Cartoons Books

A step by step way to draw your favourite cartoon characters. The use of this book should be available to anyone who wants to try another way of drawing. Perhaps, with encouragement you will be persuaded to continue, to experiment, and finally to create your own cartoon style.

Kids like to duplicate what they know, it helps them to connect to popular art. So this drawing book has 50 characters from popular cartoons for them to copy. They did a great job with the final art and the choice of characters from comic strips and comic books. You may need some basic skills before you try some of these. If you don't have these yet that's OK, we all have to startt somewhere. I might suggest you try Ed Emberly's books (like "the Big Green Drawing Book") or Mark Kistler's books or videos, the best places to start learning to draw. A book like this is more useful when you have some very basic drawing skills, then use a book like this to practice and hone your skills with.

I am 9 years old and love to draw. This book tells you how to draw a lot of famous cartoons. Some of the ones I like the best are PopEye, Flintstones and Scooby Doo. If you like to draw, you will enjoy this book.

I like this book because it has almost all those famous cartoons that you can barely get off the web.

The Lee Ames series of books are good if you already have the basics of drawing down and some minor artist skills. They show how to take your basic skills and make some neat stuff. But this book is basically 1 page to a cartoon star, and about 6 drawings on the page to get a completed look. For some simple ones it works but on others it gets a little tricky. No text instructions here, just the drawings which you are just copying. If you want to LEARN how to draw and get the basic skills first whether you are kid or an adult, the books by Jack Hamm and Ed Emberly are the best place to start. They can make anyone an artist. Then come back to books like Ames.

This is no children's book of comics! When I showed it to my over twenty-one daughter she asked,"This used to published in a newspaper?" She loved it as much as I did. The "Far side," type humor is still funny today. Dover said they removed some of the ethic humor that would offend people today. It is sad to me that people can't laugh at themselves any more without getting offended. I would have loved to have seen all of the strips uncensored and formed my own opinion.

I'm delighted to see that this book is available. I bought my copy of this book in the mid-70's and it is still one of the favorite books in my library. Mr. McCay is just devastatingly funny and honest about the mayhem that is turned loose in our dreams. Decapitations, public nudity, personal disasters and humilitations of all sort are rendered in the sky's-the-limit fashion that dreams take...and definitely not PC!
McCay is also a superb draftsman, although these cartoons are a pared down version of his work on the Little Nemo strips. Highly highly recommended.

Winsor Mccay is considered one of the pioneers of cartooning AND animation. His drawing style is so architecturally fine tuned that each panel of his work is a piece of art itself! The Rarebit Fiend has a habit of eating toasted cheese before going to bed and consistently wakes up from a nightmare at the end of each piece. The nightmares vary from the slightly off-kilter, to the maddeningly surreal. This large paperback book reproduces a good number of these, and is well worth the price. Essential for fans of early comic strips.

I discovered Winsor McCay pretty recently and have been enjoying the Little Nemo full page newspaper spreads and been astonished at McCay's talent. I've seen the full sized hardcover Maresca Little Nemo 2005 publication, and two hardcover reductions: the Evergreen (Taschen) and the "Best of Little Nemo..." edited by Richard Marschall, which closely resembles the former in most cases (evidently from the same source). I read the reviews here on this book, "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" and decided to order it. It too is amazing, but in a very different way. Whereas Little Nemo is wonderful and lavishly illustrated and colored, it doesn't make me laugh. However, just about everything in the 1905 black and white Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend (this book) makes me laugh out loud. I wasn't sure when I ordered (not having seen any of the material previously) but quickly realized it's well worth it. I can't think of a modern comics artist who makes me laugh so consistently.

This is a handsome little book and McCay's illustrations are beautifully presented. I own 4 different McCay books and have seen another and of all of them, this is the most flawless... and by far the cheapest!

"Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" is McCay's overlooked masterpiece. "Little Nemo" gets all the press (and it deserves the highest possible praise) but The Fiend is often equally compelling. More adult in subject matter than Nemo, it is less visually resplendant, but still quite powerful in its invocation of the fears and hopes underlying our day-to-day thoughts.

This collection is the standard, but it collects only a fraction of what McCay produced (this is a reprint of a 1905 volume, but the strip ran until 1910 or 1911). You can pick up the Checker "Early Works" volumes for a more complete run (in questionable quality) and there are more strips in the Canemaker book on McCay as well as the Fantagraphics "Daydreams and Nightmares" (which I highly recommend).

Checker has since produced a fine collection: [[ASIN: 1933160659 The Saturdays]] which would make a great follow-up to this book.

When I first wrote this review in 2006, I pleaded for someone to do this strip justice with a comprehensive reprint. Little did I know that Ulrich Merkl was, in fact, working on one at the time. You can search the web for his "The Complete Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" (http://www.rarebit-fiend-book.com). I highly reccommend it, though it is a bit pricey. [[ASIN: 3000207511 The Complete Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend]]

Great book. You should buy it if you want to have a good laugh!

I have read Baby Blues on and off in the local paper for the past several years. Having not received the paper on a regular basis has prevented me from sticking with it consistently. However, I have historically enjoyed it when I read and decided to start picking up the treasuries to play a bit of a game of catch-up. They weren't all readily available and I'm a bit of a stickler for reading in some degree of order. As a result, I started with the first of the series that I could readily find.

As expected, it was very entertaining and made brought an audible chuckle on more than one occasion. Thoroughly enjoyable. I would happily recommend. Next up for me: Framed - Baby Blues Treasury

I have all the Baby Blues books, and this one is the best of the treasuries. I loved it.

As a parent of four grown sons, I found this a very entertaining and accurate view of the 26 child rearing years I spent at home with my sons. So I bought this book for my son and his wife who are raising twins, a boy and a girl.
The bumper sticker in the back of the book is a nice bonus: "Driving under the influence of children" How true!!!!

Driving Under The Influence Of Children is the latest compiled treasury of "Baby Blues" comic strips, collecting the daily struggles of two parents and the three precocious young children who exist to exhaust their resources, wallets, and supply of clean clothes. Parents everywhere are sure to see their own experiences reflected in the good-natured humor of the stay-at-home "I prefer to think of it as twenty-five years of maternity leave" mother and well-meaning father with noticeably less stamina around babies at maximum volume ("How come when you look after the kids it's 'parenting' but when I look after the kids it's 'not working'?" asks the beleagured mother). Baby Blues remains a gem among comic strips, both in that its characters are permitted to age with the passage of time, and in that it remains as fresh, funny, and all-too-insightful of the human condition as it was in its inception. Highly recommended, not to mention just plain funny.

I dated a guy just like Eddie...he was an idiot then...but little did I know that he would turn out to be such a smart guy...reading this fun, amazing and inspiring book has me looking all over for his phone number...Hoping for a 2nd chance with my very own Eddie the Idiot!

The author tells of a surprise ending that you "won't see coming." He was right about that. It made me laugh out loud, something I haven't done in awhile while reading a book. I blew through this book in about 15-20 minutes, which is great because I don't have very much time to read. Then I gave it to a co-worker who read it on her lunch break. Then she gave it to her sister who read it to her children. It's one of those books that everyone can relate to. I just hope I get it back one day.

I listen to Mark on the radio every morning and I watch him on NBC. I love his show so I figured I would love his book too. I was right! It's very funny and an easy little book to read. The lessons are wonderful as well. I decided to buy several copies as gifts for grads, girlfriends, baby showers...whatever! It's a really cute story that anyone will enjoy reading over and over. Thank you Mark Kaye!

What a great book. I like the way that Mark mixes humor with his message. The illustrations are great and the book is a quick and easy read. This is the kind of book that gets passed around to others - definitely not a dust collector.

I'm an avid listener to Mark Kaye's radio show and of course I love it so much. I also get mark Kaye's "fan mail" which i love and puts me in a good mood. I just got the book today and wanted to tell everyone how much I enjoyed it. The intro is absolutely correct about adult books nowadays and this one was so joyous to read, along with witty, creative and inspirational - not to mention it being about 90 pages made it a breeze, I was able to knock it out in about 15 minutes. I have been wishy washy about going back to school because it has been 5 years since I have taken any classes and am feeling overwhelmed about re-entering school. But this book made me realize, my ideal job will not just fall into my lap (as I hoped) and I have to work hard to get there and at the end of the hard work and dedication I will reap my reward, which is having a job I am passionate about. So thank you Mark Kaye for writing your book and being wonderful. I love your show & I look forward to more books in the future.

... it would be necessary to invent him.

It's not just that his comics are really funny. They certainly are, but they also use real issues in science and public perception of it to make real points. Like that counter in a department store selling "Pheromones: Lanvin, Dior, Chanel, ..." Or that general telling that scientist "All we want is something new that will incapacitate the enemy without giving us bad press." Some strike just a bit close to home for me, like the labs labeled "Research" and "Development," with the lab labelled "Bottlenecks" standing between them.

The most remarkable thing is how current so many of these issues are: genetic engineering, environmental pollution, chemical hazards, and more. These comics were originally printed between 1971 and 1986, 20-35 years ago now, and the only thing dated about them is occasional bell-bottoms! They're still as pertinent (and sometimes impertinent) as ever.

Maybe what makes these comics last so well is that, even if the science changes, the scientists don't. They just as human and just a fallible now as two thousand years ago, and they're the real subjects of Harris's affectionate gibes.

-- wiredweird

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, Einstein Simplified: Cartoons On Science by Sidney Harris (easily one of America's most acclaimed science cartoonists) brings originality, insight, and appreciation for the oddities, quirks, eccentricities, and occasional culture shocks that the contemporary sciences so often inject into our ordinary (and often extraordinary) daily life. Demonstrably doing for science what Scott Adams' "Dilbert" cartoons have done for business, Einstein Simplified will delight scientists, academicians, and non-specialist general readers alike!

this book is for the science enthusiast. i bought the book 3 years ago and i still enjoy leafing through and reading the cartoons. i highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intelligent humor because you will get a good laugh.

I'm not a scientist and don't pretend or intend to be. Nevertheless, I thought this book was hilarious. Harris does for science and technology what Scott Adams (who created the *Dilbert* cartoon) does for the business world. He illustrates the funny sides of the scientific and technological environments in such a simple and funny way that just about everyone can enjoy it.

If you have even the remotest interest in science and/or technology . . . or even if you just think that some of what goes on in those environments can be a little wacky or bizarre at times, then this book will definitely make you laugh out loud.

This one's hard to write a review on -- you kinda have to see the cartoons yourself, and you'll either laugh or you won't. My bet is if you're even considering buying the book, you'll laugh at 'em. And you'll find at least a few worth passing around or pasting on your office door. They cover the gamut of science and engineering topics.

Flowers of a deep sleep is sort-a hard to talk about without really giving to much of it away. It is a 2 book series. You don't really get a chance to really get into the characters, and everything is face pasted. It was not something i sat down and enjoyed reading, but i do enjoy looking back on it and thinking about it. It is inspiring. I would recommend it to people who like fantasy/mystery animes.

This seris is short but amazing. I loved reading every second. A little confusing at first but you fall in love with the characters so easily.

I thought the first volume of Flower of the Deep Sleep was very enjoyable and a very good read. It was very well organized making it extremely easy to read and understand, not at all confusing. The characters worked, and held interest throughout the book making it very hard to put down. I'm very excited to have found this amazing story and cannot wait until the release of Volume 2 in May.

I first saw this book here on amazon and bought it at borders after a rather long search to find their small aisle long manga section. And after some rummaging behind some books I found and bought book 1 and 2 of the 2 book series. I wasn't dissappointed with anything in this book except for the fact there were only two books. It did have a great ending in the second book but I would have liked to see just a little bit more because I fell in love with these charecters :). It was creative and had good artwork. After getting through the book rather quickly (because it wasn't confusing and flowed well), it left me wanting more and had me looking into some of Yuana Kazumis other works. Buy this book!

Note that I'm writing this "review" well before the manga has been released. I have not read The Flower of Deep Sleep, Yuana Kazumi's third manga. I have, however, read her first two manga from the Japanese version (Hyakuman Tsubu no Namida, "One Million Tear Drops" and Sorayume no Uta, "The Song of Dreams"), and can tell you that they are wonderful peices of art.

The stories are supernatural and touching -- one dealing with the line between man and machine, and innocent desires; the other dealing with the bitterness that causes people to kill, and the price of immortality. In both manga, there are cute, sweet scenes of happiness, and then a dive into the darker plot. Violence is used sparingly, but well. Altogether, Yuana Kazumi's first two manga are serious, character-driven shoujo with endings that will leave you stunned.

From what I have seen of the Flower of Deep Sleep, I suspect it will contain the same supernatural element, passionate characters, and stunning ending. I strongly urge everyone to give this series a try. It is the only one of Yuana Kazumi's manga licensed in the United States (as I write this).

Yuana Kazumi's 4th, and current manga, that she's working on is called HaruHana, and actually appears to be a relatively "normal" shoujo romance. Hopefully we will see it, or her first two manga, licensed in the United States =)

I have long admired Mr. Luckovich's hummor from his cartoons in the AJC, and can highly recommend it, just on that basis; however, reading Four More Wars!! will trigger much deeper emotions. I highly recommend it.

Mike Luckovich may arguably be the best at his trade. We consider ourselves quite fortunate to have him with the AJC. He gets a point across when no one else can. Great collection of Mike's work.

This is the most hilarious collection of political cartoons I've ever seen. It is worth the price of the book just to read the intro about the "pyramid of freedom" and the story behind Jimmy Carter's endorsement...

I grew up on the editorial cartoons of Pat Oliphant. Mike Luckovich is cut from the same cloth and has the Pulitzer Prizes to prove it. FOUR MORE YEARS, his devastatingly accurate take on "Shrub", Cheney, Rumsfeld and assorted Republic and Democratic pols, demonstrates why those Pulitzers are so richly deserved.

Luckovich's cartoons span the first six years of the 21st Century. Naturally enough his chief target is George W. Bush, America's worst President in recent memory. Given Bush's lack of intellect, self-righteous attitude, unwillingness to consider other viewpoints and the terrible damage he's done to America and its future, "Dubba" is almost too easy a target. Yet he continues to blunder on, opening himself up for even more editorial skewers from Luckovich and others.

Luckovich's work certainly produces a chuckle but it also produces much headshaking as the reader revisits Bush's sad reign of error. It's gallows humor at its best but at what a cost to America!

Four More Wars!!! is a collection of political cartoons by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich. These simple black-and-white sketches, most of them single-panel, exquisitely capture governmental foibles and follies with unforgettable twisted wit. Collecting cartoons that appeared in newspapers from 2001 to 2006, Four More Wars!!! is especially critical of governmental mistakes in handling the Iraq War - one attributes the words "The Almighty's guiding me" to President George W. Bush while an onlooker comments, "God's lousy at postwar planning" - but also touch upon ethics violations at home, nominations of questionable candidates, and there are even a few private sketches Luckovich drew of White House personnel. A vivacious albeit bitingly critical collection of the most mock-worthy moments in new millennium American politics.

What a great follow up to WARTS AND ALL and ANY SIMILARITIES TO PERSONS... Friedman is a lot of fun to look at and a lot of fun to marvel at his craftsmanship. I only wish there were less portriats and more of the comic work he's so good at, especially when his brother is writing it!

I guess I've been following Drew Friedman's work for about 25 years now. I think it just gets better.

Drew's pioneering use of his hand-made halftone technique was really amazing right from the get-go. Now that he's moved into other media and color (!), it's easy to see that there's an extremely talented artist at work here in addition to an innovative craftsman. Nobody draws better likenesses and Drew's are simulataneously accurate and satirical. Without the gross exaggeration you find in most caricature work, Drew captures the image of these famous and semi-famous people, and adds something indefinable to it. The result is an almost photographic portrait, a satirical comment and an outlandish cartoon all rolled into one.

The book begins with a long biography which I found fascinating. Even as a kid, Drew was extraordinary. (I won't spoil it for you.)

The artwork (and there's lots of it) is dazzling. The comic strips and illustrations are funny, poignant, silly, sad, disturbing, wonderful and puzzling, sometimes all in one piece.

If you're a fan of Drew's work this is a must-have. If you're new to Drew Friedman, this is a good introduction. Cheap at twice the price.

This writer is somewhat bemused by the review submitted by one called Gagoon.
In any overview of Mr. Friedman's work nothing less than pure compassion shines through in his portraits of has been B-Movie bit players, forgotten TV stars, et. al.
Even a casual perusal of this artist's masterpiece, "Old Jewish Comedians" will vefify this:
The look of sad desperation on old Bud Abbott's eyes, a forgotten Mousey Gardner wrapped in an electric blanket, reveal nothing less than an emphatic heart.
As Mr. Clowes points out in his insightful forward to this tome:
"How can you look at the box of Uncle Sam Cereal on Red the Bartender's
table and not feel a twinge?"
And so we question the mindset of "Gagoon" (if that IS his real name) and the nonsense he presents.
Sit back with this latest collection from Mr. Friedman and savor it like a fine meal.
He's a G'boy.

The Fun may never stop, but, alas, this collection terminates after page 144 leaving the reader crying for more.

Whether Friedman loves or loathes humanity is irrelevant. He understands the power of schtick to be able cloud men's minds so that they actually believe that a child/man screeching, "Wanna buy a duck?" is a knee-slapping riot.

He also understands how to use a brush.

By the way, this book contains one of the greatest one-page comics of all time.

Get out your credit card.

Drew Friedman's distaste of humanity is equaled in intensity only by his loving devotion to the myriad design flaws of the packages that it arrives in.
Friedman has logged more honest man-hours toiling in the dermal pleats, gorges and buboes of the rich and famous than any Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon that ever lived.
His celebrity topographies should be a compulsory cultural vaccination for every American citizen within striking range of People magazine!

Then this is not the book for you. But if you want a backache from rolling around on the floor, laughing so much, Then this IS the right book.

When I first heard of this book, I was expecting it to be not so great but this is quite a good book, can you imagine having a cat that does nothing but eat, sleep, scratches your chair and puts you down, this book contains a lot of good moments. I always thought that the 90's Garfield books weren't going to be that great but this one is quite good. ENJOY NOW!!!!

On June 19, 1978, there was born a "lasagna with fangs". At least, that's how Jon has described his cat Garfield.

Having been on newspapers' comic pages everywhere for almost thirty years, I'm sure I don't have to tell you what Garfield is. You may not have read his strip often (or seen his cartoons, movies, stuffed animals, calenders, inside-the-car-window-sticky-suction-cup-thingies and more), but I'm sure you know who he is if you're looking at the page, so I'm not going to review the comic strip, just the particular collection in this book.

In Garfield dishes it out (his 27th book), Garfield spends Christmas at the farm, has a few snowball fights, "clomps" a few spiders, and is otherwise his usual self. He remains fat, lazy, hungry and cynical. His passive slights at Jon's self-esteem are at their peak in this book. I've read this collection a few times now, and each time is laugh-out-loud funny. Garfield is extremely witty and it's all about the punchlines in this book. In many of the strips in this collection, the third panel is the funniest.

Bottom line: I would recommend any of Garfield's books (even the ones you already own!), but this book is probably one of the best. If you like Garfield, buy this book. If you don't like Garfield, buy this book for someone who does. If you don't know who Garfield is, then... um... well, you've probably been in a coma for the last twenty years, so maybe buying this book shouldn't be your top priority - but keep it in mind for when you get your life back in order.

This book, like every other Garfield book in the numbered series, is great because of all the jokes, but this one is very special because of a story inside. SWALLOWS HIS PRIDE was great because of the Run-Away-From-Home story, while ROLLS ON was special for the Garfield-Gets-United-With-His-Mom story, but this one goes over the top for the Christmas-on-the-Farm storyline, which is clever, hip, and funny.

Everybody out there keep buying Garfield books! They can be worth a lot of money someday and can become collector's items! I'm always going to keep all of mine so when I have kids they can read them!

This book left me breathless! I was stunned! A perfect blend of comedy, drama, and even science fiction! Everything was written just as it was should have been written. Genius. Simply genius. Pure genius.

I like Garfield. He is the greatest cat and funniest I have ever read. He is great and funny. He is MAD PHAT. He always makes me say WORD when I get a new book.

Eric Walston

The saga of Garfield, Odie, and Jon continues. This dramatic and moving yet highly disturbing portrait of late-nineties domestic suburban sexual denial forces the reader to delve into his/her own tortured sexual psyche, much like Catherine and Heathcliff but as a trio each exploring their own unrequieted desire. The tension is unbearable, and Garfield's repeated replacement of food for sexual yearning is telling of late twentieth-century sexuality. Odie's alienation as a result of Garfield's spurning for the love of his inanimate replacement for Jon, in the form of Pookie, is obviously a compelling metaphor for post-colonial AIDS isolation. Alone in the confusing mire of mixed signals that is their home, poor Garfield has no choice but to seek solace in the soft, safe, squishy bosom of Pookie, denying the pain and self-loathing so apparent in his everyday encounters. Odie, much like Hillary to Bill, pointlessly attempts again and again to win the affections of a reckless, wanton, yet powerful force who has become consumed by his meager life, ironically encouched in power. Jon's unrealized quest for gratification is symbolic of the fall of Communism and is a clever representation of the fall of the wall and the troubles of subsequent unification. Supplanted in a landscape of repression and denial, our three protagonists seek comfort in their base desires: coffee becomes the drug of choice, providing escape from the hell that is life, much like today's "raver" youth seeking comfort in "ecstasy" and "techno". Woe to he/she who proceeds beyond the cover of this prophetic tome! Another masterpiece accomplishment by Davis, sure to keep him in literary courses of the future.

Have been for a long time now and i'm glad that i decided to start back. Buying the books and its really convenient with them being released in a 3 pack. Its like a bunch of classics all wrapped together, love it.

My son recently became interested in Garfield, and he just loves the books. Its fun and very easy reading, so he enjoys it, while still practicing his reading skills. Its the best of both worlds! The service was great, the shipping was very quick, and the quality of the book was excellent. Thank you for putting many smiles on our faces!