Caricature Books

My 8 year old daughter loves reading Family Circus in the newspaper, so I set about find a book for her. Long gone are the days when you could pick up a little Family Circus paperback at the checkout lane for 50 cents, which I remember from my childhood. However, a search turned up this book and my daughter has really enjoyed it. The comics are still funny (and somewhat corny to an adult, but perfect for a kid). Also very wholesome so no worries about inappropriate content. I recommend this book.

This book always lightens my spirits. So sweet, happy, and clean. It's nice to have something everyone in the family can read and appreciate. I find it comforting to know other people have gone through the same things with their children that I have with my own. I don't understand how this book could get anything less than 5 stars, unless you just don't like kids or family.

The Family Circus has been a part of my life since I first started to read the Sunday comics. Now that I'm grown, I can relive those happy memories with this book. This collection has some of the most touching moments from the most widely syndicated comic in the world. It's surely a must have for any Family Circus or comic strip lover.

I grew up loving Family Circus and now that I am an adult with children I appreciate it even more. It depicts the true inquisitive, honest, and sweet nature of children. It shows all those everyday moments of childhood that pass too quickly. Bil Keane's perspective on children and family is a realistic one and dead on...not so much intended to make you roll on the floor with laughter but rather to make you say, "Yeah, I can identify with that!" They are meant to make you realize how quickly childhood passes and how much we should appreciate all those everyday moments we share with our families. My children are of reading age now and LOVE Bil Keane's work, as well! They also love the Family Circus holiday movies!

There are those who will tell you that Bil Keane is a waste of perfectly good internal organs and comics page space--heck, see the reviews of that nature attached to this book.

But that's dismissing what is in my mind an interesting question. Keane has his talents as a cartoonist. He's got a distinctive if head-squashed style. His renderings of figures and everyday objects are clear and concise. His skill at drawing dotted lines over landscapes is state-of-the-art in the comic industry. What would Bil Keane have become if he recognized his total and complete limitations in the non-saccharine humor and non-maudlin story department and hooked up with a Harvey Pekar-ish writer? Great Odin's raven, the things that pair could have accomplished!

But he didn't, and they didn't, and what with his years of building the Family Circus into the weakest comic portfolio this side of Jack Chick, I'm sure it's far too late for old Bil to start now.

As for this book: like all Family Circus material, it's seven flavours of awful. Don't buy it, don't add it to your wishlist, and if you have the misfortune to have it come into your possession like a bum nickel, look at the cover and wonder what might have been had Keane simply known his limitations once upon a time.

you will most definitely, never ever EVER know how to draw those bodacious babes of comics after studying this book! the drawings are god-awful and the "lesson plan" has more holes in it than Robert Davi's face (haha!!) all of the advice is weird and really useless, like telling you draw beautiful women for like four hours a day and fill "sketchbooks full of drawings of hands". so does being a comic book artist mean you have to keep a bodybuilder's schedule? The worst feature is the chapter on computers. Why would somebody who is still trying to learn drawing skills need to even begin to worry about cheesy computer effects? seriously, wasted paper guys. It says on the back the artist has "been in the feild for years", but you would think that after looking at his illustrations for this book that this is his sole commision. The only pleasure I got from reading this book is from seeing that so many other people agree that this book is garbage. Don't buy it.

Although the title is incredibly cheesy, the book itself is pretty good. They cover solidly the foundations of comic-style character design and how to implement them into a scenario. The only thing I really disliked was that they didn't spend enough time on manga. But, there are many many other books that take care of it. The other thing is the cheesiness of the "good girl" in their book. I don't know of a single MODERN comic that had heroines that look like that... they ALL look like the "bad girl" these days!

the only reason I gave a one-star rating to this fluff is because amazon doesn't allow anything lower.

the review of this reader...

1st the dynamic duo of frank and mike attempt to tackle posing.... bad, inconsistent, awkward posing... here the writing out-merits the amateurishly illustrated bad sketches. foreshortening is not this artist's strong suit and shouldn't have been attempted. yes, there are good sketches here, but inconsistently strewn thoughout the third of material in this book. Take a look at Loomis' or Hogarth's books to see consistent GOOD posing... and better foreshortening.

2nd, we move on to features like hairstyles, hands and faces that seem to mimic current as well as golden age comic styles.... juxtaposed... I'm not kidding. it's like the Jack Kirby Good Girl meets the Marc Silvestri Demon Spawn. nothing here that wasn't in marvel's "How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way".

3rd, an interesting foray into Manga and 40's style pin-up art. just barely touched on. there's nothing here to even comment on except BUY EISNER'S BOOKS FIRST, if you want to see real pin-up art.

4th, we get into some material that this reader believes shows the meddle of both the writer and artist. do they pursue it to any substantial point that it's worth you plunking down a $20 bill? No way, fan-boy. 2 pages dedicated to the nightmare of perspective... you're kidding right? Try David Chelsea's book. 2 pages dedicated to inking...try 88 pages with over a dozen contributing artists in Gary Martin's book.

next, frank and mike plunge us into more fluff material... weapons and powers. I hate to say it.... but even Christopher Hart's books are marginally better here with slightly MORE material.

finally, they finish up with computer commentary. a whole book in it's own right could have been written on comic book coloring and pre-press software and Mike only mentions the barest essentials.

I don't know who 1st approached who in this travesty, but this book is fluff. the only professional thing in this book is Mark Wheatly's coloring. hopefully this hasn't dragged his career down.

Here's a suggestion to the publishers... pick one thing that you can professionally illustrate and pursue it consistently. Take a look at the books I mentioned above to get an idea of the longevity of good material.

I can't believe how bad the drawings are in this book. Awkward bodies and faces that look like they came from a high school kids figure drawing class. These guys worked in comics? Incredible.

Don't expect much instruction and you DO NOT want to practice your skills by looking at the junk in this book. The bodies are oddly distorted and faces unattractive and unbalanced. Just bad bad stuff.

Avoid this book like the plague.

I buy most every art book on how to draw comics, and leapt at the chance to purchase this book, sight unseen.

My biggest beef with this book, is the lack of diagrams and real drawing reference. Instead we get a lot of 'figure drawing' style sketches accompanied by an occasional full color illo. Not bad, but not what I'm looking for in a drawing instruction book.

This book needs more diagram style drawings with art measured in head lengths (muscles) we women have them you know...(Grin). And step-by-step instructions. Regretfully, this book is composed of nearly finished illustrations. The "turnarounds" that exist are small and amateurly done (page 12 & 13), and should reflect MORE body types and have better details in the arms and legs.

Also the artist seems to have trouble drawing arms. The arms seem disproportionate, and at times are drawn so long, they appear almost ape-like, other times they hang at awkward angles as thought the artist doesn't know quite what to do with them.

Additionally, many of the illustrations in this book, look like they were done in figure drawing class, and don't look like comic book women.

The sections on faces needed to be expanded and improved. Women are drawn with staring eyes and open snarling expressions, making them look like they are suffering from a bad hangover.

What I DID like was the fabulous use of color. Some art is quite good, such as the art used to head each chapter.

While this book is not likely to provide you with anything new in the way of art reference, it has some decent artwork overall and may be able to give the beginning artist some insiration.

This hilarious little booklet contains the funniest Non-sequitur comic strips containing the "What She Said/What He Heard" theme. Unfortunately, it is so cheaply produced on poor quality paper that I wouldn't recommend it as a gift to anyone but a real fan of the genre. What a shame the production values weren't as high as the comic value.

This is a good supplemental gift item. It's a pocket-size book of reprints from other collections in the tradition of those little inspirational booklets like "Happiness is a Warm Blanket" from Peanuts. However it has that extra loving touch of Wiley cynicism.

Seems to be the trend to warn people, and admittedly I was surprised when I got it, so here you go -- It looks like a standard newspaper trade paperback as presented on the site unless you "Look Inside" and notice the apparently huge text, so be warned (again).

The book is so funny because it is so true! Great illustrations that really add to the humor. This stuff is worth posting on the breakroom wall or on the refrigerator at home. Only complaint - the book is too small and too few pages. Miller's illustrations deserve a larger page, and I would have liked to see more content ... for that price.

Wiley, as always, gives great insight - his cartoons are so incredibly funny because they're so very true. Whoever came up with the idea of 'male' and 'female' gave cartoonists endless material to work with.

Wiley's commentary, especially the signature "What she/he heard, what he/she said", is wonderful. I'm sure he's done lots more him/her work than included in this slim volume, and I wish it had been presented here. What's present in the book is worth five stars, but it was only enough to make me want more.

Non Sequitur and Pooch Cafe are my favorite strips. This is a SMALL book so don;t be shocked when you get it -- but the content is great.

He's a decent, long-suffering daddy of three bickering kids who has developed a slight paunch (as well as obsession with toy trains) and chased after young skirts even in front of his aging wife.

Too bad he's now a grandfather to a blond-curled maternal fantasy with the face of a beauty queen (she's gonna win countless child beauty pageants and eventually become an overconfident leader of the giggliest and cattiest high school clique in whole history) and a miniature clone of the good-looking young father, complete with wavy chestnut hair and a dimpled, chiseled chin.

At least the comic strip is semi-retired, so we won't have to see the latest additions grow up to be such impossible creatures one day.

This is a nice and very fast read. It just makes you think and brings a smile to your face.

I collect paperback comic books - as opposed to "magazine" style - and, normally this would have been a delight, but this is a childrens' book; I was expecting a book roughly 100+ pages long, and this is a tiny one - not at all what I expected. My error though; I'll contribute to the local Children's Hospital, so that everyone wins!

If I had know that this was a small book with only 22 pages and not about the For Better or For Worse family I would not have bought it , not worth the $8.95

Okay, first off, let me say that I adore this series and the auhtor. Which is why I was so excited by another book being issued.

The problem is, this book is not really part of the For Better of For Worse series. Sure, it is the same author and there are a few characters that are in it, but overall this is more a look at grandafthers and their grandchildren - comic style.

Also, the book is tiny. About 20 to 30 pages and measures about 5 inches X 5 inches. The cost is around $9.95US (even more in Canada which is where I bought it).

Each page has one tiny little comic with a few sentences. Mind you - not a comic strip on each page - just one image.

Anyway, I feel extremely cheated by this book.

A Review by Tony Caramia, from the American Music Teacher magazine

'Jazz for Beginners might be a mislead­ing title in a magazine like American Mu­sic Teacher. It is not a method book instructing beginning students on which lick to play in a blues progression; nor does it show how to harmonize a song with fancy jazz harmonies. Rather, it is a book written for the adult who knows nothing about this most unique, American contribution to the musical landscape of the twentieth century. Jazz for Beginners outlines each of the major periods of jazz's development, "from the brassy opti­mism of Dixieland, through the fierce dignity of Bebop, onto the fusion of Jazz-Rock and Jazz HipHop."

'This book is a "Beginners Documen­tary Comic Book," and as such contains many fine pictures, etchings and drawings of the jazz musicians, instruments, places and recordings described. In addi­tion, the author provides a kind of running commentary throughout the narra­tive that, although occasionally bordering on the opinionated, helps to maintain the personal (and frequently humorous), style that eventually endears one to the book and the subject. For example: on each page, David asks questions (set in boldtype) that he then answers, such as "Aren't there any MALE Jazz Singers?" His answer: "Yes, of course...but nobody's sure who they are! Joe Williams is a blues singer. Or Jazz singer. Or both? (Whatever the hell he is, he's good!)." The language used in the book is true, fundamental, of the street and uncensored. It is not "dirty" or offensive; it is real, unfiltered, emotional and heartfelt--like the music it describes.

'David sprinkles quotations from jazz critics, musicians, magazines, record jackets and other jazz books on virtually every page, lending an interesting and eclectic format to his narrative; we get historical fact mixed with fiction, contemporary perspectives ultimately proven inaccurate like, "Bebop has set music back 20 years."

'I was fascinated by this book, its bold and riveting statements, its unbridled attempt to humanize the music, and to define jazz as more than a series of musical sounds. The author suggests that "Listening to a great Jazz solo is the closest I will ever get to being in a room with Einstein when he flashes on his Theory of Relativity...I am there with him at the moment he is creating it." There are many moments of profound insight, deeply personal observations from the author and the musicians who created the music, as well as those who participate in its ongoing evolution. This is a book for serious musicians, for open-minded individuals who seek knowledge and intellectual stimulation. Most importantly, this book is for those who strive to understand human beings as they struggle to survive and grow. Jazz is a music that, for so many, provides a means for self-expression, an outlet for the intense pain they feel. This book graphically and poignantly depicts their heroic efforts.'

Reviewed by Tony Caramia, Rochester, New York

AUTHOR RON DAVID'S COMMENT:
I do not know Tony Caramia, the reviewer. Never even emailed him to thank him for his review, which perfectly captures my intentions.
I openly and intentionally repeated that everything in Jazz for Beginners was MY opinion. I did that for two reasons: 1) to emphasize the FACT that virtually EVERY statement on Jazz (including who is/isn't a jazz musician) is nothing but the author's OPINION; 2) to encourage each reader to form his/her own OPINION fearlessly, passionately and unapologetically in the spirit in which Jazz is created.

1. I had no intention of conveying 'hate' for anyone, only giving credit where credit is due.
2. Scott LeFaro is indeed an important musician, but (in my opinion) LeFaro was a bassist for sophisticated, experienced listeners--not for Beginners. (Even so, every musician I did not mention leaves a little hole in the book.)
Thank all of you for caring enough to review the book.

I bought this book for a college course called The History of Jazz and the Blues. I thoroughly enjoyed the other text we used for the course, which dealt with the blues half of the class. This book, however, I found to be poorly organized, biased from a musical standpoint, and just plain hateful and racist towards white people. I took the course and read the book to help me learn something about the culture and the music of jazz, which at the time I had very little exposure to. I was really amazed that this book would be taken seriously by anyone by the way it downplays the role and flat-out says racist remarks towards whites, calling them "palefaces" and such. It's a joke to believe that racism will ever end with that kind of hate speech being said. Blacks played a huge influence in not only the shaping of jazz music, but nearly every other kind of American music as well. From Stephen Foster to Scott Joplin to Robert Johnson to Duke Ellington to Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, anyone who knows ANYTHING about American music isn't going to try to rob the credit that is rightfully due to blacks in shaping it. However, that doesn't need to be done in a hateful, childish way. There is a major difference between pride and hate, and clearly Ron David doesn't know that. I feel that it is important to know the history of the struggle that the music came out of, and that whites and blacks both respect the foundations of each others' music and how it came to be. Discrediting people like Benny Goodman and F. Scott Fitzgerald is a joke. Saying that Elvis only "ripped off black music" is a joke. Elvis and Benny Goodman wouldn't have said that they "invented" their music from scratch any more than a black musician would have said that. Music builds on the music before it; out of ragtime came jazz, for example. Suggesting that someone was innovative does not have to mean that they invented something out of nothing, and I'm sure they would say the same. Save your money and buy a good jazz CD instead.

It's funny. It also takes the subject by the horn(s). The passion of this music needs a voice that understands that you cannot build the house of jazz history with the master's tools...so it takes a different approach to the history, one that uses the "for beginners" form as a way of talking politics. That makes this volume essential for a basic understanding for what is at stake in the history of jazz. This is what Ken Burns (and my old friend Wynton) need as a corrective. No, I don't agree with all of it...but that outcome should always make one suspicious...

Another in the seemingly endless series of "...for Beginners" books that began with a few Marxist tomes but later expanded into other areas. There are some useful bits and pieces here, but overall it's a rather narrow selection that spends too much time on the politics and history and not nearly enough on the music. Mingus is given a number of pages, and rightly so, given his stature as a composer and bassist- but there's not much about his music or why it's worth listening to. But where's Scott LaFaro? He was possibly even more influential than Mingus in redefining moden jazz bass playing, but there's nary a mention of him. There are too many omissions of this sort. Not one of the better books from this group, and not a good choice for someone interested in exploring jazz

As much as I would like to rate this book more positvely I really can't. Not only do I find the author's tone very arrogant at times but because the book is supposed to be an introduction for new jazz lovers the highly personal tone and comments the author makes about certain jazz styles and musicians is very innapropriate. How can someone who turns to this book for help in understanding jazz, sort through the biases the author has towards certain artists if this is their first jazz reading? I'm also sorry to say that the book also appears to have not gone through a proof-reading...there are several (10+) spelling mistakes in the first chapter alone. I suggest you browse through it at your library rather than buy it.

I'm sure this is a great book, but I could read neither the mouseprint text nor see much of the cartoons. The unwieldy size made a manifier hard to use so I gave up and dumped it at the library.

First, I want to comment on Englund's review, which I think is too harsh. This book is about CARTOONS. The sub-title which includes the word "comic" is indeed misleading. This book is not about comic books, it's about cartoons, mostly political but also gag cartoons and comic strips. There is one short chapter on animation (and I agree that it's out of place), and one short chapter on comic books (ditto), but the other 36 chapters are interesting, and the drawings are very attractive and representative of the art. Anything from the Yellow Kid and Blondie, through Clare Briggs, Charles Scultz, and James Thurber, to Jeff MacNelly and Herblock. If you like cartoons, if you like the art, it's a great book to read and browse, and it will be a great book 20 years from now just as well.

This is a handsome book, covering the entire history of our country as seen by the critics with the least restraints - the political cartoonists and the comic strip cartoonists. It aims to be comprehensive, and it is, and it includes some wondeful text by people who have spent their lives in the field.

Buy it for your coffee table, but read it before you put it there.

What a disappointment ! ! ! With all the books published over the past fifty years on comic art in general, one would would expect more useful reference material to exist on the subject. Other than the publications of Brian Walker, Bill Blackbeard, Richard Marchall, and precious few others, most authors and editors, including those who produced this volume, fail to understand that not all art that is described by the terms comic and cartoon appeals to the same audience and that these various art forms are not all appropriately discussed in the same book. As an inevitable result we get books which do not fulfill the expectations of those interested in any of the loosely related fields.

Comic strip art and comic book art are closely related -- the initial and constant appeal of both lie in the existence of continuing characters who develope over time, thereby becoming small parts of the lives of the readers. Animation art can be similarly ingrained into the viewer's psyche, as the films that are the ultimate product of such art are viewed and reviewed over the course of many years. But it is hard to do justice to both comic stiip/book art and animation art in the same book, given the very different manners by which the two forms of art are produced. Political cartoons are even less compatible with discussions of comic strip/book art, since they serve a very different purpose and are intended for a markedly different audience. Very few comic strip or comic book fans have more than a passing interest in political cartoons.

Few readers seeing the title "Cartoon America" would expect a volume wherein at least half the text and illustrations deal with political cartoons. Aside from the reproduction of some important comic strip originals, this book will probably fall short of almost everyone's expectations. The animation and comic book chapters are particularly weak, not because of the commentary but because the examples of such art in the Library of Congress (specifically the Art Wood collection) are not at all distinguished. Even the chapters devoted to comic strip art are somewhat disappointing. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the vaunted Wood Collection was neither as broad nor as deep as most people assumed and that a large number of the thousands of items in that collection consisted of political cartoons, not comic art. Perhaps the collection would have appeared more impressive if it had been presented through serparate books on the various subjects. It is too bad that we have been given just another in a long line of books that fail to do justice to any of the art forms because they are lumped together in what is an inherently inapropriate mix.

Craig Englund

Perhaps it was my fault but I have given "New Yorker Books" of various cartoon subject matter in the past and have been delighted. This little book is tiny!! It's about 4" X 3" and not a quarter of an inch thick. I would have been happier had I known in advance. There is nowhere in the copy that alludes to this surprise. Many of the tiny little cartoons are very funny, however.

I first discovered The New Yorker when I was a teenager. When I saw how many people subscribed to the magazine, I started asking people why they did. Inevitably, the answer was, "For the cartoons." Since then, I have come to realize that The New Yorker is like the hall of fame for cartoonists.

I became interested in this book after reading the excellent The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons. I was a bit disappointed in this book by comparison, which explains the four star rating. While the cartoons are terrific, the book would have benefited from having a great introduction like the one that Christopher Buckley wrote for the money cartoons.

There are 86 pages of cartoons and over 90 cartoons in this book. Almost all of them are outstanding.

The humor is aimed at both physicians and psychiatrists. Somehow, the humor about the latter seemed funnier than the former. "Does the doctor hug?" was one of my favorites.

The strong conservative bent of many physicians was well captured by one cartoon that said, "Doctor, you must stop addressing your Medicare patients as Comrade."

Lawyer humor, and the physician's usual conerns about law suits are here, too. "The doctor's lawyer will see you now."

The questionable bedside manners of some physicians and the quirks of patients were equally well represented in the cartoon that said, "Well, Phil, after years of vague complaints and imaginary ailments, we finally have something to work with."

The ever-growing specialization of medicine came in for comment in this cartoon: "I'd like you to see a botanist. You exhibit many of the symptoms of Dutch elm disease."

Finally, some humor was aimed directly at the profession. In a group of ducks, one says "Let me through. I'm a quack."

A strength of this book is that it will definitely appeal to patients and nurses. I also think that many physicians will like it, as long as they have a sense of self-deprecating humor.

Physician, heal thyself!

The book is excellent in pointing out that personal habits, the training of the physician, and philosophical opinions can interfere with delivering good medicine. Humor like this can be a tonic to help bust the stalls that those sources of misconceptions and miscommunications help create. Laughter is not only the best medicine, it can bring about better medicine.

First off, the book is tiny. I mean really tiny. It's about 3 inches square. You can't discern the mini size from the Amazon picture, so be prepared. And, correspondingly, the cartoons are very small and may be hard to read if your eyes are over 45 years of age.

The editors have culled together what are ostensibly the most humorous of the doctor-related cartoons from the New Yorker. Because humor is in the eye of the beholder, I can't say if they succeeded. All I can say is that there were a few gems for me, principally those by Gahan Wilson and Charles Addams. The average entry made me smile a little on the inside, but not much more than that.

The New Yorker Book of Doctor Cartoons can be useful if you are in the position of needing doctor related visual humor on a regular basis. I could see this book of value to people who give presentations about health care, doctors, or medicine. I could also see this book as a nice (but did I mention TINY) gift to give to the doctors in your life. Doctors who can laugh at themselves will appreciate the humor. I know. I laugh at myself all the time (and yes, I'm a doctor).

While not about doctors per se, an alternative to consider is: The Party After You Left

I like to read a whole lot of all kinds of cartoon books, I have always enjoyed the funny papers, and now here is a collection of funny situations based on the numerous kinds MD's that people deal with. I'm thinking of showing this book to my own psychologist. He would get a kick out of this sort of thing, as he has got a great sense of humor to speak of himself, which helps a great deal during our sessions. Anyway, like the rest of the "New Yorker" series, get this cool compilation soon. Each doctor's office should have one for the amusement of the patients! Hey, how about one for dentists or veternarians as well?

If you were to disect sentences of any person in public life, you can make them look stupid......it is almost scary what people can do to make public figures look stupid. I never liked Quayle, but junk books like this are not worth the paper they are written on.

IF YOU CHOP UP DIALOGE YOU CAN MAKE ANYBODY SOUND STUPID. (NOT TO SAY THAT HE DIDN'T MAKE SOME ZINGER...BUT THEY ALL DO THAT) LOT'S OF QUAYLE QUOTE'S WEREN'T SAID.

This fine book raises the question: how has the United States gotten to a point where someone clearly learning disabled can become Vice President. I feel sorry for this poor retarded man but, even more, for the US.

I like Buddhism and I like cartoons. However, the cartoons in this book are sketchy and most don't seem to have much of a point. The cartoons are not well drawn at all. I'm surprized they could get this published. I guess fools like me buy them hoping for something better.

As a longtime devotee of Mari Gayatri I was eager to read "The Buddha Smiles". It is a great book - very funny - very enlightening. It is the kind of book you can pick up and open to any page and get just the right uplifting message you needed. I highly recommend it - very entertaining!

I recently purchased this book for 87 cents + shipping. I should of waited for a yardsale. I have no experience in cartooning. This book is better for young children. Gives examples of what you can do, but no instructional guidelines. The tip off is that it is published by Scholastic. Considering most adults buy online I gave 1 star for teen-adult. 4 star for young children.

This book gives a simple and easy way to learn cartoon drawing for both adults & children. It gave my grandsons & I a great deal of pleasure one wet morning, and now I'd like to have my own copy in 'our things to do with Grandchildren' box.