The Book of Bill

 

By Alex Hirsch

So there was this TV cartoon show, Gravity Falls. Now I never watched this show. But I was shopping for gifts for a ten year old child who requested books for Christmas. So I decided to get three graphic novels because I wanted to get fun books. But before I got the books ready to gift, I decided to read them to make sure they were appropriate. Two of them were OK, if a bit boring for an adult to read. But looking through The Book of Bill, I decided it was too much for a ten year old. So I read it instead.

It was kind of confusing, since I was not familiar with the TV series. It is copiously illustrated, full color, very artful. There is this thing, Bill, it's shaped like a triangle and is supposed to have escaped from a dimension that only exists in two dimensions which it destroyed while escaping. This Bill thing set its sights on Earth for some reason which had to do with its quest to rule everything? I'm not sure about that. Bill is a confusing thing, often referred to as a demon.

The book recaps, I guess, the story of the series and of Bill's encounters and temptations of the people of Gravity Falls, mainly with the Pines family. Bill is a really negative being and clearly cares nothing about humankind and our little planet. It basically has nothing good to say about us or this planet. It really does have a wicked sense of humor. Although I don't care about the TV series or the characters eventual defeat of Bill, I did enjoy the humor that is one of the best parts of the book. For example:

"What Is a Human? A human is an organic machine made out of blood and anxiety, designed to deliver a random bundle of genetic material into the future and turn to dust."

"Bill, Have You Ever Been In Love? Sure—tell your mom hi for me! By the way, have you taken a DNA test recently? Not asking for any particular reason."

"Remember, pal, at the end of the day, love is just the pupa stage for hate."

"How You Will Die: 4. Shockingly assassinated while simply trying to ride in your motorcade through Dallas with the roof down in the year 1963"

"Life doesn't care about your meaning, so why should you care about its meaning?"

Parts of the book are quite funny but the part that recaps the war between Bill and the humans was not that interesting to me. Not surprising since I never saw the series. It's certainly going to be more interesting to those who enjoyed the series.