Barry. The title alone should give it five stars, but the content overwhelms my funny bone.

At one point, I was falling out of my chair I was laughing so hard!

oh well....5 STARS

Early Barry. . .
Though not as good as his later works, definitely worth buying, though 'Dave Barry's Guide To Life' is also availiable on Amazon.com and contains this and three other works of similiar quality and length by the same author, while being slightly cheaper than this edition alone.
Recommended.

Breaking Up Or Getting Engaged?
If you've made it to that chapter (Chapter 4) without laughing so hard you have beverages coming out of your nose, please check your pulse. You may already be dead.

Anyone who has ever read a Dave Barry article can appreciate his incredibly dry wit and hilarious sense of humor. Barry always seems to capture subjects that are serious, but manages to put a funny twist on them. Not only does he nail the concept of marriage AND/OR sex in this book, but the illustrations by Jerry O'Brien are the perfect compliment. The outrageous diagrams on "How to French Kiss" remind me of my life just last week, er, I mean high school.

This book is loaded with helpful tips for both men and women. For instance, Barry feels that the best bet for a new bride on how to get along with her mother-in-law is drugs. If only more people could read this book!

This book has something in it for everyone. If you are about to get married, the chapter entitled "How to Have a Perfect Wedding No Matter What" will definately come in handy. Of course, those of you already married, chapters "How to Argue Like a Veteran Married Couple" and "Children: Big Mistake or Bad Idea?" will, most definately, be of interest.

Barry's book is a fairly quick read, and would make a nice addition to anyone's book collection, if not for the mere fact that it is a great conversation piece. Any fan of Dave Barry will love it, and if you live on another planet, and have never heard of him, this is a great book to start with. You can't help but laugh!

A funny worldwide reality
Barry continues being one of my favorite. His approach to human marriage relationships is no doubt almost a law (a little bit exagerated,maybe). Chapters 6 7 8 and were my favorites. I've just married and it was sort of an x-ray of my situation, except by the fact that have always believed in what he precisely satirizes: we don't need to spend a fortune in a full-of-critics-and-unpleasant people-that will not help you solve your infinite problem-night. His statements I think are of an almost universal reality. The only inconvenient for us latin american readers are perhaps the local jokes He is very serious (I'm not kidding)in telling us: Life is very simple and worth enjoying! Why screwing it up?

not his best work by a long shot
Although I thoroughly enjoy his writing, this book left me feeling ripped off. His subsequent efforts have been far superior. If you're a Dave Barry fan and you want to continue to love him, skip this one. ... Read more

Book Description

Some might think that the corporate scandals of 2002 could make it difficult to find anything funny about today's business world. But When Body Language Goes Bad proves it will take more than that to slow down the inventive wit of Scott Adams, who clearly is never at a loss for finding hysterical things to mock in corporate life.This marks the 21st collection of Adams' wildly popular comic strip, Dilbert, which is featured in more than 2,000 newspapers worldwide. This book updates loyal readers on the so-called careers of Dilbert, Alice, Wally, Asok the intern, and other regulars as they wallow through pointless projects, mismanaged company takeovers, futile team-building exercises, and other inane company initiatives like the "name the rest room" contest.In addition to the strips' familiar characters, this collection showcases Adams' masterful ability to create hilarious "guest stars." There's the network design engineer known as Psycho Hillbilly, who was going for the gentle biker look until he decided it was overdone. Then, there's M. T. Suit, who is merely an empty suit walking the office halls spewing corporatese, such as "promising to enhance core competencies by leveraging platforms." Adams says that about 80 percent of his initial ideas come from his 150 million-plus readers. Those worldwide readers are sure to celebrate the humor found in When Body Language Goes Bad, his latest satirical look at the modern workplace.

... Read more

Reviews (7)

Fighting the daily grind
Adams does it again. One wonders where he keeps finding all the ideas, and they are so right on. Dilbert plods his way through seemingly useless existence lost in cubic space while his dog and garbage man seem much wiser. Wally never does any work, and we learn of the "Wally period" where you wait to begin a project in case it is cancelled. Dogbert sells nuclear warheads to the Elbonians and pointy hair brings in a man-hating feminist to harass the troops. Catbert the evil HR director thinks up new ways to torment employees. Classic Dilbert at its best. Send a copy to your own pointy haired boss for any occasion.

A Chance Read
Frankly speaking, Dilbert never been my fav Comic Strip and I usually preferred Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica next to the yester years Picture Mags 'Photo Romance' and 'Darling' which had cool pic stories. On net, I happened to subscribe Dilbert Dose a day comic strip in my Mail box and became a fan of Dilbert. Scott Adams books drew my attention and I 'Chance Read' this book "When Body Language Goes Bad" through a friend's collection. There's been a satirical humour with tip on iceberg you call - How to avoid work, outwit the boss and updating the readers on Dilbert's careers, projects, take over of companies that got mis-managed and team building excercises. For most of the employees, a Boss is the worst nightmare and there's this dump-loads of work piled up. The weasel ways comes in great handy tip to outwit the boss at critical hours and this book, even for a novice is good read and know the characters that play its roles. All a way into the workplace, the coworkers plots and the Boss's unscruplous ways. I've yet to read a lot of this stuff but this one's good for sure to begin with. A chance read yet a 'Good Read' and a 'Good Pick' too.

Everything`s back in "snafu" order....
The last 2-3 Adam`s Dilbert collections were lackin on edge somewhat. Not that you can ever go wrong by acquring a Dilbert comic but Adams has accustomed his readers to a very high niveau of humor.
"When body language goes bad" is a tremendous return to top form for the Dilbert creator.
New and very welcome twists take place as Dilbert gets downsized, the Pointy Haired Boss becomes an engineer (even if it is for just a day), Wally takes Asok under his wings to teach him his "deepest secrets" on how to avoid work, Dilbert`s mother adopts an even more caustic attitude than wè had seen her up to now, and of course Alice is as usual the aggro force of the corporate corridors.
Wally keeps stealing the show as usual and the Head of Human resources (or "livestock") comes up with new and improved ways to torture the already overtortured souls of the employees.

On a downside, as has been the case with almost all of Adams`last albums Dogbert and especially Ratbert (possibly the 2nd cultest character of the series) seem to have taken second stage.`
This is bizzare on one hand but understandable on the other as most of the Dilbert characters have a strong fan base but it`s also a fact that Dogbert is one of the driving forces of the comic. As for Ratbert, yes, it can be a personal preference thingie.
It`s probably getting boring to say "a must buy" for each new Dilbert publication, but, as the faithful know, it`s an addiction.

Up to his best
Okay so I love this sort of thing, but this is up to his best and will make perfect gifts for everyone I know with a bithday this year.

Hysterically and ruthlessly funny cartoons
When Body Language Goes Bad is the twenty-first collection of Scott Adams' "Dilbert" daily comic strips. Hysterically and ruthlessly funny cartoons featuring overtaxed engineers, their clueless pointy-haired boss, incompetent co-workers, a dog with more power than most dictators, and an insidiously evil cat in charge of human resources fill the pages of this hilarious and sometimes regretfully timely collection. When the mean and unscrupulous boss says, "Ha ha! We're filing for chapter 11 because all of our so-called profits are fake. I'm laughing because I sold all of my stock on the same day I heard that our CFO did!", both the humor and the message come across clearly and sink in deeply. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Get your "Revenge"
The title of this book refers to the classic sequence of strips in which Calvin plots revenge on his "demonic" babysitter by kidnapping her homework and threatening to flush it down the toilet. Hobbes, wisely, tries to opt out of the operation. This is another outstanding collection in the Calvin and Hobbes series. Bill Watterson is a comic genius whose presence in the funny pages has been sorely missed since his retirement.

I rate All Calvin and Hobbes books with 5 stars
Bill Watterson was an amazing artist with an amazing comic strip. A six year old Problem Child (Who is also arguably a Child Genious. Just look at some of the words Clavin uses!) and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, get into all sorts of trouble, wether it be tormenting Susie Derkins through GROSS (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) or Annoying his teacher, Mrs. Wormword, or being tormented by Moe the School bully.

All Clavin and Hobbes books are worth, but this one in particular. In it has the greatest attack against Rosalyn the baby Sitter ever.

All though this Book is not my favorite C&H Book (That title belongs to Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat) I do feel it is C&H at their best. A must have for any Comic Strip fanatic

"Give me liberty or give me death, Zogwarg Queen!"
No matter how many times I read them, I can never get tired of Calvin and Hobbes. They're funny, creative, and are always getting into some sort of hijinx that could just about get them grounded for life. "The Revenge of the Baby-Sat" offers such adventures as that in a funny and entertaining way.

Calvin is always getting into trouble. Him and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, are always faced with obstacles; from Calvin's parents to his teacher. One of the main obstacles he faces in this book is a deranged baby-sitter (or at least, that's how he sees her). But hey, no problem! Calvin and Hobbes have a plan to get back at the baby-sitter once and for all!

Other adventures in the book can be found, such as:

*Calvin tries to play hooky*
*Calvin's picture session with his father*
*The Beanie Epic*
*Calvin forgets his "bug project"*
*Calvin's house gets broken into*
*"The Pushing of the Car Down the Drive" incident*
*Calvin cleans his room*
and many more!

"The Revenge of the Baby-Sat" is127 pages of Calvin and Hobbes hilarity. Bill Watterson never ceases to amaze me with his witty creativity and well-executed humor. This is something that can be enjoyed by kids, as well as adults. This is an outstanding collection of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips that should be checked out by anybody who's a fan of the comic strip (or anybody who loves to laugh). A five-star collection that continues to entertain me without missing a single beat.

Watterson, the man, the myth, the legend in his own time
It is my feeling that Bill Watterson had enough integrity and ethics to prevent the syndicate from cranking out endless meaninglessly repetitive compilations. Of course, he did quit partly because he was becoming disgusted with many of the commercial aspects of his work. With most comics, even good ones, the collections get stale after a few. Watterson's collections don't. There are a dozen or so C&H compilations/collections, but you won't be dissapointed with owning the whole shebang, especially since Watterson frequently did a lot of extra work to ensure that each collection had something new to offer. Even without this extra stuff, Watterson's body of work is extensive enought to warrant owning all these collections. He was steadily cranking out great material for a decade or so, and if you are like me you will be reading some C&H weekly for as long as you are on this earth, so tons of books is not a bad thing. Basically, I wholeheartedly reccomend all the books. If you like one you will like them all. They only get better as you get to know the characters. Watterson never goes for the cheap laugh by having any of the comic's principals act out of character. As you progress through the years with C&H, and I do reccomend reading them in order, you will see how art progresses and grows when the artist is committed to excellent work. So, go get the first one, titled simply Calvin & Hobbes, and then start down the enjoyable road to making Calvin and his tiger a pleasant little chunk of your life. (Yes, i have repeated this review for every C&H book I own, wich is all of them, so get used to seeing all this anytime you look one of them up)

my personal favorite
truly and surely one of the best comic strips ever! were you to be sick in bed and need something to make you laugh, this is the best medicine! ... Read more

Book Description

Imagine three hurricanes converging on one household and you get an idea of what Darryl and Wanda MacPherson experience each delightful day of parenting Zoe, Hammie, and Baby Wren. It's a perfect storm of flying foodstuffs, off-the-scale emotional outbursts, and enough offspring energy to make veteran storm chasers duck for cover � and that's before any little friends come over to play!Playdate: Category 5 captures all this and more in the latest Baby Blues collection. This book is packed with hilarious family situations and childhood challenges anyone can appreciate, whether it's fellow parents riding out their own "storms," empty nesters reveling in their calms, or parents-to-be wondering what all the fuss is about. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott are right on target in episode after episode. Their witty observations and insights-such as "I think screaming is the primary form of communication for girls"; "We've gotta learn to travel lighter, or just put some wheels on the house"; and "Sometimes being the dad is like being the weird kid in the neighborhood"-always hit the mark.Playdate: Category 5 will be treasured by those new to the strip as well as those who've appreciated its previous 18 collections. Even better than the daily installments, which appear in more than 900 newspapers and 20 magazines throughout the world, Playdate allows readers to experience the full fury of the MacPherson family tempest time and time again. It's coming on fast! ... Read more

Book Description

For the first time ever, The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family, The Simpsons Forever!, and the newest installment The Simpsons Beyond Forever! are collected together in an all-new, deluxe boxed set, celebrating twelve years of simply sensational Simpsons success. Each boxed set also comes with a set of exclusive Simpsons postcards!

From the very first cartoon short to the 12th season, "The Simpsons" has gone from overnight success to cultural phenomenon to television's longest-running prime-time, animated show. Featuring highlights from more than 250 episodes, plot synopses, quotes, character profiles, couch gags, guest stars, and much more, The Ultimate Simpsons in a Big Ol' Box supplies twelve years of giggles and gurgles, chuckles and chortles, snickers and snorts, and hoots and howls that will delight everyone in one, BIG boxed set.

The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Family (Seasons 1-8) This meticulously researched, colorfully rendered, exhaustively indexed, and lovingly fashioned episode guide provides memorable moments and little known facts that will make you an authority on the first eight seasons of "The Simpsons."

The Simpsons Forever! (Seasons 9 & 10) Continuing on from The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family, The Simpsons Forever! provides more of everything you came to expect from the first volume. Focusing on Seasons 9 & 10, The Simpsons Forever! features musical moments from "The Simpsons," including the Bart Simpson music videos along with a special tribute to the career of Troy McClure.

The Simpsons Beyond Forever! (Seasons 11 & 12) Picking up where The Simpsons Forever! left off, this new guide tells you everything thing you want to know and more than you think you already know about "The Simpsons." In this volume each episode gets a full two-page, full-color treatment that provides more art and more moments from your favorite episodes from the 11th & 12th Seasons.

Reviews (8)

The Ultimate Guide for the Ultimate Simpsons Fan
This Episode Guide has EVERYTHING that you can ever imagine in an episode guide. From Seasons 1-12, it has details on every single episode. Its got quotes, what Bart writes on the chalkboard in the intro, couch gags, special guest voices, writers, screenshots, episode number (i.e. 8F05), air date, scene selections, runtime, and a whole lot more. All of this for only about $30, what a bargain.

Now I have seen every single Simpsons episode up-to-date but sometimes I forget about an episode or about a quote from a certain episode that I forget but now all I do is look over at my episode guide, track the season down and from there I find out what I needed. This book isn't just for looking for episodes and finding quotes or stuff like that, it can also be entertaining and a time killer (I mean that in a good way). So if you're stuck in the car going on a vacation, you can open this Episode Guide up and have yourself a laugh and maybe even find out some useful stuff that you didn't know about. This is a strong recommendation for any Simpsons fan.

The Simpsons Forever!
I have the first book that covers seasons 1-8 and it is an absolute must-have for Simpson fans not in front of the internet who want to remember specific shows and lines from the shows at their fingertips. It has brought hours and hours of joy to my friends and I. I think the guy from Belgium is just bitter and might want to consume some Duff.

The Simpsons - The Final Rip Off
Yes, I was a great fan of The Simpsons. The show originally appeared to be a critical cynical approach to American and western society. It showed a family who's main entertainment is television, a father who's an alcoholic with a boring job, a son which main interest is to pull jokes out of sheer boredom, a daughter who is terrified by it all escaping in intellectualism and a mother who stays married whatever happens. Let's say a nice portrait of an ordinary family.
However, the show became a parody of itself, it can be watched on many levels one being a cynical approach to consumer society and the kind of people it breeds.
Now The Simpsons has become itself a money maker, throwing gadgets all over the place, exploiting fans who probably already bought the first two volumes, now offering a boxed offering (what about the fans who bought the first two volumes: they can forget about the added greeting cards; it should be the other way around). And anyway, let's face it, The Simpsons are out of ideas, now only making the show for the big bucks, distancing themselves ever further about what the original ideas were all about.

Ronald Clercx

Ehhh...
I'm not buying any more Simpsons Episode Guide books until the freakin show is cancelled....which at this rate seems like never! I suggest only buying the version that contains seasons 1- 8 (8 being when it started to peter out anyway...Coinciding with the death of the Great One, Phil Hartman)

The Ultimate Simpsons Reference!
These guides are so thorough in covering each episode of the Simpsons, any fan will want to buy them all so he/she may as well get them all at once in this fun box set. These books list each episode in every season from the shorts aired on the Tracy Ullman show through season 12. For every episode there is a brief description, the date it originally aired, list of writers/guest voices, tons of quotes, interesting tidbits and things to look for, selected dialog, screen shots, and even the message on Bart's chalkboard in the introduction. In addition to the information on each episode, the books include short features on almost every character (even those that appeared briefly in one episode), Itchy and Scratchy shorts, a list of when Homer says "D'oh!" or "Mmmm...," a list of the "couch gags" during the theme song, you name it. These are the ultimate guides to the Simpsons that every fan will refer to regularly. They also include a handy index to help when one is trying to find that one special episode he/she craves. Even if you already have one of these books, this is an excellent set to own and it's a good idea to have a spare book because you will no doubt wear out at least one! ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Unbelievable
This is by far one of the funniest compilations of cartoons ever printed. The humor is so dark and hysterical. I have not laughed as hard as I have laughed at this book in a LONG time. The content is sometimes sick, sometimes twisted but always hilarious. I cannot get enough. I loved it through every page. Not only is the actual cartoon funny but the titles of each one lend a hand to the razor sharp wit of the strip. This is definitely a must buy, skip Gary Larson and buy this book.

Avid Fan (who is completely broke)
Okay to be quite honest I haven't bought the books yet, but that's only because I need to dig for a few more quarters out of my couch. I am a HUGE fan of Red Meat, and I think I have read just about every single panel on Max's webpage devoted to his comic. Milkman Dan is one of the funniest characters in short panel comics I have ever seen in my life. If you enjoy twisted humor, you NEED to add these two books to your collection of Dilbert and The Far Side! Trust me, it's worth every single penny.

A Breed Apart (Moo)
Like Gary Larson and Tom Tomorrow, people either "get" Max Cannon or they don't. If you "get" him, this collection is invaluable. If not, maybe there's a Mallard Filmore collection out there somewhere. The Family Circus is always good, too. For an anti-Family Circus, non-politically correct good time, Red Meat is a great read. Is it political? Everything's political. This is just a little something from the smartass anarchist lobby. :)

Essential
If you have any appreciation whatsoever for morbid humor, buy this man's books immediately. There's really nothing else to it.

Gut busting humor of the pancreas
Red Meat is a great off the wall, out of the ordinary bit of humor. Max Cannon continues to surprise me in the ways he makes me laugh through his cartoons. The art work may be cookie-cutter, but it is far from average. If your paying attention to the details it'll make you laught even more. Earl Rules!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Earth braces for its final destruction in a collision with an onrushing planet, and only Dr. Zarkov can prevent doomsday. Taking Flash Gordon and Dale Arden captive, he takes off in a rocket to deflect the hurtling planet and save the world. The mad Zarkov, Flash and Dale survive a crash landing on Mongo, only to be captured by the diabolical Ming the Merciless. And the true adventure begins. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great start for this series
Checker has another hit on their hands with their reprint series of Alex Raymond's FLASH GORDON. Presented in oblong 12 x 9" hardcover format, this makes for an attractive, if somewhat awkward, format for collecting these classic strips. I say "awkward" because oblong editions don't store easily on the bookshelf, but the benefit is that you get the strips in their original format. In any case, it's great to see Raymond's original strips back in print. This edition introduces Flash Gordon and his travelling companions Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov, as well as the interplanetary comrades and enemies we all know and love (or love to hate). Reproduction is fair: the linework is a bit light, and the colors are too soft for my tastes. Better reproduction quality, plus a higher page count, would have netted this book five stars.

Back to the 1930's with Flash Gordon on Mongo!
Finally, with the publication of this book, I have had the chance to see and read the original color comic strip of the famous Flash Gordon serial that was eventually made into the successful Buster Crabbe series! Looking back at the original illustrations and storyline is a benefit for any fan of Flash Gordon because we get to see the germination of the ideas and EXPERIENCE the thrill that weekly readers must have felt when they bought their newspapers. The colors are interesting, the storyline of course is great, but perhaps the best is that we get to understand the names of various beasts and races that existed on the Planet Mongo better than the Crabbe series on film. The scientific interpretation of technology is fascinating and the order of the planet will make much more sense to you after reading this book. It will also most likely cause a more appreciative view of those old Buster Crabbe serials of Flash when you see them again! A real gem and I am looking forward to the next volume of a projected 3 volume series. The only problem encountered is that some of the text was a little hard to see because of the colors behind them but to those who are familiar with the story it should not be much of a burden.

Great
When I went to my local comic shop and saw this book, I bought it without even checking the prize. I first saw Raymond's work on the History Channel series of programs retelling the history of comics, and being a fan of the animated series and a comic book artist myself, I set out to find his work. No success.
Now, it is available in this hardcovers and I can only thank Checker for doing this. The artwork reproduction is fairly good (being strips from 1934), and the panels are printed in a good size, at least for me (regarding the previous reviews). I don't know the original measures and the up to date quality of the strip, but in this collection, I think you'll be able to thoroughly enjoy Alex Raymond's stunning artwork, wich is a reminder of an era and a great source of inspiration to artists, both up and coming and professionals.

Publisher's Note on the PW review
Normally, Checker does not rebut reviews, but in this case I felt the need to clarify some points brought up in the Publishers Weekly review above. First, every criticism within the review is 100% valid FOR THE REVIEW COPY PROVIDED TO PW.

As readers may or may not know review copies are provided the media four to five months prior to publication. With full color comic strip collections the quality of the REVIEW COPY is a difficult thing to measure. Subsequent to Checker mailing review copies, we chose to delay the publication of the collection and revamp the book format and design to better reflect its original published format. The end book is something wholly different than what we provided to the editorial staff at Publishers Weekly. We are confident that fans will relish this watershed of comics history in their collections. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

A great cat, a great artist
Jones was the cat of Hunter S. Thompson. Ralph Steadman, the artist for many of Thompson's books, was at his house on numorous occasions and made various scetches of the cat. After jones had been dead for some time and Ralph famous, this slim volume was published as a tribute.

What can I say? I like cats and I like Ralph Steadman's art. It works for me.

Appeal lost on me
As one who loves good literature and cats, I was eager to own this book after reading the reviews. I was disappointed with each and every page! I found the story and the 'characters' lacking both depth and interest. I am not familiar with the author, but closed the book wishing he had allowed someone else to put his sketches to word.

It was a very enjoyable and easy book to read.
This was a very enjoyable book, especially for cat lovers. As a person who has nine inside cats, I really understand the personality of Jones and can see how he got under Ralph's skin. The drawings are wonderful, and even though I personally didn't know Jones, I felt like I did. I give this book 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes cats.

"JONES IS DEAD!!!" - Hunter S Thompson on his cat's death
This book was given to me for my birthday by my wife after we had seen it in a bookstore. I've always found Steadman's work to be amazing, and he doesn't disappoint this time. From all accounts, Jones was a typical cat: supremely disdainful of everyone around him, and yet more than willing to take advantage of Hunter, et. al., when necessary. The bond between a cat and a person is never easy to describe, and yet Ralph does so with surprising ease. Those of us who are familiar with Dr Thompson and his works can easily see how he and Jones were perfect for each other. A must read for cat lovers and Hunter fans alike. ... Read more

Book Description

Millions of people dream of chucking the city routine and leading the simple country life. Jim Mullen was not one of those people. Even a short weekend in the Hamptons was enough to give him the shakes. He just didn't understand the whole culture of weekend houses. "Why don't they take the money they're going to spend on a second house and buy a better first one? One they don't have to get away from every weekend."

He loved his perk-filled life as a Manhattan columnist: the parties, the openings, the movie screenings, the free junk that public relations people sent him in the mail. He could walk to hundreds of different restaurants from his Greenwich Village home, waste entire afternoons at the Film Forum, people-watch from his window on Christopher Street. Then, calamity.

His wife quit smoking. To keep her mind off cigarettes, she bought a weekend house in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Three hours in the opposite direction from the glitzy Hamptons, the tiny town of Walleye is a parallel universe where things are the exact opposite of New York City. Shopkeepers take checks without ID, strangers wave at you when you drive by, the bank teller knows your name, reservations at restaurants are unnecessary, and parking is free.

There is no weekend crush in Walleye. There is no frenzy for lemongrass or tomatillos at the farmer's market; there are no homes by Frank Gehry or Robert Venturi; no one owns a Land Rover or a BMW. There is no Williams-Sonoma, no Ben & Jerry's, no theme restaurant owned by a celebrity, no microbrewery, no Sharper Image. There isn't a tuna carpaccio with tapénade on a bed of hand-torn frisée within three hours of the place. His mostly dairy-farming neighbors never read The New York Times, don't know who Ralph Lauren is, have never heard of Moomba, and have difficulty pronouncing Joe Pesci, yet they manage to live full, productive, and happy lives. How is this possible? It starts to shake Mullen's faith in Manhattanism.

Though the one local radio station goes off at sunset and oregano is on the "exotic food" shelf at the supermarket, Mullen warms to the place. Slowly but surely, the man who once boasted "Life is just a cab away" no longer feels at home on the sidewalks of New York.

It Takes a Village Idiot is a deliciously entertaining, eye-opening look at how hard it is to live The Simple Life. A must read if you've ever used the words "flyover country" -- or even if you haven't. "Imagine A Year in Provence written by Dennis Miller," said one New York writer, "and you'll have some idea of the fun of It Takes a Village Idiot." ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A great satire of "both" New Yorks
As most people living in New York State will tell you, there are actually "two" New Yorks--the one everyone knows about (the city and its surrounding metro area) and that vast chunk of land east of the Hudson River known as Upstate New York. I grew up in the latter, and found Jim Mullen's memoir an extremely enjoyable satire of life in both rural Upstate New York and urban Manhattan. He pokes fun at both rural dwellers and closed-minded Manhattanites who are so sheltered they've never even been to Brooklyn. NYC and Upstate have always had a strange, if somewhat strained, relationship, and Mullen illustrates this perfectly through his humorous tale of the difficult transition between city life and country life.

And besides the humor, I was touched by the book's ode to simple country life. Underneath all the sarcasm lays a touching tribute to rural life, and a great appreciation for the farmers who work the land. I've always taken that sort of thing for granted, and now I have a renewed appreciation for my homeland. The book is both an entertaining and rewarding read.

Very enjoyable!
I picked this book up after having read a few stinkers, and I felt so grateful because it's truly enjoyable. Jim Mullen is very funny, his observations and comments are so comical, and he often had me laughing out loud. He also handles some more serious, or sad, issues with a touching sensitivity that doesn't stray from the wry humor, but makes his heartfelt point (without beating us over the head, thank you). Despite the premise, this story is an original. Love his wife. Love his neighbors. Hope he is working on a follow-up as we speak.

A must read - especially for Upstate New Yorkers.
Jim Mullen has written a truly wonderful book. Being a native of the Catskill Mountain area in which he writes, I felt he not only showed the humor of his experiences but did so in a way as not to downgrade those of us who have lived here our whole lives.

I love that he not only uses humor but also shows an appreciation for the beauty and quaintness of the area. I especially liked that it is written so anyone...no matter where they live can visualize the settings.

Thank you Mr. Mullen for an enjoyable read about the area in which I live.

Funny
This book just oozes sarcasm. No, wait, it GUSHES...Mullen is the writer of the "Hot Sheet" in Entertainment Weekly magazine. As you can imagine, this isn't exactly serious literature, but if you need a break from everything, this book is perfect. It's only about 200 easy-to-read pages, and there's a belly laugh awaiting you at about every third page (and several chuckles in between). Mullen, a die-hard Manhattanite, goes through a sea change in his life when his wife buys a farm in the Catskills "because she quit smoking and needed something to do with her hands."

Charming, insightful. Makes me wish I could afford....
...a country place so I can experience all this. A great book all-around. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Great book for ALL branches of comedy
As a professional comedian I have shelves of books on comedy. I always enjoy exploring new books just in hopes to extract one or two useful bits of information. The comic toolbox has TONS of useful information. I have used many of the author's tools to review and rewrite my current material to make it stronger and in helping me develop new material. The author's writing style is very pleasant and gets to the point in a lighthearted fashion. Whether you are writing comedy for tv, movies, or the stage this book is worth the small investment into your career.

A helpful - and ENJOYABLE - book of fiction writing advice
No other book on writing I've read - and I've read a lot! - kept me chuckling throughout. I'd recommend this book for the laughs alone, but I can also recommend it as the fount of writing wisdom it entails.

Vorhaus not only explains the basic types of humor and the elements of a comic plot, but also lays out an excellent plotting structure useful for any type of fiction writing. Whether you merely want to add a few touches of humor to an angsty story, or you want to write the next comic blockbuster, this book will help you on your way.

P.S. Chapter 9 alone is worth the price of the book!

Not a comic toolbox!
If you can get past the first 191 pages then the last page is great....its the page when you can close the book and thank god its over.
John Vorhaus gets confused with what a premise is and what most comics call a mix or a twist. If he is unsure of the basics maybe a book is beyond him.
In saying this its worth reading as it is a great tool for learning to push on no matter how bad things are.

Best book around except .....
I tremendously enjoyed reading the book. And the insights and ideas you get really blow your mind. One disadvantage is that it`s text only, so it`s sometimes hard to filter out the pure structure and the bone of it all.

But being not the constantly complaining german as you would assume I made a virtue of it and reread the book and tried to write down a 9-pages abstract of the book and I think this process (process not product!) helped me to get more out of the book than it would have been otherwise possible.(You college graduates knew that all along!) Give it a go!

Add to your collection. . .
I use three of the tools. Great stuff, gets the mind working like I want it to work when it comes to comedy. Plus, he has some very positive words of encouragement. However, he spends a lot of time on the comedic story and sitcoms.........I was looking for comedy for the stand up stage. But.......I bought it, loved it...Actually, 3 1/2 stars would be about right. ... Read more

Book Description

More than 200 cartoons from syndicated cartoonist John McPherson show our appreciation for, and sometimes our impatience with, one of the most important bedrocks of our nation’s future: our teachers. From elementary school to college, and from piano teachers to sports coaches, this book makes a hilarious and heartwarming gift for our favorite mentors.

Reviews (1)

Excellant cartoons
Bought this as Father Day gift for Dad. He is a teacher. Everyone in the house who has read the book loves it. Though some of the cartoons may give teachers ideas about ways to make education tough for students. I know my father had a smirk on Math Essay cartoon. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (7)

Great fantasy for the gullible!
I was dissappointed that this book was so obviously rooted in fact but totally without substance. Yes there is a Bush family but where does the author get the set ups, the gags, etc.

I laughed, I cried (for our country)
SO hysterical and right on target, after reading a friend's copy I immediately ordered it for my child. I only pray that volume II will be "The Three Little Pigs and the door that hit them on their way out of office".

The quick synopsis is: The 3 little pigs are Dubya, Rummy and Dickie. Dickie and Rummy keep telling Dubya what to do and he just does it. They are building their own houses of bricks stolen from the country, while they rebuild the rest of the country with mud and straw (pacifying the country bumpkins with $300 a piece). The big bad wolf comes along (bin Laden) to blow the house down with his WMD (Winds of Mass Destruction), and then they try to divert the country's attention to the New big bad wolf (Sadam). The illustrations are exceedingly well done and the story is right on target.

Hilarious!
This book is a satire of the Bush administration using the framework of the story "The Three Little Pigs." The book parodies Dubya's lack of knowledge about ANYTHING, Cheney's affinity for making money by screwing the little guy, Rummy's bloodlust, and more. I recieved a copy as a gift and plan on purchasing it for a few friends. ;-)

GREAT!
I Love It! This books should be required reading for everyone. The PERFECT history of GWB. Perhaps the "compassionate conservatives" should take this on their next month long vacations. Maybe they'll learn something while living off of everyone elses money in their brick houses!!

SICKENING!
This thing looks like it was ghost-written by any of a number of leftist losers -- Al Franken, Michael Moore, take your pick -- whose asinine beliefs were dumped by the roadside where they belonged when the Bush administration finally took the White House away from the nightmarish fiasco of the Clintons. I like the Bizarro comic well enough, but if these are Piraro's true political beliefs, then he should be ashamed of himself. ... Read more

Reviews (105)

Best retrospective collection
The announcement last November that Bill Watterson would be retiring his comic strip Calvin and Hobbes at the end of the year should not have surprised anyone--at least, anyone who has read the recently released The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book. Like Gary Larsen's Pre-History of The Far Side, this volume provides a retrospective collection selected by the author, with notes on the origin and evolution of his creation. Both cartoonists annotated the books themselves, explaining the writing process and the business of cartooning. Larsen, though, as happy with his medium--his retirement was a factor of creative burnout rather than frustration with the limitations of the comics page of today's newspaper. That frustration with the four panel strip was the reason for Berke Breathed's early retirement, and is quite likely the reason for Watterson's as well. Watterson believes in the comic as a real art form--and in his hands it often was--but the dynamics of the business, both the physical limitations on the drawing and the way the economics is split between artist and newspaper with a syndicate go-between, restricted the full expression of his art.

The Tenth Anniversary Book is not a depressing collection, although it is quite serious in its examination of the ten years of the strip. Watterson reveled in his creation, and the work that he produced was always of the utmost quality. This collection has some of the most joyful moments of the past--Spaceman Spiff is there, as well as Stupendous Man, the Replicator, and the dreaded Babysitter. The amazing thing isn't that Watterson is retiring, but that he could spend ten years producing such work as fresh and imaginative as his debut.

While I am sad to see Waterson and Calvin and Hobbes retire, I have hope that we have not seen the last of either. The rise of the "graphic novel" and its acceptance in the United States (the form has always been popular in Europe [Tintin, Asterix] and Japan [magna too numerous to list]) offers Watterson the format that he deserves, where he can be enjoyed and appreciated as one of the most innovative sequential artists of the later 20th century.

Great comics, great commentary
Bill Watterson picks out some of his finest cartoons for this book, which would be reason enough to buy it. The additional commentary, though, makes it by far the best Calvin and Hobbes book. It was interesting to see what Mr. Watterson thought of his various characters, how he came up with different ideas and what he found interesting in certain stories. This book just confirmed to me that Calvin and Hobbes is one of the funniest, most original and most meaningful comics in recent years. It was interesting to hear about what Mr. Watterson is like as a person, as he reveals some of his personal interests and opinions through the commentary. Finally, finding out the background for Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Miss Wormwood and the other Watterson inventions was interesting. Definitely worthwhile to buy, read and then read again and again.

Great Insight Into Bill Watterson's Mind
Bill Watterson hasn't drawn Calvin and Hobbes in almost 10 years, but fortunately, every strip in the series' run can be found in numerous compilations. The most impressive of these is the 10-year anniversary volume which contains some of his favorites. Watterson was a recluse and rarely gave an interview, but in this book, he is very generous in his insights into many of the comics he had drawn over the years and is particularly not bashful at taking shots at the trends of reducing the modern comic strip to almost illegible size and particularly the licensing of Calvin and Hobbes, which he very successfully opposed. It's not a surprise that he called it quits soon after this book came out.

Watterson comes off in his rants on the art of cartooning as a very bitter man, but a bitter man of unquestionable integrity. I totally agree with him that licensing characters and sticking them on "overpriced knick-knacks nobody needs" does cheapen the strip. As an example, "Dilbert" never affected me like it did after you couldn't turn around without seeing another Dilbert coffee mug, Dilbert stress ball, Dilbert burrito (I'm not making that up, folks), Dilbert hygiene product (OK, I made that up), etc. I got sick of looking at Dilbert and my interest in the strip waned.

But I love going back and looking at old Calvin and Hobbes strips. Sometimes I wish that Watterson would pick up his ink pen again and draw C&H againon his terms, but maybe he's just better off letting his creation stand on its own accord.

The 10th Anniversary Book
Watterson is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time. Calvin and Hobbes sometimes share their deep insights on the values of life. Sometimes their personal outlooks on life are reflected off Watterson's views, which is a great skill to have. Along with the comics, the book is filled with accounts the author wrote, explaining his feelings about the comics and what they mean to him. The book is funny and adventurous, and when you're through reading it, you might have learned a lesson.

Watterson is king
There are a lot of comics that have faded away over the years and tracking them down after they're out of print is sometimes next to impossible. I don't think Calvin and Hobbes is going anywhere for a while even though Watterson has ended the strip but if it does you'll probably kick yourself for not having a complete Calvin and Hobbes collection and this book is the crowning piece in that collection. Bill Watterson, a guy who keeps his opinions to himself (finding an interview with him is like a treasure hunt) gives you an inside look at the strip, Priceless. ... Read more