Cartoons Books

This is an excellent and richly illustrated book on animation at Warner Brothers. It contains a lot of background information on e.g. Carl Stalling's music, the styles of the different directors, inside jokes, war cartoons, forgotten cartoon characters and so on. The joy of reading this book is only surpassed by watching the Warner Brothers cartoons themselves.

First, I have to confess that I am a card-carrying adult who still watches cartoons every Saturday morning. As an adult, however, I'm now interested it the history of the cartoons I watch. (It makes me feel more...sophisticated about my cartoon viewing.)

"That's All Folks" has incredible full-color pictures, chronicals the history of WB cartoons, provides specific information about the most popular characters and cartoons, AND includes a filmography of WB cartoon releases. If you like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the gang, you should have this book.

While writing an article for the Talaria Enterprises Museum Store's new release of Looney Tunes sculptures, I turned to this very informative book. It discusses the history and impact of the Looney Tunes characters from historical, technical, and theoretical perspectives. Very Good Sourcebook!

I have all four of the Mary Leunig books and this is better than One big Happy Family and FAR better than Black & White & Grey. Whatever happened to her? You only hear about her brother now, and he doesn't have her edge at all.

Mary leunig is one of the most interesting artists in Australia. Her work is confronting and precise. Leunig does not conform to current restrictions in the media,as does her brother,Michael. We can only hope that her work will emerge somewhere else soon.

Every housewife/mother will appreciate and relate to these depictions of everyday life and emotions. Not for the feint-hearted but seriously funny!

Thurmond is outrageously funny. He lives in his own eccentric world, but it's filled with wisdom and wit and he shares his stories at the drop of a hat. This little collection of humor is a MUST READ.

Thurmond, Good stuff!!That is to say, witty,refreshing,entertaining,with more than a smidge of intelligent humor..Made my friend Abby Normal proud.

Great reading and very entertaining. I hope this guy comes out with a second edition. I'll buy 'em all...

This book is great fun, and very addictive. I read it again every few years and enjoy it each time. In addition to the sequences the other reviewers have mentioned I also like Louis and his Imagination and Charley the Australopithecus.

incredibly funny, the best ever

It's a real pity this is out of print, because I've hardly ever laughed so hard as when I read this book. Quirky, unique, very smart, very funny. My favorite series is "Harvey Richards, Lawyer for Children"-- a lawyer who uses kids' arbitrary playground rules to provide legal counsel, like how to call off an action figure trade or how to keep an unpopular kid from joining your club. "God-Man" is a close second. I don't think this would appeal to everyone-- a lot of the humor is very intellectual. But for people who like their humor very smart, I find it hard to think of much else that's anywhere near this funny. PS., personally, I think this one is even funnier than the still-available "...Golf-Playing Cats" book, though that's great too. There is an archive of Bolling's cartoons somewhere on the 'net; definitely worth checking out for a taste of his style.

I had mixed feelings about reading this book. Finally, late one night, I managed to open the book to a random page and start reading. I was sucked in. My own thoughts were expressed in ways I never thought possible. In many ways this is the best book I have ever read. Soon I'll start to write a second book. -Shannon Wheeler

My older son picked up a copy of this graphic novel at a library book sale. It's been languishing around the house for a few years. A week ago, it turned up on the kitchen table. On a lark, I picked it up and started reading it. I was immediately sucked in.

While I'm not much on graphic novels, this one is well done. It's well drawn, the dialogue (and monologue) is first-rate, and the wit is, well, dripping.

I'm happy I read it -- I had a blast. Now I need another cup of coffee, I think. While I find the pot, you go find this book and read it.

A great read. I couldn't put it down, even when confronted by wild children and an irate spouse. TMCM does battle with the contradictions and idiocy of everyday life, saves the men of Mars, screams at the dirty dishes, wanders about naked, and leaves us with a sense of wonder (or is it wonderment?) at his nicotine and caffeine induced "super" powers. Wheeler's wry social commentary aligns him with the likes of Outcault, Herriman, McKay and Bushmiller. TMCM is a sure antidote to drivel like "Zippy" (not to mention the fact that it is far better drawn). Spare poor Shannon Wheeler the pain of seeing his work ignored. Read this book. Write a review. Keep the pot fresh. The Guatman

Of the three Randy Glasbergen books on cartooning ('Toons, How to be a Successful Cartoonist, and Getting started Drawing and Selling Cartoons) this book seems to offer the most information on how to draw and how to start thinking creatively. It is filled with information and a difinite asset to any budding cartoonist's library. Highly recommended.

Randy Glasbergen's "'Toons" is a basic book for a young novice interested in learning how to draw cartoons, or for a more advanced person who wants to brush up on his skills. Randy teaches the reader, among other things, how to draw funny faces, how to draw bodies and show them in action, how to draw comic animals, and how to do cartoon lettering. What makes this book especially valuable is that much more than half of it consists of illustrations, including Randy's published cartoons, so the prospective cartoonist can study and practice whatever Randy is explaining.

There are six pages alone showing how to draw cartoon hands. As Randy says, "Hands deserve special attention. Hands are a very expressive body part, second only to the face. We use our hands to point, poke, pinch, pull, pick, and punch. Because hands say so much about us and our emotions, it's important to draw them effectively. Here's how:..." And he goes on to show 43 examples.

Moreover, Randy's heads, bodies, hands, animals, and cartoon props are boiled down to basic shapes, such as circles, ovals, squares, and triangles, making it easy for just about anyone to learn to draw them.

I highly recommend this fun-filled book for anyone who seriously wants a firm foundation in how to create cartoons, or even for the sort of soul who finds himself casually but persistently sketching on a restaurant place mat, or doodling while chatting on the phone. Who knows, there might be a latent cartoonist hiding inside you right now.

THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD THAT IF I COULD GIVE IT MORE STARS I WOULD! I would recomend this book to anyone not quite ready for a big company but someone who wants to carton for fun!!!!!!!!

Well, I a just have that kind of humor that I enjoy looking at alone. Very funny if you are into this.

The best of all the (very good) National Lampoon cartoon books

It was so funny I just about fell on the floor laughing. the pictures are great.

It's a shame this book isn't still in print, or that more books like it are not also available. My little kid loves comics, but most of what's out there is inappropriate for a really young reader, and other than the classic Disney reprints from Gladstone publishers, there's really very little out there for this audience.

I wanted to try some of the old Harvey books, but was surprised to find that they'd stopped publishing, and that back issues of the original books were hard to find and rather pricey. I bought the 2007 Dark Horse "Casper" collection, but was disappointed. It's mostly in black-and-white, and doesn't have much of the side characters (like Wendy the Good Little Witch) that made the Casper series so much fun.

This slender older volume is great, though! It's all in color, beautifully reproduced, and has some of the most imaginative, engaging Casper stories I've ever read... and LOTS of Wendy! What a shame there aren't several more books just like it, so that littler kids can get into comics, too.

(PS - If you like this, the 2007 "Little Lulu" color special from Dark Horse is great fun as well. Maybe --pleasepleaseplease -- they would consider doing color specials for Wendy and Little Dot as well??)(ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

My fondest memories of Harvey Comics were back in the early 1970's when we were returning home from vacation in the family station wagon. My dad stopped off at a Rexall drug store and bought me a stack of about two dozen Harvey comics. There were Richie Rich comics, Sad Sack, Baby Huey, Hot Stuff, but my favorites were Casper and the rest of his cast. Now today, people talk about character like Batman or Superman being overexposed and in too many titles, but they have NOTHING on some of the Harvey characters. Richie Rich had some three dozen comic titles over the years and Casper had nearly two dozen. Harvey knew a good thing when they had it, that's for sure. This collection from IBooks is dubbed the "Ultimate Casper Collection" and while that may be a bit of a stretch considering his longevity, it's certainly a collection that Casper fans will treasure.

The book begins with an introduction by Sid Jacobson, the long-time editor of Casper at Harvey, who provides some insight into the early development of the character, and particularly the art of Warren Kremer who was a vastly underrated talent. The book reprints in full, including covers, seven issues of the original Casper comic from the late 50's and early 60's I believe, although no dates are reprinted unfortunately. The art and colors have been reproduced boldly and colorfully and the stories include all of the usual cast including Wendy the good little witch, Spook and "Poil", The Ghostly Trio, and Nightmare the ghostly horse. Each issue is similar in content in that it includes one lengthy Casper story, a Spooky Story, and then a couple of shorter features.

My favorite was perhaps the very first as Harvey takes a bit of zaniness from the pages of Looney Tunes with a story featuring Casper literally coming off the drawing board and into the real world. Seems that a new cartoonist named Pete is messing with Casper's world and causing all sorts of chaos...characters are missing half their bodies and Pete is having a good old time. When Casper fails to reason with Pete, he goes off the page to find Harvey himself who is on vacation to have him set things right. It's a marvelously wacky tale where we see Casper on one of those rare occasions where he loses his temper.

In other stories, Casper has to enlist the aid of Wendy to stop the evil Ali Boo Boo who has bewitched Nightmare into being his loyal steed and then Casper has to help an old sorcerer who is causing time to move backwards so he can return to the simpler days of his childhood. It's great stuff and brings back those wonderful memories of sitting in the back of the station wagon for hours on the long drive home. Great value at $14.95 to boot!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

The "Ultimate Casper Comics Collection" is here! The "Ultimate Casper Comics Collection" is here! After a false start availability date of September 1, 2005, I finally received the collection in the mail yesterday and it is beautiful. The original black and white artwork was scanned and newly colored, giving the stories a better look than they did when they appeared originally. The era of the reprints are from "Friendly Ghost Casper" #11 through #48 or roughly 1959-1962, which is when the transition from the "It's a g-g-g-ghost!" Casper to the Enchanted Forest and his friends Casper was complete. It's a very good collection and kudos go to Sid Jacobson for actually choosing some worthy tales instead of the same over-reprinted stories from 1972-1973. Not that those later tales are bad, it's just that they have been printed over and over and over, while these earlier tales have virtually been ignored.

Looking forward to the "Ultimate Hot Stuff" and possible "Richie Rich" collections.

I'm a father of 4 kids.

When we started following Baby Blues, we can relate to it. It grew with us from 1 girl, to 1 girl & 1 boy. This complilation sees the family grow from 2 kids to 3; 2 girls and a boy... when this happened, it mirrored our family...

In short this is reality comic at its best... I haven't seen anything fiction in this series.

Our eldest just reached her teens... we had also been following Scott's other series (Zits), a good companion to a growing family's collection.

:)

Very good comics. I can't put the book down until the very last page.

This was a great book. I love Baby Blues and this collection was no exception! I have read through it many times for a good laugh. My 10 year odl and 8 year old fight over who gets to read it next! An absolute must have for any Baby Blues fan.

My 2 year old loves the Wallace and Gromit movies and he was really surprised when he saw the calendar. He loves it. I will have to order him a book with more photos.

I've been a big fan of Wallace & Gromit for years,and I love this calender which features art from the short films of Wallace & Gromit. Guaranteed to bring a big smile each month! Now...to get some nice cheese and crackers!

I love this calendar because it has so many new images that I've never seen before. They're not from the movies, and they're not from any shorts. They look great, are colorful, and a must for any Wallace and Gromit Lover!