Comic Books Books

As utterly and completely charming as book one.
I'd read all her books but had never seen these.
I've returned to them often.

Question though: How can they call is The COMPLETE comic strip and release two volumes???

Tove Jansson's Moomin is a delight and a pleasure. The characters are beautifully drawn and interact with complex human emotions, but their stories are told in such a simple way that children can enjoy the book quite easily. This comes HIGHLY recommended.

I am SO happy that these books are being translated into English at long last! Tove Jansson's writing and drawings are beyond compare. Funny, thoughtful, full of kindness, irreverent, philosophical and exactly what life is like in Finland and Sweden (and I mean that as the biggest compliment)!

I was introduced to the Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson(a popular Finnish author,) many years ago. These are some of the most charming, well-written and engaging stories for children I've ever encountered. I subsequently shared all the books with my daughter, who also fell in love with the whole Moomin Valley collection of creatures. (My 92-year-old mother still enjoys reading the chapter books!)
I had never seen the comic strips, and was delighted to find them. Though they lack the literary finesse of the longer books, they are still charming and funny, and full of wit and satire- displaying through these fanciful critters all the frailties of human behavior. Great for children of all ages.

Moomin is one of the most brilliant, quirky, funny and thoughtful comic strips ever made. Cleverly drawn, highly imaginative writing. Of Swedish origin myself I was lucky enough to grow up with Moomin, and also to find a complete set of the original 10 Moomin books (in Swedish) many years ago. I have always loved the characters, their adventures, interesting philosophies and opinions, and interpretations of the world, etc. I am very happy that these books (the first two at least) are finally re-issued in English so my kids can read them, and the rest of the US. Highly recommended to both young and old. Please buy the first and second book, so the publisher releases the other 8 books too.

Already being a fan of Ito's work through titles such as Gyo & Uzumaki, I'd heard about the infamous Tomie manga he'd created. I have to admit that my expectations were high since not only was Ito's other works so great, but this was a character who spawned countless movie adaptations of the work. I was not dissapointed.

Much like the men that Tomie & her progeny lure in, the reader is drawn into the rich storytelling & artwork in this volume. Comprising solely of the first half of the Tomie manga, this volume does a very good job of displaying not only the character of Tomie, but also drawing all of the stories together. What I found interesting was that even as I saw Tomie as a villain, at times you couldn't help but feel sorry for a girl who was so beautiful that her lovers would eventually end up killing her. Even when she reforms herself, she is eventually doomed to die at the hands of one who loves her. It's an interesting scenario, basing a story such as this around an ultimately spoiled young lady who keeps dying & being reborn from any pieces of her that remain. Can the reader truly despise her? After all, even the ones of us that have the nicest personalities would eventually begin to sour to the idea of all humanity.

Would I recommend this to a friend? Most definately. Not only if Junji Ito one of the greatest manga authors around, but this is by far the best work he's ever put out.

I love the Tomie movies and i'm a huge fan of her! So, when I found this I was alittle skeptacle. I'm not a fan of manga, I haven't tried it before. I thought it was stupid reading a book full of comics, but haha that's defiantly different now. I loved reading this book! Tomie was great, and there are about 9 different stories. I loved them all, and I'm looking forward to buying the other Tomie Books also.

Tomie is the object of everyone's desires. Obsession would find her attractive, and desire would covet her hand. The problem with Tomie is that she's not only beautiful but she's also cruel, becoming the proverbial barb that claws at the skin of every one of this flower's bearers. Not able to part with - or even share - her, the men (and sometimes women) in Tomie's life are drawn not only into love but also into a cycle that hopes to possess her - even to the point of killing her and not really understanding why. Sometimes this leads to some really gruesome points, with some people not only dismembering her but also grinding her to pulp or becoming stagehands in even more novel acts of morbidity. The thing about that is that Tomie doesn't really take to being dead long - killing her only gives rise to more Tomies and they are never happy with each other or the offending party involved.

If you've never seen the work that Ito does, he is masterful with horror scripts and illustrates with a macabre sense of delight as shadow and depth crawl through a world of both light and dark and make something - beautiful. Few really seem to do black and white well but Ito excels at it, putting together a portrait of strange happenstance that are sometimes amazingly bleak and sometimes just amazing. I've been a fan of his work for a while now, really enjoying the three Uzumaki books he did, and I thought that I'd actually seen everything he had to offer when The Museum of Horror bombshells went off by me.
I was stunned, to say the least.

For anyone that read the older English collections of Tomie (myself included), you only found yourself reading partial variations of a much larger story. Ito himself attempts to explain this in the back of the 1st new book, saying that the old books had been put together by grouping what the Tomie stories were about more than when they came out. This led to many a confabulated look and many an incomplete piece of work, with stories not meeting in sequential order and whole panels missing. The variety of mistakes was huge, too, and might have been somewhat funny if not for the fact that, along with the missing pieces, there were also missing stories.
When I say missing stories I mean a missing volume; when you take the 1st collection of books and hold it to the new editions you can tell that both of the original Tomie books could fit into the first book. So, the Museum of Horror books are good buys.

The 1st book is basically a sequential volume that tells tale after tale of Tomie, beginning with a really twisted story and ending with some rather twisted means. The tales included in this volume are: Tomie, Tomie Vol. 2, Basement, Photo, Kiss, Mansion, Revenge, Waterfall Basin, and Painter.
While many of these connect outright, some connect in more subtle fashions and follow characters that are, for a lack of better wording, caught in the web that is Tomie. Of these stories I found myself really liking the beginning and perhaps Kiss the most, but really just enjoying the read all the way through. I also liked the fact that this was linear as a concept this time around, giving the reader what Ito was thinking as he was thinking it. That explained a lot - and disturbed a little more.

For people who enjoy stories with twisted spines, horror that could pass both as Pulp and as terror, and works that are different in a way and beautiful in black and white then this is something for you. The first two books, all Tomie, paint a picture of something that would be, in a word, quite terrible.
With the new work almost making these new stories, they are really worth the buy.

One has to wonder after reading anything created by the brilliant mind of Junji Ito just how stable that mind really is. Having been turned on to his work first through his Uzumaki series (which by the way is a fully engrossing and rewarding read) I was only too happy to by chance stumble into this, the first book in Dark Horse's Museum of Terror series.

Within these pages lurks the story of Tomie, a high school aged girl whose striking beauty is only matched by her vanity and lust for attention. The horror begins after Tomie is brutally murdered and dismembered when, only a few short days later, she suddenly reappears at school acting as though nothing had happened. What starts as a macabre mystery gradually descends into something much more gruesome as the chapters progress, and the secrets of Tomie's strange character are revealed. Many of the chapters have very little to do with each other save for Tomie's relentless reoccurrence, and you can almost guarrentee that, 4 times out of 5, you'll see her die (usually a more hideous death than the one before), regenerate, and come back again to torture all those whom she comes across.

Apart from the complexity of the stories as well as that of Tomie's sinister character herself, it is also a treat to see how Ito's illustrations evolve as he develops his own signature style. This development seems almost charted by Tomie's own physical transformation throughout the book. She evolves as Ito's illustrations do so that, by the final chapter, we are able to see Tomie in the way that Ito wants us to see her; as a hauntingly beautiful young woman.

Over all, it became clear to me after reading Museum of Terror that it is not just Ito's objective to write good horror; Ito it seems has striven to break our stereotypical assertions as to what the horror genre is. In fact, he's done something nearly unheard of. He's taken the blood-and-gore factor and made it genuinely scary again.

This collection includes most of the original Tomie stories, and gives a really amazing peek at Junji Ito's earlier art style. The lines are clear, and the characters are depicted in a deceptively simple and beautiful manner. But the story itself is a twisted virus-meets-vengeful ghost tale about a girl (Tomie) that never dies. More than that, she provokes the intense desire and fixation of the men she meets, which invariably ends in them murdering and mutilating her.

It's an amazing manga full of SICK STUFF and the plot and scares are very visceral; The story also hints at and vaguely throws around some gender politics (and gender violence!) in the subtext. With Tomie, Junji Ito doesn't just spin one linear tale, but a sortof MYTHOS around Tomie that unfurls with each chapter. Like, hmmmm-- is she like a parasite that encourages being killed and mutilated as a form of her own propagation? Is she more like a virus that infects and changes to suit the weaknesses of her 'hosts'?

Admittedly, it can get repetitive, but especially with the first volume, it's really effective in a big dose. The last panel of the final story in this volume is SO. SO. CREEPY. I yelped like a scared kitten and just threw the damn thing on the floor.

If you feel like you've seen Tomie around before, it's probably because the now-defunct publisher ComicsOne originally released some of Tomie in a two volume set. Yeah, previous to the Museum of Terror edition, the Tomie comics were VERY out of print, and cost a ridiculous amount to track down secondhand. Like a lot of ComicsOne editions, their printing of Tomie was shoddily translated, edited and the visual touch-up (signs in English, sound effects) were really awful. The company basically (as the rumor goes) packed up shop, stopped paying their bills and disappeared. The pieces and rights were later acquired by DR.Master and some of their more successful stuff got assimilated into the new company's catalogue.

As for the second volume: The SECOND volume is also entirely Tomie stories, but it's mostly previously unpublished stories from when Junji Ito revisited the character in 1999 & 2000. You can feel him really escalating the limits of the Tomie 'mythos' here, with the depravity hitting really nasty levels... Making SAKE out of Tomie's mashed up flesh? Slashing her face over and over with a RAZOR? It gets ugly, but I found it really fascinating to see him draw these stories in his later style-- the more detailed, shakier line style he explored in Uzumaki and his newer comics. I am ready for a new subject after hundreds of pages (and more than a dozen variations) on the Tomie tale, but it's pretty sweet to have the entire story in 2 hefty volumes.

As a final note note, the ordering of the stories in these two volumes reflect Junji Ito's own choice of how he wanted the chapters to be presented, as another reviewer has noted.

Mutts are the cutest, funniest cartoon around. This little book gives the reader a taste of the personalities of all the Mutts caracters. The last word, as put by Shtinky Puddin' "oh, well... I dunno"

Mutts the comic gets to me, the art is understated, sometimes the humor is corny, but nontheless very touching. The middle of the book with the pumpkins is very funny. And of course, end it with SHTINKY PUDDIN' is classic.

This is not a normal Mutts book. If you have ever seen those little Garfield books that are hardback, well that is the shape of this book. But anyway I bought it, read it in about one minute and twenty seconds. This a very good book though, Buy it only if you love Mutts of want to be introduced to them.

If you were a kid in the 1930s or the 1940s, you remember the famous Big Little Books. Lately they have been revived by George Lucas and some of the large comic book publishers. This is something different, much slimmer, printed in full color on glossy paper... and in many ways, a work of art.

The art is done apparently freehand in ink (w/o pencilling as a guide) and then colored in with colored pencils and pastel chalks. The story? There's no story, you just meet the main characters of the Mutts strip, Earl, Mooch, Sid, Crabby, Woofy, Guard Dog, etc. They give you some advice--- verbally or by example!--- and then we move on to the next. After my wife paged through it, she said, "What a lovely little book." And it is.

i hate using phrases like "a minimalist masterpiece" but how else can you descibe this great book from mcdonnell's fertile mind? to quote jules, or as his intimates know him, shtinky puddin': "i dunno."

if you are already a fan of the strip, this book is a must. he is the true successor to herriman!

I'm addicted to Geary's true-crime series, "A Treasury of Victorian Murder" and this volume is probably one of the best I've read thus far. The story is that of the well-chronicled but mysterious death of a popular New York cigar seller, Mary Rogers. The circumstances of her death, the people involved and the evidence gathered all make for a seriously bizarre but fascinating true-crime tale. Rick Geary's meticulous black-and-white illustrations are tidy and convey the story wonderfully. An unusual use of the "graphic novel" medium, but an effective one. Highly recommended!

Rick Geary brings the 1840s back to life in this study of an unsolved murder. Mary Rogers was pretty and well known in New York City back then. Her brutal murder splashed across the tabloid pages until interest gradually waned. It never waned completely, though, because Edgar Allan Poe immortalized it in an analysis thinly veiled as fiction.

Geary illustrates this classic mystery in his unique style: black and white pen drawings with no shades of gray, and, static, isolated panels like loosely-related snapshots. It's enjoyable, but more for the afficiando of mysteries or unusual comic styles than for the fan of mainstream comics.

//wiredweird

With The Mystery of Mary Rogers, Writer/Illustrator Rick Geary continues his "Treasury of Victorian Murder" Graphic Novel series, this time exploring the facts in the death of Mary Rogers, a well-known "Segar (Cigar) Girl" (She worked in a large Manhattan Tobacco Shop).

Geary's books are laid out incredibly well; most "Mainstream" non-fiction writers could learn a thing or two from him. He presents THE FACTS in the case, and since the murder was nevr really solved (At least officially...), he avoids any supposition; At the end of the book, he gives the reader a few scenarios that MAY have happened, never presenting any one of them as the actual solution. Geary's writing style is very informative, and his illustrations have a depth and resonance that belie their "Cartoony" look.

Overall, this book is a pleasure to read! The hardcover is a very attractive package at a low price, the text is informative and illuminating, and the artwork is superb. In a perfect world, Geary would be a fixture on the best-seller lists.

In 1841, Mary Rogers, a well-known resident of the city of New York, was found floating in the Hudson River, dead. The investigation was hampered by jurisdictional disputes and the primitive forensic science of the time, and is officially still unsolved. It was a great stir in its day, and everybody had opinions about it; Edgar Allen Poe based his "Mystery of Marie Roget" on it. Geary gives us the known facts, and proposes a solution in line with the modern thinking on the subject. His evocative artwork makes this book a visual treat. I'd love to see him tackle the alleged murder of Sarah M. Cornell by the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery; it occured at nearly the same time this case did, and is still officially unsolved.

It is very unusual for antebellum New York to get any sort of treatment in popular culture, which is a shame, because the whole space between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War features dramatic changes in the city's popular landscape. Institutions for maintaining public order and safety that we take for granted today were less organized and often appropriated by the underworld for its own purposes.

Scorsese's upcoming movie, GANGS OF NEW YORK, looks like it will offer an interesting look into this time. Readers looking for a little less bombast can take in Rick Geary's tight little graphic exploration of THE MYSTERY OF MARY ROGERS. Geary tells the true tale of a corpse that captured the public imagination in a manner similar to any of today's celebrity victims. He renders useful maps and recreates the known facts of the case with haunting sillhouettes and faces that are remarkably expressive in their cartoonishness. Geary also tosses in a tidy little chunk of social history -- so that we understand the context -- and chronicles the sensationalism that followed this case. As a final service, he puts forth the prominent theories about the case, noting its inspiration of Poe's mystery.

Graphic (as in illustrated) non-fiction is somewhat of an oddity, often represented by simpering auto-bio. True crime stories tend to show up in the BIG BOOK OF ... series. This, however, is a neat and stylistic volume that would put Anne Rule to shame.

Or planes. I read this one on a plane, and several of the strips led up to one that had me laughing... very loudly... for several minutes straight. Its been a long time since I've seen comics this creative and hilarious. Can't wait for the second book.

Narbonic was my first webcomic and is still my favorite. Even those who shy away from comics will love Narbonic. It's hilarious and the storylines are always gripping and suspenseful.

Beware! Narbonic will suck you in, make you laugh, make you cry...and meanwhile, perform subtle but lasting scientific experiments on your mind. By the time Shaenon Garrity is through with you, you'll be a devoted slave.

This is the first major print collection for Narbonic, a daily webcomic that's been around since mid 2000. This book represents roughly its first year. Meet the main characters: Helen Narbon, a mad scientist plotting to take over the world; Mell Kelly, her Evil Intern; Dave Davenport, the Henchman; and Artie, the superintelligent Gerbil.

The strips are funny. The stories are smart. The characters are full-fleshed, with a definite arc. This is one of the very few comic strips I read, and the only one I make sure I never miss. (I'm telling you--scientific experiments = devoted slave.)

Narbonic is the self-titled book edition of the most creative and consistently funny comic strip to come along since THE FARSIDE and CALVIN & HOBBES. It has a unique, offbeat sense of humor that will grow on you like the culture in a petri dish. Narbonic shows the inner day-to-day workings of a mad science lab. Where an insane geneticist has to simultaneously hire a new employee, battle a hero, and get the doomsday machine working, all without getting evicted by the landlord.

One of Narbonic's strongest points is its incredible cast of interesting characters. Helen B. Narbon is the young mad scientist trying to run a profitable mad science laboratory, and make a name for herself, to prove she's not just a chip off her even more evil mother, Dr. Narbon. Dave Davenport is Helen's computer technician, who hates working for the forces of evil, but finds it preferable to working for Microsoft. Mell Kelly is Helen's evil intern, who's fascination with guns and explosives, keeps the other employees on their toes. RT-5478, (Artie) is a super intelligent gerbil Helen created, who considers himself the sane, rational one of the group, but is not above amusing himself by conducting unauthorized experiments on other lab animals or members of the staff. And no mad science comic would be complete without an arch rival, Professor Lupin Madblood, who Helen has a not so secret crush on.

Narbonic is mostly presented as long complex story arcs, and often reads more like a novel than a comic strip. Shaenon Garrity sketches her story lines well in advance, allowing for much richer development than you'll find most other comics.

Narbonic isn't for everyone. It requires some thought by the reader to understand the science, both real and imagined, that the artist often adds to the strip. The humor is mostly personality driven, so a good familiarity with each character is needed to get the more subtle jokes. But if you're looking for a comic strip that panders to the above mean IQ, and if you've ever wondered what REALLY happens in a mad science lab, Narbonic is for you.

Imagine that Nikola Tesla and Jerry Seinfield wrote a comic together. It would be very similar to Narbonic. Garrity's humor is on equal to that Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett. On top of that, the art is quite cute.

Helen Narbon is a young mad scientist who creates things such as 300 lb. gerbils and cellular destabilizers. Along with her slacker geek henchman and homicidal intern, Helen tries to take her lab to new levels of infamy. As you can guess, things do not go smoothly.

In most works, mad scientists are two dimensional villains who are nothing more than opponents for muscle bound main characters. Narbonic documents the day to day experiences of a mad scientist's lab and portrays the characters as real people with their own insane desires and lifestyles. It is not an easy path they follow; doomsday devices don't make themselves.

This is the funniest comic that I have ever read!

Naruto issue 13 is a good issue that Masashi Kishimoto has ever published so far. This issue is a good issue becuase this is the episode when Gara and Sasuke Uchiha fight it out in the 3rd exam. I like this issue because this is when Sasuke reveals the power of the Chidori: 1000 Birds. This move was used on gara when he was trying to do a jutsu that Sasuke sis not wont gara to do. While all of this was going on the other Hogage that was accompaning the 3rd Hokage took him hastage and he turned out to be the on the only Oruchumaru!!!

Naruto vol. 13 is a great addition to the naruto series.it provides a great story while keeping u entertained.

The story arc for the chunin exams ends during this book and begins something that is all the better. I love the story so far and this adds to the excitement. Too bad it will take until June for the 14th volume to come out. I give this two thumbs up and recommend this to those that love Naruto.

This is the number-one best manga series in the entire world! I sometimes think Kishimoto-sensei is taking the tragedy-part of the story too far, like with the Third Hokage's death; hat was very sad. Anyways, it's a great series!

I liked this one better than the others because you got to see Orochimaru's attak. Temari wins the fight against Shikamaru in a stunning way. Before Sasuke and Gaara's fight, Sasuke appears with a flashy enterance, casually late. They find the amazing story of the chidori, or lightning blade, as Sasuke unleashes it. As Gaara trys to transform he gets hit with the chidori. During the fight, the sand ninja and Orochimaru attack Konoha, and the Chunin selection exams concludes with a bang. As Sasuke is pursuing Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Naruto, with the help of Pakkun, are pursuing Sasuke

Naruto
This story Naruto, is about these 12 years old kids who want to become ninjas.
The kids lived in Konaha, their village which is hidden in the leaf. I picked to write about the character, Hinata, because she is very shy and very, very nervous. I felt like the character in the book. I felt like I was at Konaha's battle arena fighting people from other teams. Then I will watch my teammates compete. The theme of the book is about working hard, staying focused, and teamwork. I think this because the characters were on task and working hard while helping each other out and making them feel confident while fighting other people.
I think anyone who loves Japanese anima (Animation) should read this book.
It tells about the characters and what they are doing in the book and it tells who wins the battle and who doesn't win the battle.

Naruto
This story Naruto, is about these 12 years old kids who want to become ninjas.
The kids lived in Konaha, their village which is hidden in the leaf. I picked to write about the character, Hinata, because she is very shy and very, very nervous. I felt like the character in the book. I felt like I was at Konaha's battle arena fighting people from other teams. Then I will watch my teammates compete. The theme of the book is about working hard, staying focused, and teamwork. I think this because the characters were on task and working hard while helping each other out and making them feel confident while fighting other people.
I think anyone who loves Japanese anima (Animation) should read this book.
It tells about the characters and what they are doing in the book and it tells who wins the battle and who doesn't win the battle.

Naruto
This story Naruto, is about these 12 years old kids who want to become ninja.
The kids lived in Konaha, their village which is hidden in the leaf. I picked to write about the character, Hinata, because she is very shy and very, very nervous. I felt like the character in the book. I felt like I was at Konaha's battle arena fighting people from other teams. Then I will watch my teammates compete. The theme of the book is about working hard, staying focused, and teamwork. I think this because the characters were on task and working hard while helping each other out and making them feel confident while fighting other people.
I think anyone who loves Japanese anima (Animation) should read this book.
It tells about the characters and what they are doing in the book and it tells who wins the battle and who doesn't win the battle.

Hey im Sage and im a huge naruto manga series fan, I have read all the books available in america 1-10 and this book was really good it had good details, pictures and the words all made sense to me. The art is awesome and has really good detail in them that it seems like it was actually happening around me.

I really like the series and cant wait to read the next like 15 books or so when they become available in english text, again really cant wait and hope they are all just as good =P. best of luck, Sage.

this is my first time writing a review but how should i say this... Volume 9 was really great with a lot of action in it, but i would also say it was sad with the many deaths some of the young ninjas faced but at least they died with a good cause.( lets hope) Anyway i thought my favorite character in this series is well Sasuke. Probably everyone knows why. If youre a naruto fan you gotta buy this book FAST!!

What hasn't already been said about For Better or For Worse- it's all true. Not many cartoons can stand up to these.

First I'm prejudice. There has never been a "For Better/For Worst" book that I have not liked. With that said, this was most enjoyable. Seeing Jim and El start really thinking of retirement and the kids growing up.

This book... I can't say it any rates. I collect ALL of books that Lynn Johnston writes. :)

This treasury by Lynn Johnston is another winner. Taking a very close look at the children this time around, the comic strips are a pure joy.

Buy this one and enjoy.

Never Wink at a Worried Woman is the latest compilation of "For Better or For Worse" newspaper comic strips, following the daily life of the Patterson family - parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and friends. Unlike the majority of comic strips, in which the family (and its children!) never age and remain bizarrely the same from year to year, "For Better or For Worse" embraces the realism of advancing years and the toll that changes in the seasons have on life. In Never Wink at a Worried Woman, Elly and John are carefully beginning to think about retirement, while Elizabeth approaches adulthood, Micheal and Deanna try to balance the demands of being new parents, and baby Meredith is bursting with curiosity about the world around her while Grandpa Jim strives to maintain his dignity despite the toll of age. The warm, soulful humor of the comic retains a fresh, empathic charm, all needed more desperately than ever in today's era of sarcasm, shallowness and sound bites. Highly recommended.

A story about two related families meeting together in the summer at a legendary Gull Island in the south. The protagonist is a child Beau, and tells of the stories kids play when they are young. And the stories are realistic and mean; killing rats, stealing, swearing, smoking and drinking a beer. These are all things many of us have done when we were kids, stealing a cigarette from your parents, et cetera, but they are not usually described in books. So this made for a believable story as the children get into trouble in their fort called Neverland, and spearheaded by the kid Sumter.

Not only are the kids believable, so is the setting. Douglas really comes up with a good believable background to Gull Island, and brings in a local character Julianne who is a Gullah. I have no idea if a Gullah is real or not but I believed it, and her background which is similar to a New Orleans' type of background. Supposedly they know voodoo.. Anyway, considering these strong setting and believable characters I thought it started off a little slow, but when the supernatural elements started kicking in, and especially the last 150 or so pages, I started turning the pages faster and faster as the book went along. Overall I've read better Clegg books, but this was still a real good book. Spooky..

Clegg does it again. He is one of the most consistently effective horror writers I have ever read. In Never Land, we meet cousins Beau and Sumter summering at their grandmother's home on Gull Island. While the grown-ups drink and fight amongst themselves, the kids explore the island in search of adventure. Unfortunately, Sumter isn't exactly the most mentally healthy child, and he drags his cousins into some bizarre, frightening and dangerous games in his secret hideaway called Neverland. Communicating with another world, Sumter calls forth evil forces that threaten to destroy the family and the island. In the process, family secrets are dragged into the open, and Beau finds himself as the single person who may be able to save his family. Clegg has a knack for creating believable child characters who act in ways and say things that you would expect from a child. I absolutely could not put this book down until I finished it. It's creepy, suspenseful, and wickedly fun to read. Do what you must to track down these out-of-print Clegg novels; you won't be disappointed.

Douglas Clegg is a master of fantasy and imagination. THIS plot is nothing simple; it turns out to be creative ,and unpredictable as hell, and I stand with applause for the hours he must have spent brainstorming this one.

Neverland is fun, twisted, gripping. I fell in love with the characters, I weeped with them, I feared for them. The setting with the old house, the creepy shack, the woods - all amazing, beautiful, unnerving. The pace is quick when it should be, slower when its appropriate, and overall ends with a stunning conclusion. Clegg writes with a hand that holds talent, knowing how to work its stuff.

Read Neverland for a good time, an imaginative roll in the hay. You won't be dissapointed.

Other reviews before this one have summarized the plot better than I can, but in a nutshell, the book is about creepy children. Creepy, creepy children. Beau (a bit creepy) and his sisters (not so creepy) visit their grandmother (kind of creepy in her own right) on Gull Island every summer. Their cousin Sumter (way creepy) visits at the same time. Beau and Sumter form a friendship mostly based on their secret place, Neverland, where they perform rituals and play increasingly bizarre games, and where Sumter grows ... well ... creepier and creepier.
This novel was chilling and very good. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for creepy-children-coming-of-age-stories, and this one does not disappoint. Sumter is an absolute little freak, so if you also like creepy children stories, then Sumter is your boy. A very worthy addition to the creepy, out-of-control children sub-genre of horror stories.

I'm a sucker for coming of age stories, where the main character (usually a young boy) steps out of childhood to enter manhood through a series of traumatic events that will leave him changed forever. This is exactly what happens to Beau in Douglas Clegg's brilliantly imaginative Neverland, a book that will leave you breathless and in complete awe.

Beau, his parents, his infant brother and his twin sisters leave for their annual summer trip down to the family island, where they will stay with Beau's aunt and her family and his grandmother for the following month. When he arrives, his cousin Sumter is already waiting for him. Sumter is a strange boy who has discovered something magical and yet terrifying in the old shack behind the house. A crate with something - or someone - trapped inside. Something that calls itself Lucy.

Soon enough, Beau finds himself trapped in a nightmare he can't get himself out of. They nickname the shack Neverland, the place where imagination runs free, a place where pain and sadness does not exist. But Neverland grows to be an entity of its own, and it wants something more than mere company. It wants blood.

Douglas Clegg's imgination is amazing, and he puts it to full use in this book. The things we used to dream as children - both good dreams and nightmares - come alive in this book. You soon find yourself trapped in playground from hell, where there are very few rules.

Beau will have to face his own personal demons as he will be pushed to the very limits of sanity by Sumter and Neverland. The last 150 pages of the book are a real roller coster ride, where everything goes to hell, and where Clegg really shows how great and brilliant his imagination truly is.

Not only is Neverland a great horror novel, it is one you won't soon forget. Douglas Clegg is the master of suspense, no dout about it. So do yourself a favor and pick on of his book up. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

I thought I was getting a paperback version of the original hardback book of cartoons. It is the same book but the paperback version is much smaller than the hardback.

The New Yorker has all these things, and the combination of cats and The New Yorker is a felicitious one. These witty, wonderful cartoons are just the thing to bring a sparkle to even the most glazed of eyes.

Two ladies sipping tea, a cat strolling past tail in the air. "Whe she was little," one says "we had a very close relationship, but now we're just friends."

And a hundred others. A book is not as good as a cat, but this one is halfway there.

Cats you say? Take a look at the cover. Take a good look. Nobody does it like THE NEW YORKER. 101 cartons and 65 years later, the cats still have the last laugh. High level stuff and highly recommended!

I rated this book based on the hardcover version, but I do want to put in a word against the miniature paperback version in the beginning. Avoid the miniature paperback: It is very tiny, reproduced poorly, the paper quality is not good, and some of the material cannot be seen without a magnifying glass.

The only drawback I saw to the hardcover version was the lack of a witty introduction. I graded it down one star for that lack. The New Yorker cartoon books on business and money have wonderful introductions, unlike this one.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I do not have a cat. Yet I have many friends who do, and I tried to view these cartoons through their eyes.

The main cartoonists of these 102 cartoons are Charles Addams, Tom Cheney, Helen Hokinson, Frank Modell, Mischa Richter, Danny Shanahan, William Steig, and Saul Steinberg.

The cartoons generally follow one of the following styles: juxtaposing cats for dogs; anthropomorphizing cats; and treating humans like cats. These formats were predictable enough that the humor worked best when one of the categories was not followed, such as in a cartoon with no words where a cat is seen scratching against an arm chair while a man sits in it reading the newspaper -- chair, man, and newspaper all bear the same scratch marks everywhere.

Here are a few of my favorites:

A woman letting a large number of cats out of the back door: "Everyone be home by two o'clock."

No words: A man sits in a chair reading with his feet on a bear skin run. Behind him, a cat lies in a bed with a mouseskin rug on the floor in front.

A man receiving a call at work: "Your wife feels that your cat needs to hear an authoritative male voice."

One mouse to another: "Miss Egan, bring me everything we have on cats."

Dog to cat: "Hey, pal, let's hear 'Doggie in the Window' again, and this time play it like you mean it!"

Cat to cat in bow tie: "I'm sorry, but I think it's uncatlike."

Cat in casts to another cat in casts in vet's office: "I tried to make it from the windowsill to the top of the refrigerator. How about you?"

Cat behind loan officer desk in bank to dog: "Beg."

Man to cat: "The fact that you cats were considered sacred in ancient Egypt cuts no ice with me."

Person shouting through the window to a woman in a roomful of cats: "Glendora Hogan got another load of cats, Elinor honey. Can you take a couple?"

Let this good-natured look at one of our favorite animal friends liven up your day, and remind you of the humor behind everything. It's only our stalled thinking that denies us a good laugh at everything!

If you live with a cat, you'll want to read it before you give it to another feline lover; it makes a wonderful present.