Cartoons Books

As with Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 1 Casper, Richie Rich was the other Harvey Comic I used to read back when I was three or so with my Uncle Joe, and have kept reading them since.

Richie Rich was kind of Harvey's answer to Uncle Scrooge, James Bond, and Batman all rolled into one. Originally starting out as a filler strip for Harvey's Little Dot, Richie Rich was the wealthiest kid in Richville. Except unlike most rich people, Richie preferred playing with his friends Freckles and Pee-Wee, and enjoying the simpler things in life, even though sometimes his wealth and luck unexpectedly interfered.

Another happened to be Richie's love for Gloria Glad, who only loved Richie for himself, not his money. And always would get upset when Richie dared fuss over her. Of course, poor Richie can never win, since in one strip, Richie decides taking Gloria's advice. Regrettably, the time he decides on doing this, Gloria's trying to demonstrate to her cousin how Richie lavishes her with expensive gifts.

Later in the Seventies however, Richie started doing adventures with his butler Cadbury, as Harvey started introducing more serious tales, especially with their 'Vaults of Mystery' title. And as Ernie Colon mentions, later Richie always had some gadget or other to help him get out of tight spots. But still Richie normally used his wits about him and he was the first 'McGyver' long before the series hit television.

In fact, in HCC V2, you'll see how Richie and Gloria deal with modern day pirates after they shangai Richie's yacht and plan on using it for raiding other luxury liners.

Which was what made Harvey Comics so great, though the villains usually implemented firearms and such, Richie rarely struck back using deadly force. Usually he'd try solving the problem with his wits (and his wealth didn't hurt as well), over using brute force.

In this collection, you'll also see Richie's mischievious cousin, Reginald Van Dough, aka Reggie, and how he started pranking and getting into trouble with Richie. My own regret with the series is, I wish Dark Horse had selected some other tales showcasing the little known characters like Mayda Munny (Gloria's rival), Professor Keenbean, the modern version of Irona, Reggie's sister, Penny, and Jackie Jokers. But the way I see it, DH might be saving them for a future collection, as well as the 'Richie Rich and...' series where later Harvey spawned this spinoff from the titles 'Richie Rich and Casper' as well as 'Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers.'

To this day, I wish I could have found another copy of 'Richie Rich and Timmy Time' since my cousin destroyed my uncle's copy before I had a chance to read it.

Nonetheless Dark Horse has done an excellent job of bringing back the lost collections of Harvey Comics, and I hope these series might encourage them to come out with mini-digest collections of them and other characters, since I still have some of the original digests in my house.

I definitely would recommend this as well as all the Harvey Comics Collection series for those who are avid Harvey fans and classic comic collectors. But also for those who might like to see what comics were like before DC and Marvel took over the industry.

I don't know why cartoon comic strips went out of style. I am glad that there is someone else who has not forgotten them. Richie Rich was one of my favorite comic strips, and still would be if Harvey Comics were still in business.

Just two disappointments: Number one: Most of the stories are printed in black-and-white. The book might be much more expensive otherwise.

Number two: Mayda Munney was one of my favorite characters, and she doesn't appear in any of the stories.

Thank you, Dark Horse Books!

I hate to brag, no I don't. Anyway, I received an advance copy of the
Richie Rich book! It looks really good. If you liked Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper, you'll love this! (and I have a quote on the back cover...)

There are some minor changes on the cover than the one posted on Amazon here. Instead of "100 Classic Stories 1953-1969", it is actually "125 Classic Comic Stories 1953-1971"! Also, the general release date has been moved up from Oct. 25 to Oct. 17!

There is a small picture of the Hot Stuff book stating that the book will come out in Feb. 2008. This will be Volume 3 in the series.

Really, really enjoy this book.

To paraphrase the quote, I had as much fondness for Harvey Comics as I did my superhero titles. As a child, I got every bit as excited seeing a Harvey title as I did any of the Marvels or DCs. Their bright four-color covers were only a preview of the goodness waiting inside.

When I was a kid, it was an excellent time to be a comic fan. Not only those mentioned above, but also Archie, Dell/Gold Key (which was a treasure in and of itself, what with all of the Disney, Hanna-Barbera, TV tie-ins, etc., under the same umbrella!), Charlton, Atlas, have I listed them all? Whatever the case, it was nothing but good times.

Reading a Harvey comic was like having a ice cold lemonade on a sweltering hot day. You could always count on them to give you a great time and a fun read. Fun, light-hearted, whimsical adventures featuring the likes of Richie Rich, Casper The Friendly Ghost, Spooky The Tuff Little Ghost, Hot Stuff The Little Devil, Wendy The Good Little Witch, The Ghostly Trio, The Sad Sack, Stumbo The Giant, Little Dot, Little Lotta, Little Audrey, heck, a "little" bit of everything;).

Under lesser hands, these characters could easily have become one-dimensional, cloying and downright annoying. But Harvey apparently realized this and took their readership on flights of fancy, oftentimes giving us multi-part stories, putting Richie and Casper (sometimes together) in all kinds of precarious situations.

Richie, in particular, was often aided by the likes of his trusty butler Cadbury, his hardscrabble friends, brothers Freckles, a redhead (also referred to as Tommy in some stories - could possibly have been Freckles' "real" name. Also has been a brunette on occasion.) and the mute Pee-Wee, (who actually spoke one line in the story "Problem Child", the only time I know of that he actually talked), as well as his girlfriend Gloria, a rare girl who was often repulsed by Richie's wealth, liking him for who he was inside. A real jewel, if you ask me. Plus, Richie was often bedeviled by the occasional visits from his obnoxiously snooty cousin Reginald "Reggie" Van Dough, who was the complete antithesis of his cuter and infinitely more lovable cousin. Reggie loved nothing more than pulling pranks on Richie and his very tolerant friends, until his foolishness would ultimately backfire on him, giving the stories happy endings, momentarily humbling Reggie (until returning to prank Richie another day).

In spite of all his enormous wealth, Richie simply wanted to be a little boy who belonged, wanting simply to be "one of the guys", playing sandlot baseball, going fishing, inviting all of his friends to either his mansion, yacht, or on some sort of fabulous vacation, etc.. It is really nice seeing Richie treating Freckles and Pee-Wee as equals and not making fun of them because of their being poor.

Seeing this book in the comic shop was a welcome surprise for me. It was an impulse buy, in which I immediately snapped it up, not knowing about it in the first place (I knew about the Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper, which I plan on getting very soon). And it has been a fun read. And no, I didn't realize that it was mostly black and white until looking at it, but it didn't take long for me to adjust to that. Sure, it would have been nice to have had color, but that's a minor point. What matters is that for the money, you are getting 480 pages of classic comic goodness from a sadly bygone era which we don't see enough of these days.

Nowadays, I would be hard-pressed to recommend any comic for a child to read, since the market has pretty well grown up. There just aren't as many comics out there for kids, which is sad, since children were the once-intended target audience. It's no wonder kids, for the most part, don't read comics today.

Here's hoping that Dark Horse will rectify this and put out future volumes of these "little" treasures. They could go on forever reprinting them, since there are literally decades of these to reprint. These comics deserve tender loving care and need to be introduced to a new generation (as well as reintroducing those of us in the previous ones). Perhaps D.H. will go the Archie route and market digests of classic reprints to be sold in supermarkets and such. What better way to introduce them, since it obviously hasn't hurt Archie. Now this would be absolutely swell.

Are you listening, Dark Horse? In other words, KEEP IT UP!!!!

Jim Unger is a genius, and this one is a keeper. The color looks great. Also enjoyed the humorous introduction written by another cartoonist called "Meeting Jim Unger". All HERMAN fans should have this one.

I've always been a fan of Herman, and laughed through most of the old treasuries, but this new book is so much more fun. All of the classics are here and they're in full, bright colour. I'm finding the off-beat sense of humour harder to put down than ever before!

How can there not be more reviews of this?
Folks, if you like any of my reviews and think my taste is even semi-quasi-acceptable, do yourself a favor and buy this first volume of Herman! It is one of the funniest comics ever created, time and again.
Unger captures so much humor in a simple expression of amazement/despair/dismay; the faces alone are just so damn funny.
Plus, this guy understands people and what makes us tick.
Incredibly hilarious and so consistent; every volume of the Herman series is worth getting, especially at used prices.
He's also a master at drawing dogs. Any guy who loves and understands the endless humor of dogitude gets my vote.

I first discovered Jim Unger's "Herman" when I was a teenager. For the next several years I bought every Herman Treasury Collection as they became available. I was amazed that any comic could be so consistently (laugh-out-loud type) funny. I'm now 41 and I just rediscovered my Herman collection during a move. The humor of Herman is definitely ageless because I still laugh every time I pick up one of the collections.
I just purchased the Herman Classics Collections vol. 1, 2 and 3 (beautiful books, great print quality) and I hope that their are more on the way.
My recommendation to the publisher - publish a hardbound master collection at some point, something that would look nice on my bookshelves and something that I can pass along to my grandkids ("Gee, grandpa had a sense of humor!").

I am posting this review on all 3 "Herman Classics" Amazon pages.

How Dogs Really Work is a really great book. I love the story, and it is very, very funny. The illustrations of the insides of dogs are very well done and the artist is great. I recommend this book with 5 stars.

I first read this book as a little kid- and I still like it now. The idea of dogs being machines is a great one, and little details in the drawing make it seem real (in a wacky way). A good book for younger kids, or any one with a love for dogs and a sense of humor.

This is by far the best picture book I have ever read in my life. Alan uses such a great sense of humor, and the pictures are wonderful. My mom and I always used to spend extra time after washing our dog so we could read this book. When I got it for Christmas, my Aunt and Grandma liked it too! How Dogs Really Work is a book for people of all ages, I even gave it to my cat-loving friend!

According to Alan Snow, dogs are complex mechanical animals, composed of pipes, wheels, funnels, bolts, and other hardware store parts. Snow's brightly colored drawings (except for the black and white picture on pp. 10-11) show cutaways of the dog's inner workings, including a telescope (eyes), microphones (ears), and something resembling a washing machine/bank vault to represent the stomach. All of this is very funny and creative on first viewing. He uses computer analogies to explain higher functions like memory: "All dogs, even the boring ones, have some sort of brain..." "All the information that goes into the brain is compared with the information that is already there (called memories)." In the "stored information" section of the dog, the cutaway reveals a bulletin board with tacked-on pictures ("visual memory") and bottles containing a boot, a sausage, and a treat ("smell memory"). Several small internal dogs operate the various levers and gadgets that control the mechanical beast we know as a dog. (This begs the question of what operates the inner dogs, but Snow lets that one go).

Obviously, this imaginative book is strictly for fun, and Snow's illustrations, short answers (e.g., "what happens when the eyes pick up an image of another dog") and guides (e.g., General Maintenance") are humorous and sometimes even instructive. However, the book's mechanistic approach is sometimes off-putting as well. Snow sometimes refers to the dog as an "it," and this construct is reinforced throughout the book. In one two-page section, a vet opens up a sick dog as if the latter were simply a bad engine (screwdrivers and drill parts surround the upside-down canine). Neither the eyes of the vet nor of the dog are shown, and each lacks a basic humanity or "caninity," respectively. Snow opens up the laboratory-like feeling of the book by showing a dog playing, eating, chasing, and exploring around a house, but the basic social nature of the dog is ignored. Other sections of the book just don't feel right. The text for the diagram (that's what the pictures feel like) of the dog viewing an apparently frightened "other" dog reads, "Do I know this dog? Yes. His name is Fang, and he is my friend." The humor around dogs' independence is usually reserved for cats, and the food-centered nature of the dog is nothing new-even if the illustrations are creative.

As clever as the concept, and as well drawn the execution (this book won the New York Times Book Review title for "Best Illustrated Children's Book), the book lacks a certain warmth; you get the feeling that Snow doesn't own a dog. After the initial satisfaction at seeing the bright, creative schematics, the dense text and complex pictures become almost taxing. Occasionally, Snow takes a break from this formula, and his page about how dogs and owners come to resemble each other ("A pretty pampered dog will make its owner feel ugly and inferior. Result-the owner will rush off to the beauty salon.") succeeds well, and is the only illustration showing dogs and humans enjoying each other.

I think little kids will enjoy the pictures and older kids will enjoy the obvious nonsense of it all, but the book could have "strayed" a bit more from its basic premise. One could also view this book as a satire on kids' last-minute grade school reports, but Snow didn't take this route. Snow's book is big, colorful, and inventive, but the reliance on the mechanical humor takes away some of the personality and warmth it might have had.

My eight year old daughter loves this book and I love it as well. But it is too frustrating for my six year old son.

I bought it because my son like to draw but needed a few ideas that were easy to do on his own as opposed to copying. The books format allows kids (and adults) to really do some cute things with pictures.

I use this whole series in my Art Class to Elementary children. They love this extra activity. It builds their confidence that they can draw identifible things. They even take multiple instructions and create a whole picture. I ripped the book apart and laminated the pages into easy to use cards. Works great!

Very pleased with this How to Draw Book. Our Grandchildren--ages 5 and 7--- sat down and immediately started drawing people from the book. I was amazed! Easy directions for them to understand.

This is a great bare-bones book on how to draw cartoon cats in all kinds of interesting poses. I love it. One caveat: the actual content is basically identical to the book, Kids Draw Cartoon Cats, Kittens, Lions and Tigers. Kids Draw Cats, Kittens, Lions and Tigers (Kids Draw) I ordered both, thinking they would be different. They are not.

Either book should give you some fun, however. I could wish that the book was longer with more pictures, but that is nitpicking.

Good cartoon books on drawing specifically cats are hard to find, and this is one of the best. I am currently working on a script with 4 different cat types, and this book has them all, including the tiger! Althouth basic drawing techniques could be improved (he jumps to the finished product quickly), it is still a great teaching tool and a lot of fun.

I am 12 years old and I love to draw.And this book helped me to do better.I always thought you could draw by just drawing right off the bat and in this book, I found that you had to start off with shapes and guide lines.Now I can draw much better now that I know the proper way to draw.I also had a problem, when drawing animals that stood on all fours.It would always be very difficult for me to draw their legs so that they looked good and this book helped me with that too.I was going to buy "How to Draw Cartoon Dogs, Puppies, and Wolves" but I found it was out of print.I saw a used one here on Amazon but it was $..., and I don't have that kind of money...

This book really improved my cartooning. I spent many hours with this book and have really improved my drawing. The "Modeling Cats After People" section gave me some great insights into expressing personality.

My kids loved it as well. They especially loved the "Cat Characters and Costumes" section. I highly recommend this book.

I really like the different nijas it has...i like the evil ones better...Buahaha

First off, a lot of people like to complain about the abundance of nude figures in the "How to Draw Manga" series. This has, at least on Amazon, given the otherwise useful group of books a terrible reputation as smut.

Now, if you are interested in learning how to draw Manga (or Anime) that pertains to Ninja and Samurai, but are offended by nude figures, there is no need to worry with this book.

That's right, the others may be PG-13, but this one is a solid -G-. Not even blood is shown on the characters. So if you are a parent who wants their child to enjoy this art form, but are concerned over the (often over-reactive) reviews on this site, you have absolutely no concern over this book.

The book covers Ninja and Samurai in a variety of manners, dealing with clothing and brief history of several ninja and samurai. It even (for the samurai) deals with different time periods - the Edo and Warring States periods. So if you are concerned with making your style authentic to the time-period, you can be sure that you don't accidentally add a garment piece that is worn from a different period.

Also, the book makes it unnecessary, though obviously a bit unwise, to purchase others out of the series in order to get form and structure of the body down right. It covers information pertaining to running, jumping, fighting, etc. It even deals with these actions as they vary from character to character. The book covers the hands and feet (both difficult for any artist). It even covers the eyes, at least of the female characters, which I was very surprised and pleased with. While another book dealing solely with the body and its structure is very recommended, those concerned with mature content can rest assured that while this helps the reader understand the structure and form of the body, it does not contain any nudity at all.

Overall, I would have to say that this book not only gives what it promises, but goes beyond its base requirements. It portrays more character types than I had assumed it would, and it describes even minute details that can be given to show a character's proficiency in their art (or lack thereof if you want to break the rules).

It is difficult not to recommend this to anyone wishing to break into period manga for samurai and ninja.

I got this book yesterday, I looked over it and read it. This book, I must say, helped me with drawing ninjas and it showed me all the different types of ninjas and their weapons.
The chapters are as followed:

CHAPTER 1: Ninja Portrayal

Iga Ninja

Koga Ninja

Fuma Ninja

Kunoichi

Drawing eyes

Assorted Eyes

Hand Basics

Various Ninja costumes

Ninja props

Other Ninja weapons

CHAPTER 2: Ninja in Motion

Running

Peering Down

Leaping

Combat

Arobatic Movements

Concealment

Throwning Shuriken

Using the Shinobigatana

Hand Holding a Shuriken and

Hand After a Shuriken is released

CHAPTER 3: Ninja Portrayal

Samurai 1

Samurai 2

Bushi

Ronin

Toseinin (Gambler)

Busho in Oyoroi

Yoroi Musha (Warrior in Armor)

CHAPTER 4: Samurai in Motion

Walking

Running

Kneeling

Wielding a Swords

Striking and Being struck

Sword Makeup

Swordmanship, Samurai-Style

Foot, Feet

Hakama

CHAPTER 5: Varying Characters Design

Kabuki-style Samurai

Shounen Manga-style Samurai

Japanese Princess

Military Chieftain in Skin and Fur Armor

Military Chieftain in Dragon Armor

Ninja

Kunoichi (Female Ninja)

Characters Comparison Chart

CHAPTER 6: Assorted Scences

Samurai

Princesses

Military Chieftains

Ninja

Artist Proflie

I recieved this book the day it was released and I must say it was quiet helpful. I truthfully don't recommend it for beginners. It shows several ninja and samurai, in several manga styles, from different eras and things they wore. It also expains a few "how to not" ways for various clothing or positions. Overall a great book! I loved it. I recommend you have somewhat of an idea how to draw poses because a lot of the poses are a little more flexible than most normal human poses. It has some pages on how to draw various ninja and samurai weapons.

[this is NOT helena! it is her daughter jackie! haii!!!]
when i first bought this book i luved it as soon as i first flipped through the pages!!!
this book helped me improve A LOT and also taught me things i never noticed before!!!
this book is great for beginners who are just starting out on the manga drawing experience!!! it gives some basic anatomy [not the boring useless stuff just the essentials :)] and also explans [with both pics and words] how the body moves!!! <---- nessecery for drawing [no matter wat style!!!]
it is also great for intermediate artist who already no the basics and have some experience with manga style art [like myself i guess]!!! it provides lots of references and also explains anatomy and muscle structure and the way it affects the bodys movement...
it helped me to greatly improve and u have no idea how important it is to be familiar with the muscle and bone structures and how they move [no im not saying that u need to be able to draw a skeleton and then all the layers of muscles on top! just now how the spin bends and wat happens when u raise ur arms...etc...]
i would recomend this book for any artist no matter wat level u r at!!! its a wonderful book and is great especially if ur poses look strange, unnatural or stiff [haha just like mine DID]
along with drawing the body, poses, balance, and face and all that wonderful stuff there is also a section on clothing [which i needed very badly] and one on colouring
overal this was just a fantastic book!!! it was extremely helpful to me and still is!!! i highly recomend getting this book as soon as u get the chance!!! u wont regret it!!! :]
[on one of the other reviews someone listed all the chapters included in the book, i suggest look through the list because i didnt list everthing that is covered!!! thank you (srry i dont remember who posted that review):)
sections i found extremely helpful:
haha well pretty much the whole book but especially the section on;
~balancing pose
~how the bones and muscles move and effect the body [shoulders, elbows, legs/hips...etc...]
~backbone [how it effects...well pretty much EVERYTHING]
~clothing [folds, thick/thin fabric, ...etc]
~shoulders [movement and blah]
~hands [movements and blah]
~feet [movemetns and blah]
~legs [movements and blah]
haha im like naming the whole book XD
well there is much more but thats all im saying for now :]
plz buys this book i promise it will be much help to u [well i hope it will be as much help to u as it was to me(if not more)!!!] :]

I was really surprised when I was actually able to get this book in my hands!!! I waited so many months before I could order this book! Any way, this book is comprised from three different artists', Hikaru Hayashi, (my fav by the way) Takehiko Matsumoto, and Kazuaki Morita. These three artists' teamed up to compile a book with there own renditions of stetching manga. Basically this book is a giant rough sketch book showing you the basic shapes they used to get their art work to look the way it does. This is actually helpful in alot of ways. It is preparing you on how to do this so that you can have a idea on how to draw your own manga masterpieces. Toward the end of the book, they give examples of some of the artist's work and how to improve the color on the artwork.
The contents of this book includes:

Chapter one: Sketching while planning
Differences between standard
Sketching and Manga sketch frontline Part 1
Drawing a female character standing
Drawing a close-up of a female charcters face
A look at the Manga charcter standing
Drawing the figure in reverse
Manga sketching forms the foundation of planning

Chapter Two: The fundamental in sketching a face Manga style
The basics of sketching a face layout
(using circles and X's)
Reduction of the head rendered
Using a Circle and X layout
The steps in drawing a face
Drawing the same face
Darwing an assortment of faces
Ths basics in drawing the head
Conceiving of the head as a solid
The basics in drawing the head
The face's musculature, and expressions
Drawing facial expressions based on muscle movement

Chapter three: The fundamentals in drawing a figure manga style
The backbone forms the base of composition
The backbone travels the length of the torso
The backbone is the source of movement
Adding arms and legs after completing the torso
The steps in drawing a figure
Guideline defining the backbone from the front
Drawing a standing pose using
the bone and the axial line
Using the axial line to draw
A front view standing pose with presence
Standing poses and the center of gravity
Noting the spacing between the feet when drawing
The body's structure
Major body parts and their names
Muscles affecting the exterior contours
Distinguishing the genders
Figure drawing
Proportional differences
Makeup of the primary joints and movement
1. Basic neck structure and movement
2. Basic spine structure and torso movement
3. Basic shoulder and arm
connections and movement
4. Basic leg structure and movement
5. Basic hand and finger structure and maovement
6. Basic leg structure and movement

Chapter four: From sketching to design
The fundamentals of stylization
Character design techniques using stylization
Stylized face design
Stylized figure design
Techniques for designing distinctive characters
Thin and trim build
Powerful and muscular builds
Grotesquely muscular build
Slender female characters
Freindly super deformed (ultra stylized) characters
The reality behind key poses
Composition technique: Imagining a box
What constitutes a three deminsional figure
Placing A figure in a box
The steps in drawing a figure from a box
Techniques in dressing characters
The ABCs of drawing clothes
The reality behind dressing characters
Drawing dynamic poses
Cover character designing frontline
Coloring characters
Coloration improvement Techniques
The improved Palette
Improved finished artwork
Artists' discuss the true nature of manga sketching

All-in all this book rocks! It is the complete how to draw book I know. It is jam packed with hepful drafts to get you on the right track. This book is not for beginners though. I think this book would be suited for those more along the lines of intermediate to advance. This book is a must buy! Add it to your how to draw arsenal now!

Over the years I've slowly put together a sizable library of these How to Draw Manga books without even realizing it.

That being said, I'll be the first to admit that the usefulness of some of these books is kind of hit or miss. But the Manga Sketching books are fantastic drawing resources regardless of whether you want to draw in a Manga style or not.

This book is really more grounded in basic figure drawing techniques than other How to Draw Manga books that are largely caged in by the conventions of Japanese comic art. It's also a heftier book at being almost 60 pages longer than some of the other books in the series.

A major section of the book is dedicated to a broad survey of human anatomy, and I would say it does a better job on the subject than many books that focus strictly on anatomy for artists. There's 9 pages dedicated to the head & neck alone. And all of the examples feature the body in motion, which is far more helpful in seeing how the body fits together than a bunch of stiff poses.

Much of the rest of the text is about design tips to solidify the body type you're shooting for or "enhancing a sense of presence" as the manga books often put it, which boils down to creating more interesting, dynamic poses.

Good figure drawing has many basic principles, no matter what style is laid on top of it. "Sketching Manga Style" is a fantastic resource to have around.

This book covers a modern technique used by professional artists. If you have no drawing experience whatsoever, this might not be a good place to start. Those who have spent some time learning basic techniques and can produce basic figures could will definitely profit from this book.

The brilliant part is complete sets of images showing pros creating a new drawing from scratch, with detailed notes on each step. Given sufficient talent, you could eliminate some steps and duplicate what the artists are doing to finish drawings faster.

However, by skipping directly to what the pros apparently do now, the beginning artist misses the building blocks of learning that those same pros went through to get where they are today. Generally a beginning book starts with simple shapes, basic anatomy, perspective, etc. Mastery of fundamentals gives an artist the freedom and capability to create any character and pose.

The analogy to this is the first impressionist master painters. Every one of them was first trained as a classical painter. Picasso could paint in photographic realism if he wanted. His mastery of the fundamentals made his cubist work great.

If you have the basics already, this is a wonderful reference, and I would recommend it to beginners as well so long as they also get references that teach fundamentals.

I got into Hsu and Chan because of the magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly - now I'm more interested in finding out what new work Norm Scott has in store for us than in EGM! My only complaint is that there isn't a new volume out yet.

It is the one and only Hsu and Chan. Alternatively, the Tanaka brothers for short. Straight from the pages of one the most leading gaming magazines of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Hsu and Chan now have their very own comic book chock full of their misadventures! Hsu and Chan are video game designers with a very odd team of animals that follow along with the fun. Nevertheless, there are also rival game designers ready to pounce when the time is right. This book has everything from the powers of when eating a dragon's toung to why it is a good thing not to hit on a Russian mob boss. For people who enjoy slapstick comedy, this is the book for you!

Anything this man writes and/or draws is pure gold. Buy it now.

Since its appearances in the humble pages of EGM, since its dramatic and hilarious inception (Pocket Morons), since the creator's knighthood by England, Hsu and Chan has quickly established itself a cult favorite.

We don't mean a cult has actually formed AROUND the comic, but, quite frankly, someone should start one.

At any rate, visit http://www.ape-law.com/evilmonkey for more Jeremy Norman Scott goodies.

Robert Williams is one of the few bright lights in today's art world. Combining a staggering imagination with a powerful illustrative style, his works provoke and antagonize the viewer like no others, and demand scrutiny.

This book shows the evolution of this mad genius by taking us through all of his cartoons, comics, and illustrations, (no paintings) from his first commercial drawings to recent times. It is very interesting to see these after becoming familiar with his oil paintings. The quality of the various items within varies widely, from very crude, to masterly.

Some of his comics are extremely smuttty and raw, much more than most of his paintings even. But if you have a sick sense of humor, you'll appreciate them. If you're not familiar with his work, I'd recommend "Views From a Tortured Libido" or "Malicious Resplendence" as your first Robert Williams book.

If you like (or are a fan of) Robert Williams, or under ground comics, this is an amazing book. Buy it!

Robert Williams' comix are amazing. Very violent & vulgar, but amazingly executed. I prefer his black & white comic work over his oil paintings any day. Unforntunately his comic output is pretty small. Nonetheless the several comics presented here are amazing. Extremely detailed and bizarre and they ooze with a feeling of being high.
My personal favorite tale is "Mentor in the Mentor Jar". Insane ideas such as 'Gorilla Women of the Third Reich', Atrillo Trilobite and the fate of 'Mr. Baldpubis' puts Robt. Williams in a class all of his own.
Years ago I went and bought all the individual ZAP comics when i learned Mr. Williams did comic work. These issues are great for you can see the work of the other underground greats, but Hysteria in Remission presents Williams' work in a lovely LARGE format (even at the size, the detail boogles my grey matter) and on beautiful glossy paper rather than fading pulpy newsprint grade paper.
Get this book for the insane-ness, the fantastic execution in india ink and completeness of Williams' comic work (early days all the way up to model sheets for an animated series, Jack Clum, Dream interpreter done in 2001.
a great piece of work from Fantagraphics - THANK YOU.
Now i need to save up some cash to purchase MALICIOUS RESPLENDENCE....

This book has everything. The perfect, comprehensive companion to Fantagraphics' 1998 collection, MALICIOUS RESPLENDENCE. MALICIOUS has all of the paintings, while HYSTERIA has all of the comix and illustration. It is astounding how provocative and powerful this work is, and that so much of it has been allowed to slip out of print over the last 25 years despite Williams's extraordinary success in the fine art world. His comics bulge (as Jim Woodring says, "often literally") with greater imagination than even his paintings, what is amazing is how few people are doing comics like this anymore. There may have never been a better pure draughtsman in comics, his work rivals Crumb and even classic strip artists like Hal Foster or illustrators like Howard Pyle, but what truly sets Williams apart is the sheer visceral force of his imagery. If anything lives up to the old cliche of, "This will blow your mind," it's HYSTERIA IN REMISSION.

Sam Gross had me with the title and cover cartoon - it perfectly captures the essence of this collection. Some of these are simply humorous, most of them carry a sharp edge to the simple looking but marvelous drawings.

Fans of more recent cartoonists such as Gary Larson's Far Side would be well served to read this collection that predates Larson by several decades. While sadly lacking in Cows, plenty of other animals (cats, slothes, snails and kangaroos) appear in similar off beat ways, and there is a disturbingly large number of ginger bread men!

My only quibble with this is the format - with the relatively few number of pages, some of the drawings were a little lost in the hardcover inner fold. I think a larger layout would have given the drawings a better presentation.

Wonderful collection.

It hardly needs to be said how wonderful Gross' cartoons are. Fabulously absurd, and so refreshingly undiplomatic in taste. And beautifully drawn. No-one ever bettered him at The New Yorker. But pleeeeeese ... what is this idiotic description of this edition as a "lavish" production?! The binding is the usual non-hardcover hardcover, i.e. wretched glue, the paper is not much better than cheap blotting paper, and the reproduction is scandalously poor. Blurred lines and washed out grey. Wonderful art, deplorable production. I'm just waiting for a monograph on Gross that covers all his work. Along with Addams, Steig, Arno and Steinberg, this guy is at the top of the tree. However all this being said, I'd rather have a dodgy copy of Gross than none at all.

I was just looking through all my fathers books that were given to him by my great grandmother and my grandmother, I saw the title of this book and HAD to see what it was, I read it and looked and I laughed so hard, even at my age it was funny, I think everyone should read this book!

Sam Gross has contributed his offbeat cartoons for years to such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, and Good Housekeeping. This collection, "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," dates back to 1977 and it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Gross looks at the world obliquely and this book reflects his unique vision. He is cheerfully tactless and politically incorrect: Three women sit in church while one of them is accidentally being strangled with her rosary beads; two researchers observe a group of blind men being dragged to and fro by high-jumping "seeing-eye kangaroos." He makes us see the world in a new way: An alien dog-like creature from another planet bays at the earth; a grumpy cleaning lady sweeps away severed heads that have collected near a guillotine. He defies our expectations: A woman beats her mattress outside her window and money flies out; two people visit the cemetery--a grieving widow leaves flowers for her dear departed, while a grumpy man throws worms on the grave of (presumably) his despised ex-wife.

These beautifully shaded black and white drawings, some of which have no captions, are expressive, imaginative, and original. As a librarian, I particularly liked the one of a studious toddler reading in a playpen with built-in bookshelves (what a great baby gift!). Some of the cartoons are subtle; others rely on screamingly obvious sight gags. With a few exceptions, they are entertaining and sometimes even thought-provoking. Although not everyone will appreciate "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," it is bound to amuse cartoon-lovers who enjoy comedy with a wry twist.