Cartoons Books

I recently joined the National Caricaturist Network ([...]) and among the many many talented individuals who make up the membership, Joe Blum stands out as one of the absolute best. Joe combines awesome artistic ability with a twisted knack for nailing the individuals who sit for him.

A good caricature is well drawn combining a likeness with humor and sometimes warmth. A great caricature includes a spark that leaves a little bit of that individual and their life in the caricature.

The caricatures in Rejects are unmistakably art, not just "funny drawings". The monologue shares a lot of insight and advice about retail caricaturing as well as human nature and life.

A great coffee table book to enjoy over and over again.

I recommend this book to anyone who has ever laughed out loud and would like to do so again!

Joe Bluhm's new book entitled "Rejects - the extreme art of retail caricature" is a must have for anyone who loves caricature...every page a gem!!

Although a majority of these drawings were rejected by their subjects (sitters had absolutely no clue what they were walking away from) they are the finest examples of the best retail caricaturist working in the world today.

Give yourself a gift and make sure you pick up a copy, you certainly will not be disappointed!!!

I recently got in to caricature and had heard whispers of Joe Bluhm on a couple of forums. They were saying he was the guy who could push the envelope to the utmost extreme while staying within salable reason. And, as you will see in the book, he does just that... most of the time.

Joe pushes his drawings right to the tipping point. Think of it like a bucket of water. Most professional caricaturists are able to draw to about a quarter inch below the brim. Maybe even to the brim, but rarely ever do. Joe fills it to the point of no return -- so much so there's a slight arc of the water as it hangs in equilibrium, about to spill. If you were to add a drop more, it would collapse. No other artist that I've seen can get it to that point.

The expressions and likenesses are pushed just ever-so-slightly more than even the most extreme caricaturists would dare. The coloring bold and magnificent. Some of the pictures border on offensive, a couple too damn cute, yet pushed right to the edge of exaggeration, you don't know if you should laugh or wish the kid was your own.

Definitely buy this book. It's absolute hilarity and a bargain at it's price.

Rejects is all it is promised to be. These caricatures really capture the subjects personality and outstanding features whether they like it or not. Most people really don't like their bad features pointed out especially for the world to see, which is why they probably rejected the artist's rendition in the first place. If you are an artist you can appreciate these interpretations.

I worked with Joe for many years drawing caricatures at a theme park in Orlando, and have had the privilege of witnessing him draw first hand. I can honestly say that he has no fear when it comes to his craft. While many of us would back down from drawing that strange looking woman in our chair the way we truly wanted to (for fear of rejection, bodily harm, or perhaps both), Joe would create a grotesque masterpeice with every sketch and display it proudly.

His boldness has paid off. This collection of under-appreciated park sketches is almost as fun and inspiring as watching Joe draw in person.

Great for artists or anyone with a sense of humor!

Mr. Sipress's book, The Secret Life of Dogs, is as good as the reviews say. The one-star review refers to The Hidden Life of Dogs, which is, as stated, garbage, by a different author. Mr. Lengowski might please amend his review.

Why should I review something that was already explained to us by [...]back in 1993.

I want to talk about the hidden lives of my dogs.

Until recently, I wasn't aware that my dogs had hidden lives. There were many times, such as when they'd take turns repeatedly eating a deceased lizard and throwing it back up, when I wasn't even sure they had brains. Then I got ''The Hidden Life of Dogs,'' the best-selling book by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, who has some astounding insights into dog behavior. For example, in an effort to find out what dogs do when they're on their own, she spent months following a husky named Misha as he roamed all over Cambridge, Mass. What Thomas discovered was that Misha, who at first appeared to be simply trotting around aimlessly, was in fact earning a degree from Harvard Business School.

No, I am joshing. Harvard does not accept huskies unless their parents are extremely wealthy. What Thomas discovered, after much observation, was that Misha spent his time -- and here I will attempt to summarize two full chapters of ''The Hidden Life of Dogs'' -- sniffing other dogs and peeing a lot.

This might not strike you dog-owners as all that deep of an insight. But trust me, it seems like one when you're reading the book. Because where you might see just a plain old dog engaging in non-rocket-scientist behavior, Thomas sees a highly sophisticated organism responding to elaborate socio-biological stimuli and performing complex problem-solving tasks. It's not her fault that the solution to the problem is usually to pee on it.

Anyway, reading this book got me to thinking about my own dogs. Did they have a hidden life? If so, could I discover it, and -- more important -- write a best-selling book?

To find out, I removed my dogs from the confined, controlled environment of our house and put them outside, where they were free to reveal their hidden lives. I observed them closely for the better part of a day, and thus I am able to reveal here, for the first time anywhere, that what dogs do, when they are able to make their own decisions in accordance with their unfettered natural instincts, is: Try to get back inside the house. They spent most of the day pressing sad moony faces up against the glass patio door, taking only occasional breaks to see if it was a good idea to eat worms (Answer: No).

Of course, the dogs have important and complex socio-biological reasons for wanting to get back into the house. For one thing, the house contains the most wondrous thing in the world: the kitchen counter. One time a piece of turkey fell off of it. The dogs still regularly visit the spot where it landed, in case it shows up again. There's an invisible Dog Historic Marker there.

Another reason is that the house provides a better echo for barking. Dogs employ barking as a vital means of communicating important messages, such as: ''bark.'' Barking also serves a vital biological purpose: If a dog does not release a certain number of barks per day, they will back up, and the dog will explode. (Whenever you hear an unexplained loud noise in the distance, it's probably a dog exploding.)

Our large main dog, Earnest, spends her day sleeping directly under my desk, and three or four times a day she'll have a pressure buildup, causing her to wake up, lift her head, release a bark and immediately go back to sleep. Her bark, traveling at the speed of bark, quickly reaches our small emergency backup dog, Zippy, who is sleeping elsewhere in the house. He wakes up and rushes up to the outside of my office door and starts barking at it, because there is clearly something wrong inside. (Why else would Earnest have barked?) This in turn awakens Earnest, who leaps up, bonks her head against the bottom of my desk, then rushes over and starts barking at her side of the door. Each dog is firmly convinced that there is Big Trouble on the other side, possibly involving their arch-enemy, the U.S. Postal Service truck. It comes around every day, and usually Earnest and Zippy are able to drive it off by barking at it and getting spit all over the windows by our front door, but now apparently the truck somehow has GOTTEN INTO THE HOUSE and is ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS DOOR BARK BARK BARK BARKBARKBARKBARK!!!

This is what my dogs are thinking (if ''thinking'' is the word I want here) as I get up, walk past Earnest, who is now insane with rage, and open the door. Instantly Earnest charges BARKBARKBARK into the hall, narrowly missing Zippy, who is charging BARKBARKBARK into my office. Each one goes about five feet, then -- WAIT a minute!! -- skids to a stop, whirls around, and charges back the other way, still barking. Sometimes they'll pass each other three or four times before they run out of momentum and lie down again, confident that, thanks to their alertness, the house is once again safe. This is the hidden dog world that goes on every day in our house. I admit that, socio-biologically, it is not as interesting as the things that Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' dogs do. But Earnest and Zippy are the only dogs I have. Make me an offer.

I think you guys are all referring to a different book. The editorial review refers to this book as a collection of cartoons, and the author as David someone. Most of you seem to be writing about a book that I am unable to find, called I think, the INNER life of Dogs, not the SECRET Life of Dogs,a non-cartoon book, and the writer of that book is female, as referred to by the other reviews. Possibly this other book is out of print, but if you can find it, I highly reccomend it for the insight it gives into dog behavior. The rather angry reviewer, the only one who rated it badly, is totally off the mark. This is really the only book of its kind, and it is an invaluable resource for dog owners. Of course, if you want to buy that book, you are on the wrong page!

I first ran across this book as a book on tape. I enjoyed how the author intertwined her own astute observations of dogs with other research. I came to appreciate how complex canine behavior could be, especially regarding social rules and heirarchies.

I read this book and it opened my eyes to the canine kingdom After reading it I realized my only intent was teaching the dogs. I negated that they had anything to teach me. It is not enough to love your dog on your level. We must learn to understand their behavior without forcing what we believe is best for them at a human level and observe their lives and interaction with one another. Only then can we truly love our animals as we watch and let them teach us. I never saw dogs in the narrow-minded way I had seen them before. I hope it comes back into print as I have repeatedly given my copies away to those I felt could learn from it.

I'd like to point out that the two stories in this book are not all of the Shmoo stories; there were at least a half dozen more.

Pity no one thought to put all of them in a book.

The book does justice to combine two previous books THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SHMOO and RETURN OF THE SHMOO. Both have been out of print for decades.

Pity about Harlan Ellison's over blown introduction. He can't stick to the subject.

It's good to see this great part of the Li'l Abner comic strip is once again available. I takes me back to when I was 14 and in High School.Not only did Al Capp give us the wonderful Shmoos;but also Sadie Hawkins Day and all the fun we had with that.
This story of the Shmoo came out in the daily Comic Strips but it also was published in Paperbook form in 1948 and 1949.I still have my copy from those days and wrote a review on it on November 27,2007.
It has the title,"The Life and Times of the Shmoo",by Al Capp.
One thing worth mentioning is the high level of artwork that the cartoonists like Al Capp,Walt Kelley and Chester Gould gave us,and it was so good that it still remains the standard for cartoon art to aspire even today.

Grew up reading this series. Now I have a permanent copy of my own. Good price and great product for comics junkies.

When I was 5 I would love to have my father read Pogo, Dagwood and Blondie, and Li'l Abner to me from the daily and Sunday newspapers. When I was 7 years old, I loved reading them by myself and about this time, 1958, the Shmoo became a major theme in the Li'l Abner series. I could not wait for the paper to arrive so I could read the latest adventures of these Shmmos that were so accommodating to meet almost all human needs. Yet even then, at age 7, I began to "get" the message behind the series. This is wonderful social commentary on the limits of capitalism and the limits government will go to ensure that capitalism remains our economic model. However for captitalism to work, there has to be need or the threat of need which creates demand which stimulates supply, and I am sure you know the rest of this formula. If the basic needs of labor are met, they won't work, and thus the costs of labor goes up and the profits go down. Al Capp was brilliant to bring this message into America's homes soon after the McCarthy Anti-American hearings in Washington. Capp, like the Shmoo, is subversive in such a clever endearing entertaining way that when I saw this book I had to re-read the scripts to see what I may have remembered from so many years ago.

The book contains the original Shmoo characters and script from 1948-49 and the return of the Shmoo in 1958. If I was ever to teach High School Seniors in an Economics class, I would have them read this book along with their text, maybe not to strengthen the neurons but to lighten them.

Capp's other Dogpatch hillbilly characters and story lines are also delightful. Li'l Abner, Daisy Mae, Ma and Pa Yokum, and Sadie Hawkings are all here!

This was more amusing that I expected. I hadn't read much of "Li'l Abner" and was surprised. However, I have two objections to this book. First, the original strips seem a bit truncated. Surely, they could have gotten more of the dailies in this book than they did. And second, the awful introduction by Harlan Ellison. He seems to be in love with the sound of his voice and not necessarily a Li'l Abner fan. The Schmoo seems to have been a craze like the "Pet Rock." More information about that and less about Ellison's advertures in New York City would have been welcomed.

I enjoyed this very much. It was very cute and funny. Lots of pictures.

The Simpson's are one of those families that you gotta love and this picture album is tops when it comes to learning things about the Simpson's that you didn't know or refreshing the things that you do know. It's funny and is a great gift idea for any Simpson's fan!

I CAN"T BELIEVE THIS BOOK!!! HOMER IS DISTANTLY RELATED TO BURNS! AND TO THINK THAT BURNS CAN'T REMEMBER HOMER'S NAME!!!!

Ok,this book RULES!!!:)It has soooo many funny things.Anyone who
likes the Simpsons needs this book.:)

I still am a huge Simpson fan,
And this book certainly is a WONDERFUL, detailed, edited
family photo album.
In order, starting from the first to the end, here it is...
The first part is The Simpsons Family Tree.
Then Simpson pictures, etc.
Then Marge as baby, (Patty and Selma as 3 year olds),
and Marge as a kid.
The next page is Homer as a baby, then the next as a kid.
After words, we are in Homer and Marge's high-school years about
4 pages worth.
Then when Homer and Marge get Married.
Then when Bart, Lisa and Maggie were born!
Finnaly, regular pictures of them today.
At the end, it's The Bouviers family tree!

THIS BOOK IS WONDERFUL!!! :)

I read tons of manga. This has to be one of the all time best stories. The emotions that the characters experience are spot on. There has yet to be one page where you think that a character has done something that does not ring true. I have read all of the volumes in print so far, and can not get enough. Several of the volumes have be re-read more than others. This series will make you laugh, smile, and cry. There is a good mix of different aged people in this series which I think goes to make a more realistic "world". If you are looking for a great series, with several "bishie" boys, give this one a try. I unlike one of the other reviews think that the men in this series are very sexy. One of the villains in this series is so super cute, that it makes it hard to hate this twisted character.

when a great art join a funny characters the story always be good.

Sho Fuwa decided to go to Tokyo to be a "Celebrity" and he asked his childhood friend whom often stays at his family house Kyoko Mogami to come with him, and she accepted since he chosed her among all people, after moving to Tokyo Sho is getting "famous" slowly and he is getting more sullen everyday, Kyoko trying to support him and to understand him since the road to be a star is hard, but once she heard sho talking to other celeb girl and she heard him says that he just sees her as maid and thinks she is ugly and booring and of course she will move her butt to support him since he is the famous Sho Fuwa, she decided to stop beeing with him and otherwise she wanted to beat sho and be a greater star than him, so he beg for mercy someday, she changed her look (its amazing how do girls change their look!) and she started her way to get revange from sho.

its very good story but the guys has very long faces which I hate, otherwise everything is cool, Kyokos revange will need too much work and its seems very hopless, and another character appears Ren is a famous actress that is even sho cant be more cool than him, that Ren works at the same place where Kyoko went to so she got another long face guy to beat

I have been reading this serie way before it was licensed here. I begun reading the Japanese version when volume 7 was just released in Japan, and now there are 14 volumes out so far! I bought them all! So happy. The English version is not, but there are a few error here and there, but still worth purchasing. If you like this work, you might like her other work : Tokyo Crazy Paradise where there are 19 volumes in total. Hopefully that serie gets licensed. While waiting, I am planning to buy the Japanese version.

Also you might like "The Wallflower" (A.k.A Shichi Henge or Perfect Girl Evolution) by Yamato Nadeshiko.

Where to even start? How about with THIS MANGA IS AWESOME! Skip Beat! Volume 1 kicks off a great start to what promises to be an addictive series.

At first, I wasn't sure on buying this manga because of the whole "girl followed childhood friend turned star--childhood friend turned star just using girl--girl finds out and wants to now make it into show biz just to extract her revenge on him." It sounded like a typical and predictable manga plot of revenge that I really had to toy with the idea of buying it on a whim.

But boy, am I glad that I did! It may have the used and reused revenge plot line, but Yoskihi Nakamura makes this plot idea completly atypical!

This manga grabs you with its off beat style and humor, the only complaint I have about it is the way the two lead males are drawn. It's either their faces are too narrow, or that their necks are just too thick. It takes a little getting used to, but Skip Beat! is worth it!

I bought "Skip Beat" after reading a preview chapter in Shojo Beat magazine. I liked the plot and the humor, so I bought it when it came out.

I was expecting plenty of humor, but I got a lot more than that. Kyoko's quest for vengence is hilarious indeed, but the best thing about it is how easy it is to relate. In fact, this is probably why the humor is so good in the first place. It's great to watch Kyoko obsess over getting even because we've all been there. Who hasn't ever wanted to prove her worth to some stupid jerk? And Kyoko's moments of glory are extrememly satisfying. It's like when you argue with someone and can't think of anything brilliant to say until much later. Well, Kyoko gets some really killer lines in at just the right moment. I often find myself laughing maniacally right along with her while I'm reading (which earns me some curious glances from my roommate).

The characters make this manga, especially Kyoko. You can admire her devotion to Sho in the beginning, misguided though it is, and you really sympathize with her anger after she finds out she's been duped. She's strong-willed. She's not perfect and forgiving, and she doesn't go around feeling sorry for herself either. And I also like Ren Tsugara, the biggest celebrity around who has a secret mean streak.

The art is nothing special, but it's appropriate somehow. Kyoko's not especially glamorous, and the guys, though not pretty like in most shojo manga, are tall and dark. I thought the characters' designs all fit their personalities very well.

"Skip Beat" has become one of my favorite manga. A must-read for anyone who has ever been put down, made a fool of, or just wanted to get even.

Ok, so I don't even usually read for "fun." But, I my sister had this book so I read it a while back, and it was HILarious! THen, luckily, she still had it. So I just read it again yesterday. It made me laugh just as much as it did the first time I read it! PLus, it's easy enough to breeze through in just one sitting because it's so good. Even though I'm only 20 and not necessarily in the age range that this book seems to target, I can definitely still relate to certain parts. I rate "The Moe Chronicles" the best book I've read so far when it comes to humor! It's the type of book you just can't stop to put down the first, second, or even third time you read it! I don't have one bad thing to say about it....

This was given to me a gift recently, with a short explanation of how it was decided that was for me. That was judged by the cover: a crudely drawn man sitting on a couch, clutching a beer in one hand saying somewhat jocularly "I should write a screenplay." Needless to say, though I'm only 18, I enjoyed this book immensely, and look forward to having similar experiences to draw experiences from. Yes, I was kidding, but when Erik Moe looks back on them, even the most horrible of all the mundane catastrophies abound in urban life seem funny.

I grabbed this book right off the sale rack and flipped through exactly one page and went up and bought it. I'm not what you'd call an 'impulse buyer' (read cheap). This book is for anyone who is 25-35. In that age group this book is nearly autobiographical! For anyone who's ever spent more on a case of beer than they have on that week's groceries. Read this. There are only about 5 books that are truly funny in my opinion- this is one of them.

Woo-hoo! Go you crazy Moe! You rocking, sleazing, bad-copywriter-drawing, carnivorous creative director-dream-having crazy piece of wordboy. You're an inspiration, Moe, to anyone who ever got laid off from an ad agency, watched bad TV with his pixel-monkey, went without for more days than any man should and really truly believes three chords and a Mexican-built Stratocaster makes for an instant ticket to Credville. Why'd they stop printing your book Moe? Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy!

(I know this review is already here under another @ress, but I wanted to put it on my member's page...)

A friend and I stumbled across this book in a Barnes & Noble three years ago, and though we opened our copies to different pages, we both started laughing so hard we were doubled over, and we couldn't get to the cash register fast enough. I let people borrow my copy occasionally, but only for short times and after extracting a promise to care for it. Erik Moe captures *everything* about the awkwardness of transitioning from kid to adult in your 20s, watching your friends get married, being stuck in the lame dues-paying job with jerk coworkers, struggling to become a grownup while still enjoying the things you loved in college. I can't do this book justice with mere words. Find yourself a copy!

you've got to get this book and check out page 97 - tell me what you think.

If you're even a remotely Addams family or cartoon fan, you wouldn't have to read these reviews. Just buy it!

If you are a fan of black humor, then these cartoons are for you. This book contains many of his "Addams Family" cartoons, but there is MUCH more in there as well. A collection of classic cartoons that will have you rolling read after read!

AAAHHHHHH. Now this is an art book. Experience the dark and clever world of Charles Addams in this once-in-a-lifetime treasury of high-quality images. Finally, a masterful collection of his work. Addams' widow, Tee, should be proud of this book, which she assembled, in tribute to good ol' Charlie. God rest his soul.

Charles Addams was the man behind hundreds of delightful and dastardly illustrations for the prestigous New Yorker. Here, in one volume, are 300 of his best pieces. Included are several pictures involving the all together kooky Addams family and the macabre events that to them seem so normal. It is from these illustrations that the popular televison series, The Addams Family, emerged. And if you ever watched and liked the show, you'll love the cartoons it was based on. A great book for the coffee table!

I have been a faithful FoxTrot reader for years. Roger, Andy and their kids Peter, Paige and Jason are always good for a reality check with a large dose of laughter. I've got two girls and let me tell you, I see a lot of my kids in Paige with, I believe, even a healthy dose of Jason thrown in. And they have Peter's bottomless stomach. Of course, they're faithful FoxTrot readers too. I used to read the strip to them, explain what was going on, but now they get it just fine and we three all laugh together. Then my girls try and explain the strip to their dad, who pretends he doesn't get it.

The FoxTrot folks are a great family, one we sort of got used to checking up on every day, so we took the news that Mr. Amend was going to cease daily distribution of his wonderfully funny people and turn his strip to Sunday only, with a bit of sadness. Still, we have these terrific FoxTrot books to keep us going with our FoxTrot fix. Mr. Amend is to be commended for his great gift to our culture and his great gift to so many lives. I truly believe a laugh a day, helps keep the blues away and the FoxTrot gang are always good for a laugh. Heck there are a lot of laughs in the FoxTrot books. I know, I have them all and I am, along with my girls and my hubby dear, eagerly awaiting the next one.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we don't have an iguana, but my girls do have a pet gecko and, you guessed it, his name is Quincy.

I've been a Foxtrot reader for a long time and personally I think there is something suspiciously wrong with people who don't find Bill Amend's characters funny as all get out. If you want a good laugh, check out Bill in your local newspaper, or better yet, get one of the Foxtrot books. They are all great, really, they are.

Like many of Mr. Amend's fans I'm a bit disappointed he's switching his strip to Sunday-only, but fortunately I can still read him daily in the Foxtrot books. Get them one and all and you can keep right on a laughing.

It seems i am not alone in the opinion that when Bill Watterson ended his run on Calvin & Hobbes that Foxtrot became the defacto new favorite of many comic strip fans and with good reason. Bill Amend has the two qualities that make a great cartoonist: First, a comical yet adept cartooning style and second: a very witty sense of humor. The Fox Family consists of Mom Andy, Dad Roger, sons Peter and Jason, and Daughter Paige. This cast tackles the situations that all families do in funny and often eccentric ways led by the brainy and altogether greedy youngest son Jason.

Foxtrot consistently has some of the best Thanksgiving and Christmas strips every year and I always look forward to those. This is a strip that should be turned into a TV show! It's far superior to the lame "Family Guy".

The title already cracked me up. i love foxtrot and am in love with each and every charactor. Everytime a new book comes out it adds to my collection. I'm 17 so i can realate to most of the characters too...

This strip is very, very funny. I agree with almost everyone about the strip on page 103 it's sooo funny, but you have to read it to find out what it's about. This comic strip has a perfect set of chaotic charachters, and it's definitely worth reading. I have already converted 3 people at my High School into Foxtrot fans because it's really funny. There are larger collections if you are just getting started reading foxtrot i'd recommend that but if you have the books, then this one's definitely worth buying too.

Chinese philosphy is so pragmatic, always useful. These book makes easy to understand many important fact present in life. Sadly, the other books of this series aren't available. I hope they got reprinted. If you can't get one copy of this book, you'll see that some things change when we leave our static point of view. Great Book.

I read out of either this or Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness almost every night for my daughter...although I think I'm really reading it more for myself. One-three page cartoons of zen buddhism scriptures translated all contain great little doses of morality and keep one from taking one's self too seriously.

What a wonderful book. It is such an easy read. The illustrations are great and the stories convey profound wisdom in an entertaining fashion. The humor is gentle. One will grow in wisdom without even realizing it by reading this book. What a gem.

It's not every day you see a book on any Eastern philosophy that is easily accessible by pretty much anybody who can read. With /Zhuangzi Speaks/, Tsai Chih Chung has given us a great gift. I must admit that I initially had low expectations for a cartoon version of Chuang-Tzu's writings. After having read through it, however, I say with confidence that this is truly a wonderful book that makes the sometimes puzzling Taoist principles much easier to understand.

/Zhuangzi Speaks/ is definitely worth a read by fledgling and long-time Taoists alike, as well as their loved ones (who may not understand much about the Tao), and anyone else who is even the least bit curious about Chuang-Tzu and his ideas.

Now you can enjoy the essence, wit and wisdom of Chuangzi brought to life through cartoons. Near the edge of each page, you'll also find the story written in Chinese characters.

Through these popular and illustrated stories, you'll get a taste of "listening to the music", living spontaneously, free from social encumbrances, free from the strict rules of conduct of Confucianism - in harmony with the Tao, surrendering to the moment and enjoying whatever situation presents itself.

This lovely book presents the wisdom of Chuanzi through about 78 enlightening metaphorical stories.

This first book of stone soup is wonderful. I finally understand where the characters began and laughed all the way through. The drawings are less refined than the most recent comics, but I enjoy seeing the figures improve as the writing gets sharper.

How completely, utterly *refreshing* to read a comic strip where the female characters don't value themselves based on their waist measurements, their spendthrift shopping habits, or by how men see them. How wonderful and hilarious to see a comic-strip Mom who's got better things to do than become the family doormat -- Val's no-nonsense dealings with the kids is a refreshing change from the usual Mommy-clean-my-mess (from husband as well as kids) in most family comic strips. Of course STONE SOUP is feminist (Oh! I just said the "f" word!) -- it dares to presume that female characters can carry a comic strip all by themselves, and be funny and interesting in and of themselves, and that families come in all shapes and sizes. Naturally it's taken years for Eliot to come out with a *second* collection of these wonderful strips while the bulimia manual CATHY and the formulaic mommy-doormat FOXTROT are on their umpteenth releases -- some people are just so *threatened* by real women, aren't they?

I read a lot of comic strips and most make me smile, some invoke a chuckle. Stone Soup is the only one that makes me laugh out loud over and over. My refrigerator is covered in Stone Soup and so is the wall of my cubicle at work. BUY THIS BOOK AND THE SECOND COLLECTION, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

There seems to be a lot of debate going on in the previous reviews over whether or not Stone Soup is feminist. My opinion: of course it is! And it's quite refreshing to see a comic strip that isn't afraid to be. Better yet, the strip is never preachy and, unlike Foxtrot (to which it gets compared frequently), it's almost always funny. I've also seen a lot of comparisons to For Better or for Worse (helped along perhaps by the fact that Lynn Johnston wrote the introduction to this collection) which I find closer to the truth. The big difference there is that unlike FBoFW, Stone Soup is almost never sentimental. Eliot always finds a way to squeeze a laugh out of good times and bad, without dwelling on her storylines or overdeveloping them. While her focus may be on single mothers, her humor is accessible to one and all. And of course, it helps that Val and the gang always manage to keep their sanity intact at the end of each story!

Someone below called this a feminist comic strip but I think that's misleading, especially given the current difficulties in just defining that word. Yes, it happens to have several female characters, and yes it's not a stereotypical mom-dad-dog-2.4-kids-wagon-picket-fence family, BUT: This strip is about all of us, everyone of every sex and age and family style, and it's enjoyable to (and enjoyed by) a wide range of people -- even ordinary traditional people and even (gasp) men! My husband loves it, my 60-something dad loves it, and so on. I think the publisher's blurb on the back of the second Stone Soup collection ("You Can't Say Boobs On Sunday") got it right: "Anyone who's ever had a family, been in a family, or known a family seems to love Stone Soup. ... Readers see themselves and their families in Stone Soup, and they love it." That goes for people who don't consider themselves family-oriented, and for people who do.

Everyone I've known who's read any Stone Soup has enjoyed it and wound up quoting or passing around some of the strips.

Recommended reading for everyone except total grumps, I say.