This fun collection, celebrating twenty years of Cathy comic strips, starts out with some of the earliest Cathy strips from 1976 and continues on through 1996, with commentary from the real Cathy.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Cathy Twentieth Anniversary Collection
This fun collection, celebrating twenty years of Cathy comic strips, starts out with some of the earliest Cathy strips from 1976 and continues on through 1996, with commentary from the real Cathy.
Friday, January 24, 2020
Pearls Blows Up
A Pearls Before Swine Treasury, copyright 2011. Pearls Before Swine is a very successful newspaper comic strip. Probably the last one, as people switch from reading newspapers to reading news on the internet.
I have enjoyed reading these comic strips. Pastis' Pearls Before Swine is right up there with the greats of daily strips: Charles Schulz's Peanuts, Gary Larson's Far Side, Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County, Cathy Guisewite's Cathy and Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Pardon My Planet : Omigawd! I've Become My Mother
Cartoon collection copyrighted 2005.
I don't really know much about this cartoonist, Vic Lee. I just happened upon this collection and it looked funny, so, yeah. I don't know where his work usually appears or how long he has been doing cartoons. He seems to have a cast of somewhat recurring characters, but I could be wrong about that. Some of them look similar, but are they the same person? I don't know.
Anyway, these cartoons are funny and twisted and very enjoyable.
I'd Scream Except I Look So Fabulous
Daily Cathy comic strips copyrighted 1999.
Cathy loses her regular job when Irving comes back into her life. He arrives at her job hired to "restructure, reoganize ... you know ... redirect the personnel..."
Despite her long past relationship with Irving, he doesn't save her job. Instead she is told will be working from home on a part-time basis and she will be able to freelance. Good bye steady income and benefits!
I really felt for Cathy as she struggled to deal with her new, scary reality. This collection is funny but it also is truth.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Down in the Black Gang
A collection of science fiction stories.
1. Down in the Black Gang: ETs use human emotion to power the universe but one of their fixers gets fed up with manipulating humans and flees.
2. The Shadow of Space: An experimental space ship finds itself in unspace due to sabotage and can't figure out how to get back home or if home even exists anymore.
3. A Bowl Bigger than Earth: Morfiks finds himself sliding into a new world in a new body. But the new body is sexless and hairless and the new world is filled with people who look and sound exactly like him. Individuality is forbidden and any infractions result in everyone being punished.
4. Riverworld: Tom Mix, old timey cowboy movie star, finds himself reincarnated on Riverworld along with the rest of humanity. Riverworld is a massive, possibly artificial world featuring a single central river valley surrounded by impassible mountains. Tom falls in with a woman who knew Moses and with a man who doesn't want to admit that he is Jesus Christ and just as human as everyone else.
5. A Few Miles: A novice monk is ordered by the head of his order to take passage on a space ship to another planet, Wildenwooly. But he has to figure how to get out of the city where the monastery is located and out to the city limits where the spaceport is all on his own with any help or money. He has many adventures, including helping a man with a broken oven, fighting off a gang of union thugs, falling in with a couple of dangerous teens, getting attacked by an alien animal and having his clothing stolen.
I think this was the author's attempt at a humorous story.
6. Prometheus: The monk from the story, A Few Miles, goes to the planet of the alien animal that attacked him in that story. At first dismissed as merely talented mimics, rather like parrots, it soon becomes apparent that these beings, called horowitzes (named for the man who discovered their planet), are capable of learning what the monk teaches them. Soon, they are speaking and understanding the monk's language, learning to make fire and cook their food. Learning agriculture and making tools of flint and weapons for hunting and defense. But questions arise about what happens after death and the monk must decide if he will give them religion or let them develop their own philosophy.
7. The Blasphemers: The sphinx people have developed quickly and have even made a faster-than-light drive for their space ships. They explore the galaxy, looking for planets to colonize. They ruthlessly suppress the beings of any planet who they deem to be vulnerable. But then they discover our planet and the big sphinx statue in Egypt and it blows their minds.
8. How Deep the Groove: A scientist invents a mind-reading machine and discovers a disturbing truth about humankind that drives him insane.
This was an OK read. I'm not really a fan of short stories and I wasn't particularly impressed or entertained by this collection.
$14 In The Bank And A $200 Face In My Purse
This collection of Cathy comic strips was published in 1990. In this collection Cathy has her little dog Electra and hasn't been dating her long time boyfriend, Irving for quite awhile. She briefly dates another fellow, Simon, but soon finds him boring. But still gets upset when a friend from work starts seeing Simon after Cathy is no longer interested.
Electra, Cathy's dog, seems sad and Cathy thinks the dog may be missing Irving. So Cathy invites him over and is surprised to find that he has quit his job and gained thirty pounds. Which he proceeds to lose in one day by merely skipping lunch.
Typical Cathy comic, with all the usual struggles with diet, exercise, overeating, overspending and over-dramatizing everything. Familiar territory but still a lot of fun to read.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
The Last Continent
Rincewind is off on another of his involuntary adventures, this time on XXXX aka Fourecks, the Discworld equivalent of Australia. Or not, as the author explains in the front of the book, "This is not a book about Australia. No, it's about somewhere entirely different which just happens to be, here and there, a bit . . . australian. Still . . . no worries, right?"
Rincewind's arrival was predicted and he is expected to save Fourecks, helped out by his usual weird lucky bad luck. And by a disappearing kangaroo who calls himself Scrappy.
Meanwhile, back in Ankh-Morpork, the Librarian is quite ill. He keeps changing shape, involuntarily. The wizards want to work a spell on him but in order to do so, they need to know his true name. But the Librarian refuses to reveal his name because he likes being an orangutan and he is afraid the wizards will make him human again. But none of the wizards know the Librarian's name. In fact, the only one, other than the actual Librarian, who might know his name is Rincewind, who used to be the Librarian's assistant.
The wizards are not sure how to get Rincewind back to the Unseen University. Before they figure it out, they discover a passageway in a bathroom that leads to a tropical island. Of course, they all have to go there. And of course, they all get stuck there when the housekeeper shuts the passageway unknowingly and trapping them all, including herself, on a tiny island in the distant past, inhabited by a strange little god who is trying to invent evolution and failing massively.
So what does it all have to do with Rincewind? Quite a lot. But first Rincewind has to survive living in XXXX.
This was a good story. There is a dwarf who is based on the Mad Max movie character. There is a bartender who a crocodile, called Crocodile Crocodile and the scene from the Crocodile Dundee movie, "you call that a knife" appears in the story. There is a nod to the movie, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and the song Waltzing Matilda. And that Australian criminal that faced down the police in a suit of homemade armor, Ned Kelly, gets in the story, sort of. I suppose there are even more references that I didn't catch.
I think Mr. Pratchett had a lot of fun writing this story.
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Breed To Come
Humankind long ago abandoned their home planet after they managed to imperial their very existence on it. Left behind were the animals who were subject to their cruel experiments, dogs, cats, rats and swine.
Left to their own devices, the animal clans increased in intelligence, creating their own societies and gleaning knowledge from the empty cities left behind by humankind.
Furtig, a young catman, has left his home and gone off to the human city in search of knowledge and in search of his relative, the wise cat Gammage. Gammage has spent much time in the city trying to understand the human technology and use it to better the lives of his fellow cat people. But, as a result of his studies, he has come to fear that the humans will soon be returning to their world. And he fears they will once again cruelly rule those they left behind, the dogs, the cats, the rats and the pigs. Who are no longer mere animals. And who just may have a plan to fight back.
This was an OK read. Just how Gammage is so certain the humans are due to shortly return is never clearly explained. And when they humans do return, it is only four people who are searching for a cure to another human-created blight that is once again threatening human existence. They just can't manage to do anything right, the poor stupid unworthy humans.
Review by Kirkus Reviews.
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
The first Mrs. Pollifax novel.
Mrs. Pollifax is depressed, so much so that she briefly contemplated jumping off the roof of the apartment building where she lives. But a visit to her doctor recalls to mind that when she was a youngster, she wanted to be a spy.
Having nothing to lose, she pays a visit to CIA headquarters and, in a case of mistaken identity, finds herself assigned to be a courier in Mexico City.
Naturally, Mrs P. disobeys her instructions and visits her contact at a bookstore before the appointed time, just to take a look around, don't you know. She has a pleasant visit with the bookstore clerk. She returns to the store on the assigned day, only to find someone else manning the store. This man kindly invites her to join him in a cup of tea and she ends up drugged and tied up and hauled off along with another person to Albania.
The other person, Farrell, is one of the CIA's agents in Central America. But Mrs. P maintains her cover as an innocent tourist who is being mistaken for someone she is not. Farrell is cruelly interrogated by their communist captors and manages to briefly escape, only to be recaptured, having been shot and with a broken leg from a fall down a cliff. Mrs. P and Farrell know that their days are numbered. Their only hope is to escape. But Farrell is too injured to travel and Mrs Pollifax refuses to even think of going without him.
I read this book decades ago and I didn't really remember anything about it. So rereading it was like reading it for the first time. It's an improbable story and everyone's failure to realize that Mrs. Pollifax unknowingly had the sought-after documents was more than a little unbelievable. But it was an interesting read and I understand how it lead me to read more of the Mrs. Pollifax books at the time. Although I don't think it would have had the same effect on me now, being a lot older and lot less easily impressed.
Review by Kirkus Reviews.
Interesting Times
Rincewind is off on another adventure when he finds himself magically transported to the land of Twoflower, the innocent tourist from The Color of Magic.
When Twoflower arrived back home, he wrote a travel book describing the wonders of Ankh-Morpork and incidentally creating much dissatisfaction in the denizens of the Agatean Empire. A revolution is in the making, helped along surreptitiously by Lord Hong, the Grand Vizier to the elderly emperor. Lord Hong has grand ambitions and envious eyes on Ankh-Morpork.
The wizards of the Unseen University have been instructed to send the "great wizzard" to the Agatean Empire. The only wizard who spells it "wizzard" is Rincewind and so Rincewind is summarily snatched and instantaneously sent thence, only to end up in prison next to his old traveling companion, Twoflower. Together the two of them and a few young, idealistic followers will overthrow an empire and reanimate an ancient, long buried army.
This is one of the better Rincewind stories. The plot is more solid and a less chaotic than most Rincewind stories. The social commentary manages to stay amusing while being quite pointed. It has a very intriguing ending, with Rincewind finding himself transported to the continent of XXXX, the Discworld equivalent to Australia where he has an immediate encounter with a boomerang.
Review by Publishers Weekly.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
MAD'S Maddest Artist Don Martin Steps Out!
I think this was the first collection of Don Martin cartoons. It was certainly the first collection of his that I read as a kid. I remember so many of the cartoons in that book. Coming back to it decades later, I still enjoyed Martin's silly sense of humor. And I think these early cartoons among his best.
This collection includes:
1. Fester and Karbunkle Out West
2. Fester Goes Ski Jumping
3. Fester and Karbunkle The Motor Trip
4. Fester and Karbunkle The Safe Movers
5. Fester and Karbunkle The Roller Coaster Ride
6. Sylvan Interlude in a Petunia Patch
7. Karbunkle in The Penny Arcade
8. Fester and Karbunkle in A Department Store
When I was a kid and trying to go to sleep, I would imagine the various stages of Fester's experience in A Department Store.
The Crystal Gryphon
A Witch World story.
The Dales are in danger as invaders from outside move against the lords of the Dales. The invaders have advanced technology, while the Dalesmen are still riding horses and using bows and arrows and swords and armor.
But before the time of the invasion, two children of Dales lords are promised to each other for political reasons. Kerovan's father is worried his people will reject his son as leader because Kerovan is deformed. His eyes have slit pupils instead of round and his feet are hoofed. So allying his son with the daughter of the lord of Ithdale, Joisan, will consolidate his son's position, he hopes.
Joisan and Kerovan are officially wedded, even though they never actually meet and even though they are little kids. Kerovan lives in isolation, away from prying eyes. Joisan lives at Ithkrypt and finds herself pursued by Toross, a cousin, who urges her to repudiate Kerovan and ally with him. At one point Kerovan sends Joisan a crystal gryphon as a gift and she wears it on a chain around her neck.
Joisan and Kerovan never meet before the invaders arrive. Ithkrypt is destroyed and Joisan and company are forced to flee.
Kerovan is ambushed but escapes only to discover that his mother, his sister and his half-brother are the ones who arranged for the ambush. He also finds out that they have turned the locals against him too. He decides he has no future there and travels to Ithdale, only to discover that Ithkrypt is a ruin and Ithdale is overrun by the enemy. He then sets out to find the wife he has never met, Joisan.
This book is told from the two perspectives of Joisan and Kerovan. Much of the story centers on the two as youngsters. It doesn't really start moving until the invasion, when Joisan and Kerovan are just entering adulthood. And when the best made plans go up in smoke as war swallows both their keeps.
Eric
Rincewind gets mistaken for a demon when young demonologist Eric summons him to do his bidding. All Eric wants is three wishes: to rule the world, have the most beautiful woman in the world and live forever.
Rincewind tries to explain that he is not a demon but Eric refuses to believe it since Rincewind is constrained by the spells he uses to control a demon. And he demands his wishes be fulfilled. Of course, this wish thing never works out the way the wisher intended and Eric and Rincewind find themselves in nearly constant danger. They finally end up in hell where they encounter some of the folks they meet during their travels and where the king of hell is being subtly undermined by his reactionary subordinates.
A typical Rincewind story, with the failed wizard stumbling from one misadventure to another, helped out by the relentless luggage. I have to admit that the Rincewind character is not my favorite of the Discworld series.
The Light Fantastic
Book Two in the Discworld series.
The first book ended with Rincewind falling off the edge of the world to certain death. But he is miraculously saved along with Twoflower, the tourist. Together, with the "luggage," the two continue to survive against all odds, helped this time by Cohen, the octogenarian barbarian.
But near death is not just a problem for Rincewind and Twoflower. The whole world is facing annihilation by the sudden appearance of a rogue red star. The key to the world's survival is the major spell lodged in Rincewind's head.
Meanwhile, back in Ankh-Morpork, things are unsettled at the Unseen University as the wizards try to deal with the threat posed by the red star. In the process, the head wizard is killed and an ambitious younger wizard Trymon quickly steps in to take his place.
Meanwhile, the wizards are hunting Rincewind, wanting to gain access to the major spell and they will get him any way they can, dead or alive.
This was quite a lively story. Lots of frantic action, with Rincewind and company constantly in danger but still managing to escape fairly intact. In many ways, it is quite similar to the first book in the series, Rincewind and Twoflower against all odds, only this time the odds include the end of the world.
Review by Fantasy Book Review.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Journey to Munich
Europe right before the start of World War II and things are becoming very tense, especially in Germany. An very important Englishman has been arrested in Germany and Maisie Dobbs is sent on a mission to rescue him.
Maisie Dobbs will be travelling in disguise as the man's daughter because the daughter is too ill to travel. Of course, things are never quite as simple as she was told. For one thing, she has taken on a side mission to contact the wayward daughter of a wealthy and powerful businessman who has abandoned her baby and is partying with the Nazis in Germany. And for another thing, when Maisie finally gets to see the arrested man, he is an imposter and not the man she is there to rescue.
It's odd how differently readers can view a story. I chose this book because I read it was one of the best in the Maisie Dobbs series. But I found it to be too long and rather boring. Not a lot happens and I was ready for it to be over way before the ending. It's not a bad read but it isn't exactly action-filled and there is a lot of backstory of Maisie's past life that I wasn't familiar with.
Review by Publishers Weekly.
The Color of Magic
The first book in the Discworld series where the reader is introduced to the main character, Rincewind, the sort-of wizard. (He flunked out of wizard school and only knows one spell. But that one spell is so powerful, he doesn't dare use it and he doesn't even know what it does.)
Rincewind has a knack for languages, so when a tourist arrives at Ankh-Morpork, Rincewind is the only one who can communicate with him. The tourist, Twoflowers, is loaded with gold and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork are eager to relieve his of all his gold. Rincewind is given the task of keeping Twoflower safe and serving as his guide. Which is going to be a real challenge as everyone who crosses Twoflower's path immediately has plans to murder him and take his trunk full of gold. What the thieves don't realize is that the trunk has a mind of its own and is absolutely loyal to Twoflower and extremely protective of its contents and very capable of defending itself.
A romp of an adventure as Rincewind and Twoflower tumble from one disastrous encounter to another. It ends in cliffhanger, though, which is more than a little annoying.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown
Peanuts cartoons copyright 1963 & 1964. Charlie Brown has a sore elbow from too much baseball and Snoopy has to get a rabies vaccination and other silliness. Even fifty-plus years later, the Peanuts strip is still a wonderful read.
Monday, November 11, 2019
The King Is a Fink!
The Wizard of Id cartoons, copyright 1964, 1965, and 1969.
Medieval shenanigans starring a cruel king, an incompetent wizard, revolting peasants and a cowardly knight. A popular daily comic strip for many years.
Thursday, November 07, 2019
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax
Mrs. Pollifax checked into the hotel, went into the dining room with the signal book and waited. But as soon as the woman sat down, the police showed up. The woman slipped away and left Mrs. Pollifax to face the police alone.
In police custody, they wanted to know why Mrs. Pollifax was consorting with a wanted fugitive. Of course Mrs. Pollifax fobbed them off, claiming not to know the woman and that she thought her just a homeless person. The police allowed her to return to her hotel, but they kept her passport. Now she was stuck in Turkey, unable to leave and knowing that the woman would never return to the hotel again. The assignment was a failure. And it was apparent that someone tipped off the police as to the assignation: a mole within the CIA organization.
And now Mrs. Pollifax's backup man was dead, shot through the heart. Was she next? And what about the desperate woman she had been sent to Turkey to help?Good thing she has an ace in the hole: the super-secret contact. Or is it?
This was an exciting read, as Mrs. Pollifax and the friends she makes along the way struggle from misadventure to misadventure, facing seemingly insurmountable odds yet coming out on top at the end.
Tuesday, November 05, 2019
Think Thinner, Snoopy
Peanuts / Charlie Brown cartoons copyright 1975.
Less Charlie and the other kids and more Snoopy. The Snoopy cartoons are funny but his skills border on the mystical. How can the kids compete with that?
Friday, November 01, 2019
Crock : There's No Escape from the Legion!
Crock comic strips, copyrighted 1981, 1982, 1983.
Led by their cruel commandant, Crock, the soldiers of the Legion do their best (which isn't all that great) to follow orders and defeat the enemy.
Fortunately, the enemy isn't all that smart either.
One of my favorite comic strips, but both Bill Rechin and Don Wilder are gone and new strips are no longer being created.
Hagar the Horrible : Helga's Revenge
Hagar the Horrible comic strips copyrighted 1982 & 1983.
Hagar and his crew doing their "Viking" thing while Helga keeps the home-fires burning.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Crock Marches On
Crock comic strips, copyright 1984 and 1985. Crock is the cruel, selfish commandant of the Foreign Legion outpost in the blazing desert of some unnamed country. Although the locals are after their blood, the soldiers are more in danger from their own leader, Crock. He cares not if the soldiers are starving, thirsty, wounded or underpaid. All he cares about is himself.
What's the Joke, Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey comic strips, copyright 1984 & 1987. What the military would be like if everyone in the military were morons.
Heathcliff Kool Kat
Heathcliff cartoons, copyright 1974, 1975, 1981, 1985, 1986. Heathcliff is a tough cat who takes no prisoners and who has the local butchers and the local dogs all dreading his appearance in their neighborhoods. Kicking ass and stealing fish before Garfield ever came along.
MAD About Sports
Illustrated by Jack Rickard.
MAD contributor Frank Jacobs pokes fun at sports and sports fans. Featuring:
The MAD Sports Hero Primer
The MAD Hall of Fame for Minor Sports
You Can See She's Not a Baseball Fan
If TV Sports Covered a Family Quarrel
Announcements for Athletes
The Polar Bear Club Diving Competition (by Don Martin)
If Sports Editors Wrote Headlines for Great Historical Events
The Big-Time Athlete Yesterday and Today
Band Formations for Small Colleges
Sports for Better or Verse
You Can See She's Not a Football Fan
If Sports Editors Wrote Headlines for the Bible
When Women Take Part in Men's Professional Sports
The copyright is 1972 and the attitudes expressed in the book are pretty dated. Also, it's about sports, a boring subject to begin with.
Hagar the Horrible : Born Leader
Hagar the Horrible comic strip copyright from 1978. Explaining Viking life to modern day humans.
Crock : Are Those Your Good Pants?
Crock comic strips, copyright 1978, 1979, 1981.
Life is hard for the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, stuck as they in the cruel desert and ruled by a harsh and selfish commander. But as written and drawn by the authors, it may be harsh and cruel but it is definitely hilarious.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
At Ease, Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey comic strips, copyright 1970.
Even though these strips date from the Vietnam War era, that war is never mentioned. It is only hinted at as in this strip:
Beetle Bailey comic strip has been around for a long time and most of its jokes are pretty familiar but I still enjoyed reading this collection.
MAD's Al Jaffee Spews Out Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
- Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions Goes West
- A Snappy Answer to Some Stupid Questions that Backfired
- An Out of this World Snappy Answer to a Stupid Question
- A Romantic Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions Love Story
- A Snappy Answer to a Stupid Question Because It Is There
- Through History with Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
You might not think that the "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" bit could be stretched out to fill an entire 192 page book, but Jaffee manages to do so and still be entertaining and funny.
Slide, Charlie Brown! Slide!
Charlie Brown once again suffers the anguish of being a crummy baseball manager/player, with no help from his "friends" or his dog, Snoopy, who surpasses Charlie Brown in talent and charisma.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
The Unknown Ajax
When his son married against his father's wishes, the old lord cut him off. The boy wasn't the heir, his older brother was and the brother had a son of his own. So the succession was safely out of the hands of the disobedient son and his wife from a working-class family.
Then the unexpected happened: the heir and his son died in a boating accident. And now the "weaver's brat" has come to the manor to claim his inheritance, much to the shock and outrage of the old lord and the rest of his family.
But the lord has a plan. He will whip his heir into shape by marrying him off to his granddaughter, much to the granddaughter's dismay and disgust.
Poor "Ajax" doesn't stand a chance . . .
The unknown Ajax is not the "weaver's brat" his newly-found relatives all imagine. Instead he is a man of substance and standing and with a very lively sense of humor. He quickly understands just how they all view him, as a barely-literate bumpkin, and he goes along with the misperception, just for the hell of it. Which makes for a fun and engaging read, one of the author's best novels, in my opinion. Which is why I have read the book many times throughout my life, starting from when I was a teen. The story still grabs me, even now.
The "unknown ajax" of the title and the verses quoted in the story are from the Shakespeare play, Troilus and Cressida.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Heathcliff at Home
A collection of Heathcliff cartoons published in the 1980s. Heathcliff is one tough cat who gets what he wants by hook or by crook and who has all the neighborhood dogs cowed.
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