Satire Books

We gave this book to my son's granny (my mom), and she loved it. It's adorable. The illustrations are funny. I don't know how it would hold up as a book read to children, only because we simply gave it to an adult as a present and did not read it to my son. But it made a great gift.

I thought the book, Good Granny, Bad Granny, was quite hilarious. I bought one for myself and a few more for friends. I would say that I am probably more in the "bad" Granny category, which I believe is a good thing! Anyone who still bakes a lot, stays home a lot, or is very domestic in any way, would probably not get as much enjoyment as I from this book.

This little book is cleverly written with cute illustrations. Any new Granny will appreciate the humor unless they are not able to share the role of being a grandmother with the "other" side of the family. With that said let's just say that this little book points out that all grandmothers will have a space in their little ones lives - even though some may be more colorful than others.

I just finished reading it!
Good Granny / Bad Granny.
It's fabulous.
I, [an old guy] love children's books.

And as such, I am not sure who will love this book more, the kids being read to, or the adults that are reading it to them!
The latter will be snickering, and alternating between nodding and shaking their heads. The kids will just be giggling. Maybe, like the legendary Flintstones cartoon, it is isn't even MEANT for children!

"Good Granny prepares nourishing lunches of salads and whole wheat bread."
"Bad Granny orders fried chicken by the bucket, with a side order of fries."

"Good Granny takes her grandchildren to the mall to shop for educational toys."
"Bad Granny takes them to the mall and teaches them to max out their parents' credit cards."

The above examples are two of my favorites in this new book.
Written by Mary McHugh, and wonderfully illustrated by Patricia Storms.
With each turn of the page, a reader, [or listener] is greeted by a new dichotomy of the ages-old conflict between Good and Evil.... no, not so much "evil" just bad.
Good to the left. Bad to the right.
And no, not so much "bad" even, as "flawed".
Or hmmm... delightfully misguided! As so many grannies tend to be.
Let's face it, it's the bad grannies that give us the giggle-moments.

In fact, this is perhaps the only downside to this book.
It is sure to engender a two-fold conundrum.
Firstly, kids will wish that their "good" or even half-bad grannies were a bit more badder.
And secondly, "good" or even half-good grannies will be reading and thinking, "You know. That second scenario does sound like a lot more fun!"

"Good Granny takes her children to the science museum and walks them through the giant model of the beating heart."
"Bad granny takes her grandchildren to Daytona Beach and drives them around the track at 180 miles per hour."

Whether you just love comics or intend to start writing some yourself, you'll probably need a helping hand. Will Eisner might just be the right hand for you. As a true pro, who's been in the field since 1930, he might just have the kind of hints, tips and interesting details you need to know as a beginner. Graphic Storytelling will reveal to you the world of telling a story in drawings and words combined, the art of comics and caricature. In my very humble opinion, this book is one giant step forward for you, on the way of expressiong yourself on paper. And hei, if Neil Gaiman recommends it, who am I to say anything else?

Eisner is one of the old pros who helped create the way sequential art is done. This book demonstrates the thinking that goes into producing sequential art, how to pace and create emotions in your audience. A must have for film artists, storyboard artists, comic and graphic novel artists and it opens new ways of thinking for illustrators and painters.

As a veteran comic book illustrator (You can find my work here on Amazon.com; I am the CO-creator and artist of Transmetropolitan), I am often asked to recommend books to aspiring professionals in comic book illustration. In that case I always enthusiastically recommend any of Eisner's instructional books as essential reading for anyone serious about their craft and dreams of getting into the industry.

From the earliest work of his career, Will Eisner was an innovator in writing as well as illustration. Even in his twilight years the man is still a vigorous and creative artist producing work that pros as well as fans can't wait to get their hands on.

These books display his genius in an entertaining and easy to follow method, and if put to practice will inspire and reveal hidden keys to making your work truly professional grade. A great companion book to Eisner's "Comics & Sequential Art".

- Darick Roberston

First off, Eisner does a great job of combining visual elements with his text in this book. The whole thing is illustrated with cavemen working on their storytelling technique, and I have to admit that the cavemen illustrations were great fun and always helped to clarify the how side of what he was saying in the text. Beautifully done. (Yes, I know, this is like saying, "Hey, y'know that Hemingway guy? Some of his stories were really good.")

Does it have any issues? Yes. It's 164 heavily illustrated pages. You can read it in an afternoon. And some of the illustrative pieces feel over-long for the point they are trying to prove. I hit the point on a couple of them where I found myself saying, "Yes, I get it. We needed the X in the beginning so we would understand Y now. Can we move on?" I also felt that, at 164 pages, he didn't really have the opportunity to go into depth on some areas. There's a point where he provided two bad examples of a comic script... and no good example. Aaaaah!

Even with those issues in mind, I have to give the book 4 caped crime-fighters out of five. It's well-written (though there are also some grammatical gaffs that make me want to scream), it's engaging, and it's instructive. Worth the read.

Though best known as a performer, Groucho Marx always cherished the opportunity to express himself in writing. Robert S. Bader has collected a large number of his short works -- some of them autobiographical, others comic essays and letters -- most of which have never been published before in book form. Unlike the recent collection "The Essential Groucho," by Stefan Kanfer, which contained excerpts from Marx Brothers plays, films, and television shows, all the pieces collected here were written by Groucho himself (or were they? Bader's long, well-written introduction discusses the contributions of Groucho's silent collaborator, Arthur Sheekman). Not every one is a gem, but on the whole the collection is delightful. A "must" addition to any Marx collection.

One of the greatest books I've ever read on Groucho's written humor! Very complete! New info for old fans! I loved it! ....

Groucho was a funny man, we know that. He was an essayist, maybe we didn't know that. He wanted to be known foremost as a writer. Here's proof he should be.

This collection of Marx's essays is read by Carl Reiner. Reiner reads all of Groucho's works with a stunning facimile af Groucho's voice. It's as if Groucho himself has come back just to read this collection. Reiner's innate comedian's timing rounds out this performance making one of the best recorded performances I've had the pleasure of listening to.

Guaranteed to make a Groucho lover out of anyone. Even your kids..

A lot of the material in this book shows up in many of Groucho's other books, but the new material is very entertaining. Not quite as funny as the Groucho Letters, but a must for any Groucho fan...

This book is just awesome. I bought this for my daughter. I read it, laughed, and realized I would never read this to a small child. It's so miserable it's funny. The drawings are morbidly beautiful, the story is tragic and hilarious, Edward Gorey is like the Tim Burton of adult children's books.

The funniest tragedy ever written. With illustrations. I have owned, and loaned out or given, several copies. Lately, I've had to rely upon Amphigory to supply my bile. Now it's back again in a single volume! The perfect gift for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and birthdays!

This is the first book I ever read by Gorey. After becoming a bit of a fan and exploring his writings further, I think this story holds up as having the best narrative and shock value. A great little yarn and a must for the collector.

This is one of Gorey's best stories, about the sad life of a sickeningly sweet orphan. Some people might prefer "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", but I think "The Hapless Child" is superior. This book is the epitome of Gorey's weird style, a parody of Victorian fiction, and always funny in a gruesome way, or gruesome in a funny way, depending on how you look at it. "The Hapless Child" is also collected in the first "Amphigorey" collection, but any serious collector of Goriana will have to own this edition as well.

As with Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 1 Casper, Richie Rich was the other Harvey Comic I used to read back when I was three or so with my Uncle Joe, and have kept reading them since.

Richie Rich was kind of Harvey's answer to Uncle Scrooge, James Bond, and Batman all rolled into one. Originally starting out as a filler strip for Harvey's Little Dot, Richie Rich was the wealthiest kid in Richville. Except unlike most rich people, Richie preferred playing with his friends Freckles and Pee-Wee, and enjoying the simpler things in life, even though sometimes his wealth and luck unexpectedly interfered.

Another happened to be Richie's love for Gloria Glad, who only loved Richie for himself, not his money. And always would get upset when Richie dared fuss over her. Of course, poor Richie can never win, since in one strip, Richie decides taking Gloria's advice. Regrettably, the time he decides on doing this, Gloria's trying to demonstrate to her cousin how Richie lavishes her with expensive gifts.

Later in the Seventies however, Richie started doing adventures with his butler Cadbury, as Harvey started introducing more serious tales, especially with their 'Vaults of Mystery' title. And as Ernie Colon mentions, later Richie always had some gadget or other to help him get out of tight spots. But still Richie normally used his wits about him and he was the first 'McGyver' long before the series hit television.

In fact, in HCC V2, you'll see how Richie and Gloria deal with modern day pirates after they shangai Richie's yacht and plan on using it for raiding other luxury liners.

Which was what made Harvey Comics so great, though the villains usually implemented firearms and such, Richie rarely struck back using deadly force. Usually he'd try solving the problem with his wits (and his wealth didn't hurt as well), over using brute force.

In this collection, you'll also see Richie's mischievious cousin, Reginald Van Dough, aka Reggie, and how he started pranking and getting into trouble with Richie. My own regret with the series is, I wish Dark Horse had selected some other tales showcasing the little known characters like Mayda Munny (Gloria's rival), Professor Keenbean, the modern version of Irona, Reggie's sister, Penny, and Jackie Jokers. But the way I see it, DH might be saving them for a future collection, as well as the 'Richie Rich and...' series where later Harvey spawned this spinoff from the titles 'Richie Rich and Casper' as well as 'Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers.'

To this day, I wish I could have found another copy of 'Richie Rich and Timmy Time' since my cousin destroyed my uncle's copy before I had a chance to read it.

Nonetheless Dark Horse has done an excellent job of bringing back the lost collections of Harvey Comics, and I hope these series might encourage them to come out with mini-digest collections of them and other characters, since I still have some of the original digests in my house.

I definitely would recommend this as well as all the Harvey Comics Collection series for those who are avid Harvey fans and classic comic collectors. But also for those who might like to see what comics were like before DC and Marvel took over the industry.

I don't know why cartoon comic strips went out of style. I am glad that there is someone else who has not forgotten them. Richie Rich was one of my favorite comic strips, and still would be if Harvey Comics were still in business.

Just two disappointments: Number one: Most of the stories are printed in black-and-white. The book might be much more expensive otherwise.

Number two: Mayda Munney was one of my favorite characters, and she doesn't appear in any of the stories.

Thank you, Dark Horse Books!

I hate to brag, no I don't. Anyway, I received an advance copy of the
Richie Rich book! It looks really good. If you liked Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper, you'll love this! (and I have a quote on the back cover...)

There are some minor changes on the cover than the one posted on Amazon here. Instead of "100 Classic Stories 1953-1969", it is actually "125 Classic Comic Stories 1953-1971"! Also, the general release date has been moved up from Oct. 25 to Oct. 17!

There is a small picture of the Hot Stuff book stating that the book will come out in Feb. 2008. This will be Volume 3 in the series.

Really, really enjoy this book.

To paraphrase the quote, I had as much fondness for Harvey Comics as I did my superhero titles. As a child, I got every bit as excited seeing a Harvey title as I did any of the Marvels or DCs. Their bright four-color covers were only a preview of the goodness waiting inside.

When I was a kid, it was an excellent time to be a comic fan. Not only those mentioned above, but also Archie, Dell/Gold Key (which was a treasure in and of itself, what with all of the Disney, Hanna-Barbera, TV tie-ins, etc., under the same umbrella!), Charlton, Atlas, have I listed them all? Whatever the case, it was nothing but good times.

Reading a Harvey comic was like having a ice cold lemonade on a sweltering hot day. You could always count on them to give you a great time and a fun read. Fun, light-hearted, whimsical adventures featuring the likes of Richie Rich, Casper The Friendly Ghost, Spooky The Tuff Little Ghost, Hot Stuff The Little Devil, Wendy The Good Little Witch, The Ghostly Trio, The Sad Sack, Stumbo The Giant, Little Dot, Little Lotta, Little Audrey, heck, a "little" bit of everything;).

Under lesser hands, these characters could easily have become one-dimensional, cloying and downright annoying. But Harvey apparently realized this and took their readership on flights of fancy, oftentimes giving us multi-part stories, putting Richie and Casper (sometimes together) in all kinds of precarious situations.

Richie, in particular, was often aided by the likes of his trusty butler Cadbury, his hardscrabble friends, brothers Freckles, a redhead (also referred to as Tommy in some stories - could possibly have been Freckles' "real" name. Also has been a brunette on occasion.) and the mute Pee-Wee, (who actually spoke one line in the story "Problem Child", the only time I know of that he actually talked), as well as his girlfriend Gloria, a rare girl who was often repulsed by Richie's wealth, liking him for who he was inside. A real jewel, if you ask me. Plus, Richie was often bedeviled by the occasional visits from his obnoxiously snooty cousin Reginald "Reggie" Van Dough, who was the complete antithesis of his cuter and infinitely more lovable cousin. Reggie loved nothing more than pulling pranks on Richie and his very tolerant friends, until his foolishness would ultimately backfire on him, giving the stories happy endings, momentarily humbling Reggie (until returning to prank Richie another day).

In spite of all his enormous wealth, Richie simply wanted to be a little boy who belonged, wanting simply to be "one of the guys", playing sandlot baseball, going fishing, inviting all of his friends to either his mansion, yacht, or on some sort of fabulous vacation, etc.. It is really nice seeing Richie treating Freckles and Pee-Wee as equals and not making fun of them because of their being poor.

Seeing this book in the comic shop was a welcome surprise for me. It was an impulse buy, in which I immediately snapped it up, not knowing about it in the first place (I knew about the Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper, which I plan on getting very soon). And it has been a fun read. And no, I didn't realize that it was mostly black and white until looking at it, but it didn't take long for me to adjust to that. Sure, it would have been nice to have had color, but that's a minor point. What matters is that for the money, you are getting 480 pages of classic comic goodness from a sadly bygone era which we don't see enough of these days.

Nowadays, I would be hard-pressed to recommend any comic for a child to read, since the market has pretty well grown up. There just aren't as many comics out there for kids, which is sad, since children were the once-intended target audience. It's no wonder kids, for the most part, don't read comics today.

Here's hoping that Dark Horse will rectify this and put out future volumes of these "little" treasures. They could go on forever reprinting them, since there are literally decades of these to reprint. These comics deserve tender loving care and need to be introduced to a new generation (as well as reintroducing those of us in the previous ones). Perhaps D.H. will go the Archie route and market digests of classic reprints to be sold in supermarkets and such. What better way to introduce them, since it obviously hasn't hurt Archie. Now this would be absolutely swell.

Are you listening, Dark Horse? In other words, KEEP IT UP!!!!

Jim Unger is a genius, and this one is a keeper. The color looks great. Also enjoyed the humorous introduction written by another cartoonist called "Meeting Jim Unger". All HERMAN fans should have this one.

I've always been a fan of Herman, and laughed through most of the old treasuries, but this new book is so much more fun. All of the classics are here and they're in full, bright colour. I'm finding the off-beat sense of humour harder to put down than ever before!

How can there not be more reviews of this?
Folks, if you like any of my reviews and think my taste is even semi-quasi-acceptable, do yourself a favor and buy this first volume of Herman! It is one of the funniest comics ever created, time and again.
Unger captures so much humor in a simple expression of amazement/despair/dismay; the faces alone are just so damn funny.
Plus, this guy understands people and what makes us tick.
Incredibly hilarious and so consistent; every volume of the Herman series is worth getting, especially at used prices.
He's also a master at drawing dogs. Any guy who loves and understands the endless humor of dogitude gets my vote.

I first discovered Jim Unger's "Herman" when I was a teenager. For the next several years I bought every Herman Treasury Collection as they became available. I was amazed that any comic could be so consistently (laugh-out-loud type) funny. I'm now 41 and I just rediscovered my Herman collection during a move. The humor of Herman is definitely ageless because I still laugh every time I pick up one of the collections.
I just purchased the Herman Classics Collections vol. 1, 2 and 3 (beautiful books, great print quality) and I hope that their are more on the way.
My recommendation to the publisher - publish a hardbound master collection at some point, something that would look nice on my bookshelves and something that I can pass along to my grandkids ("Gee, grandpa had a sense of humor!").

I am posting this review on all 3 "Herman Classics" Amazon pages.

Mr. Cuppy was a terrific oberserver of humanity. Despite his rather unique living conditions and his curmudgeon like existence, his "take" on "us humans" is spot on.
My only regret is that he didn't pen more books and essays for us to enjoy again and again.
If you enjoy his work, pick up Max Schulman as well. He is another great humorist from the "golden age".
Too bad we don't see more of these types.
We can keep them alive!
Share these tomes with all your friends and enemies!

Will Cuppy has written a very strange, very funny little volume that covers a lot of territory. Ostensibly, it is mainly devoted to an overview of animal characteristics, and includes a great deal of odd and relatively unknown facts on a myriad of animals (my undergraduate degree is in Biology, and I learned many peculiar things from this book).

The amazing thing about the book for me is the literate weaving of a coherent book which includes not only an explanation of the head-foot and lifestyles of lower mollusks, but a tracing of literary references of mollusks through history, from the ancient Greeks to Wordsworth (really). That kind of surreal juxtaposition runs throughout the book, and is perfectly delightful. The net result is a book that it genuinely educational, and simultaneously hilarious.

Cuppy has a wonderful way with words, indeed he has a rich vocabulary and elegant writing style that is mostly forgotten in contemporary writers. I wish this book was compulsory reading in all high schools (take your pick in English or Biology class) to expose students to the concept that a book, even with a sometimes strange or mundane subject, can be utterly fascinating when told well.

My only minor critique of the book is the relative abundance of footnotes, which is sometimes a bit distracting. If you want a good laugh, or you just love animals this book is a good choice. It turns out that wombats are pretty interesting, believe it or not!

I put Terry Pratchett's name in the title, as well as here in the first paragraph, so that those looking for certain keywords will come across this. I read Will Cuppy before I ever discovered Discworld (in fact, I read Will Cuppy's stuff before most of Discworld was ever written!) but though Cuppy's stuff is over half a century old, and non-fiction, it is nonetheless a natural fit for the sense of humor that appreciates Terry Pratchett.

Will Cuppy was the master of the irrelevant footnote, the tangential digression, and the stern admonition to the reader. What makes it even funnier is that every word is true, or at least as much of the truth as was known in the 1930's and thereabouts. His specialty is zoology, which is what most of this book contains, but he also is very funny about history.

Now, you don't have to read the Discworld novels to appreciate Cuppy, and so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then never fear. You probably do need a bit of education, however; high school biology and Western history should be floating around in bits in the back of your brain. At the time he wrote these -essays?- Cuppy was writing mainly for The New Yorker magazine, and he assumed that his audience was somewhat elite, college-educated and highly literate. (However, he's not nearly as elitist, or as dead-white-male-centric, as, say, Hans Zinsser, whose "Rats, Lice and History" is also funny, but has some issues of racism and what some feel is anti-Semitism; Zinsser assumed his audience was educated at the sort of university where everyone was white, male, and required to study Greek and Latin and probably also knew French. Although Zinsser would also be a fun read for many, these issues make it a lot harder to recommend than Cuppy. However, if you've read this far in the review, and you want more words to read, more, more, more!, then you could consider "RL&H" as well.)

Anyway, there's a double message in this review: if you enjoy Terry Pratchett, then you really need to read Will Cuppy to find where Pratchett got his style from, and if you enjoy Will Cuppy but have never tried Terry Pratchett because you don't read science fiction or fantasy, then give Pratchett a try anyway, because he writes like Will Cuppy. And if none of that made any sense, but you like animals, zoology, and/or Gerald Durrell, then Cuppy may also be your cup of tea. Especially if you like wombats.

I thumbed through this book when I was about 15 , mostly because I had never heard of a wombat before. I enjoyed it so much that I read the whole book and I've read it a dozen times since. Will Cuppy had the uncanny ability to mix wit with fact when writing his pieces on various members of the animal kingdom, anthropomorphizing them for humorous absurdity which tendered the desired effect from this reader. The highlight of this book was his article on how to swat a fly, a skill which we could all use pointers on. His vocabulary is impeccable but somewhat dated. Younger people might not be able to decipher or appreciate his wit. I feel that if the educational system studied Cuppy's methods of writing and utilized it in their curriculum, students would be far more enthusiastic about learning than they are now. I would recommend this to anyone who likes animals, comedy, or anyone who wants to know just what the heck a wombat is and how you'd go about attracting one.

Light
Easy to Read
Enjoyable

This is essential reading if you are planning to be on the golf course with your friends or business associates. Very funny and readable. I highly recommend it for improving your humor handicap.

a good book to take your thoughts away from the pressures of life. great gift.

If you're an avid golfer, you can't help but laugh out loud at this collection of stories. Usually with a book like this, most of the stories are rehashes of old stories you've already heard.However, I found a lot of new material here. Lots of laughs...the only problem is that I'm still not sure I can hit that second shot first.

I read this book decades ago and recently realized that I didn't have it in my personal library anymore. My mistake. This book is a great pick-me up and has one laughing out loud over and over again. I loved it! Must purchase a new copy.

This is, hands down, one of the funniest books I've ever read. With so many self help books that have been written in the last 30 years, this book sarcastically and with much silliness and wit, does the exact opposite and tells you exactly HOW to be miserable. What it achieves is leaving you in a good mood because you are laughing so hard.

This book is hysterical. It describes the self-destructive behaviors we all engage in, and presents them as things we should do if our our INTENT is to be miserable. Very funny, and quite perceptive.

This book changed my life. Dump behaviors that punish people for liking you!

Sam Gross had me with the title and cover cartoon - it perfectly captures the essence of this collection. Some of these are simply humorous, most of them carry a sharp edge to the simple looking but marvelous drawings.

Fans of more recent cartoonists such as Gary Larson's Far Side would be well served to read this collection that predates Larson by several decades. While sadly lacking in Cows, plenty of other animals (cats, slothes, snails and kangaroos) appear in similar off beat ways, and there is a disturbingly large number of ginger bread men!

My only quibble with this is the format - with the relatively few number of pages, some of the drawings were a little lost in the hardcover inner fold. I think a larger layout would have given the drawings a better presentation.

Wonderful collection.

It hardly needs to be said how wonderful Gross' cartoons are. Fabulously absurd, and so refreshingly undiplomatic in taste. And beautifully drawn. No-one ever bettered him at The New Yorker. But pleeeeeese ... what is this idiotic description of this edition as a "lavish" production?! The binding is the usual non-hardcover hardcover, i.e. wretched glue, the paper is not much better than cheap blotting paper, and the reproduction is scandalously poor. Blurred lines and washed out grey. Wonderful art, deplorable production. I'm just waiting for a monograph on Gross that covers all his work. Along with Addams, Steig, Arno and Steinberg, this guy is at the top of the tree. However all this being said, I'd rather have a dodgy copy of Gross than none at all.

I was just looking through all my fathers books that were given to him by my great grandmother and my grandmother, I saw the title of this book and HAD to see what it was, I read it and looked and I laughed so hard, even at my age it was funny, I think everyone should read this book!

Sam Gross has contributed his offbeat cartoons for years to such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, and Good Housekeeping. This collection, "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," dates back to 1977 and it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Gross looks at the world obliquely and this book reflects his unique vision. He is cheerfully tactless and politically incorrect: Three women sit in church while one of them is accidentally being strangled with her rosary beads; two researchers observe a group of blind men being dragged to and fro by high-jumping "seeing-eye kangaroos." He makes us see the world in a new way: An alien dog-like creature from another planet bays at the earth; a grumpy cleaning lady sweeps away severed heads that have collected near a guillotine. He defies our expectations: A woman beats her mattress outside her window and money flies out; two people visit the cemetery--a grieving widow leaves flowers for her dear departed, while a grumpy man throws worms on the grave of (presumably) his despised ex-wife.

These beautifully shaded black and white drawings, some of which have no captions, are expressive, imaginative, and original. As a librarian, I particularly liked the one of a studious toddler reading in a playpen with built-in bookshelves (what a great baby gift!). Some of the cartoons are subtle; others rely on screamingly obvious sight gags. With a few exceptions, they are entertaining and sometimes even thought-provoking. Although not everyone will appreciate "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," it is bound to amuse cartoon-lovers who enjoy comedy with a wry twist.