Cartoons Books

Mutts often has me smiling with delighted recognition, chuckling at a charming moment or simply laughing -- and laughing and laughing -- out loud. Humor doesn't have to be cynical, mean or caustic to be utterly hilarious.

Pure, perfect entertainment.

Mutts is hands down the best daily newspaper strip being published today. There's a perfect balance between cute and smart here and the Sunday strips stand out with clever homages to everything from Norman Rockwell to Captain Beefheart. Sweet and accesible but not stupid, a rare combination these days.

Maybe you've seen "Mutts" in your local paper, and already know of "schnubbing," acorn-bombing squirrels and the Lil' Pink Sock. This edition is Earl and Mooch in full color, and the presentation isn't simply the straightforward reprinting of their Sunday strips--McDonnell has put together a beautiful collection of related art and tight focus panels from the strips themselves. The resulting homages add depth to the strips themselves, which hit high notes of hilarity along with sad reminders that Earl and Mooch are some of the lucky animals in our world. (Let Guard Dog off his chain, you monsters!) This is the best comic strip since Calvin and Hobbes, so get on the bandwagon now.

This book is great!! As a band geek, I understand and relate to the situations/events in the book. It is great for laughs and getting your marching band fix.

If you were ever in a high school or college marching band, this book is DEFINITELY for you. These toons bring back a ton of memories about the perils (yes, there are perils) and humor of being in a marching band. Band life is a unique culture, where little black dots on a piece of paper represent the foundation of a collection of very dedicated people. Who'd have thought selling fruit was the solution for the "pay to play" concept? You surely don't see FOOTBALL PLAYERS selling fruit. Nooooo! But band kids do (or at least their parents do). And all this to play music.

In that vein, Tales From Band Camp captures the ironic humor that you have to have when participating in marching band. After all, there is a certain level of craziness required to put on a ridiculously plumed hat game after game.

Most enjoyably, this book completely captures the inside politics that occur between sections. Trumpets get all the glory. Piccolos get the "hard parts", and saxophones get no respect at all!

Pick up this book for someone you know who is or has been in a marching band. It's guaranteed they will identify with it completely!

This book is the best!!! (Though I would not recommend bringing it to math class with you.....it's kinda hard to explain a bassoon joke to your teacher after you disrupted the class with your laughter)

This is one of those spectacular books that comes along every few years. It's complete, well-written, doesn't take itself too seriously (after all, it IS about cartoons!), & offers an expert's personal point of view (the author's) in addition to presenting all the factual details. My only complaint is that I wish the author had included entries for movie cartoon characters as well. Some of the cartoon characters included here originated in the movies (for example, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker), but are included here for various reasons that the author explains. Other movie characters, such as my personal favorite (Betty Boop) are omitted because the don't meet the criterion for inclusion. Mr. Erickson, please follow-up on this great book by writing one about the movie cartoon characters that are omitted here!

It's a very good book. But if you want a book with all of today's cartoons you wouldn't find many here. A must-read if you have lived under a rock since 12/31/93(the book's cuttoff date).

I am 25 years old and I loved being a kid. I remember waking up at 6:00 on Saturday morning and leaving the TV set at noon. This book is a great release for everyone who remembers watching fun shows as a kid. The book is basically an encyclopedia of all alphabetized cartoons from 1949- 1993. The book gives precise times, character names, summaries, and even name of the actual voices.The book brings you to the world of Scooby, Fred & Barney, Yogi, Lion-O, He-man, & Optimus Prime. This book is definitely a nostalgic journey to your youth. Buy it!

This treasury has very vibrant color, is smart and funny and falls in line with all the other great Garfield comics. It is amazing how Jim Davis can think up new and great comics after all these years!

I was very happy when I purchased the First Garfield Treasury. I was equally pleased when I picked up The Second Garfield Treasury. I loved the idea of Garfield's hilarious Sunday comics released as they had originally been seen in newspapers, in living color. However, at about The Third Garfield Treasury, the logos (which were just coming into the strip) were cut, as well as the very first square in the strip. For example, in the strip where Jon and Odie were going to sneak and surprise Garfield on his birthday, the picture of Jon going sssshhh to Odie was cut out. The rest of the Treasuries went the same way, and I was dissipointed, although I still bought them (color!).

When I saw The Tenth Garfield Treasury at the book star, I was expecting more of the same in terms of the logos and such. No. I was very pleased to buy this book. The logos are there, as well as the first little square. The color is great, and easily show off how much the graphics have improved. The book is well desighned. Garfield's jokes are still very funny, and since the strips are from his latest (and funnier) books, Garfield Throws His Wieght Around, Garfield Life To The Fullest, and Garfield Feeds The Kitty, all Garfield fans will be howling as they read it. It's re-read value is off the charts. I've read this book more than twenty times and I still laugh my head off each time.

Jim Davis is a very talented cartoonist to be able to keep Garfield alive for more then twenty-four years. Garfield is always cute, and very rarely are his strips flat or un-funny (which was the specialty of Peanuts).

Bottom line: The Tenth Garfield Treasury is a must buy for all fans of Garfield or someone who just needs to laugh or kick off a depression. Highley recommended.

This book has way better graphics than the other treasuries. It also has the logo box and the joke-like first box at the beginning. It even has a great cover. Great book!

During its short life,the strip "Terr'ble Thompson" ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Until now, I was not aware that the strip ended, instead of the PD just dropping it. Hurrah! Now I can read and enjoy the full scope of "TT's" adventures! (In fact, in high school I had a friend whose last name was Thompson and who accepted the nickname "Terr'b" with aplomb, along with some bemusement!) Now I can prove I wasn't imagining things!

I've always been a big fan of newspaper strips, especially when they are collected into one big volume. Now imagine my delight at the discovery of Terr'ble Thompson, a nearly forgotten strip that was well ahead of its time when originally published over fifty years ago. Now, thanks to the good people at Fantagraphics the entire six-month run of Terr'ble Thompson has been re-mastered to its original glory and collected in this beautiful soft cover volume.

Now in truth, the strip was before my time, but the Terr'ble Thompson character would eventually morph into a character that I, and I'm sure many baby boomers were familiar with, Tom Terrific. Tom's animated adventures were a regular part of the Captain Kangaroo show. Tom and his magic thinking cap...boy does that take me back, not to mention age me!

The basic plot around Terr'ble Thompson was that he would have to help out various historical figures in need. These normally found "TT" battling his arch foe Mean Morgan who hated fun and little kids. TT is a rather rambunctious kid, an early forerunner of Calvin from `Calvin & Hobbes" and Jason Fox of Foxtrot. Terr'ble is able to think himself out of any jam it seems.

The storylines were usually played out over a number of days. The first adventure finds TT having to help Christopher Columbus whose crew is on the verge of a "mewt'ny" because they are in fear of a sea serpent. Next, TT has to help Cleopatra (Reluctantly as he doesn't like girls!) when her father is turning into a tree! The people of ancient Egypt are not fond of having a tree for a Pharaoh and want to run him off. Later, Terr'ble has to help out Santa Claus who is now refusing to believe in children because they don't believe in him!

The strips are filled with the kind of word mispronunciations that would make Norm Crosby proud. Creator Gene Deitch was, and still is a gifted cartoonist. His style of cartooning was clean and very angular, similar to the style used by Jay Ward on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show several years later. The strips look absolutely marvelous and as Deitch himself mentions in the introduction, this was no small feat as none of the original strips existed.

Terr'ble Thompson can now take his rightful place as one of the great comic strips and a great piece of 1950's Americana.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

To finally see the complete run of my little known and nearly forgotten
1950s comic strip so lovingly collected, restored and beautifully printed, is one of the great thrills of my life. I hope that all lovers of newspaper comic strips will enjoy what then seemed too far ahead of its time.

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