Catabunga!: A Get Fuzzy Collection by Darby Conley

Catabunga!: A Get Fuzzy Collection by Darby Conley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


One of the few books I've read in 2018 in physical form. Based both on how much easier it is to read comic strip collections in physical (as opposed to digital) form, and the need to buy something from Amazon and needing 'something extra' to get to $25 and free shipping. Yes, I got this book because my old phone broke and I needed to buy phone protection stuff for new phone (cheaper via Amazon than from phone company).

What's to say about a comic strip collection? There was humor - some good, some bad, some that seemed like the characters had switched to a language I didn't read . . .; the cat, Bucky, continued to terrorize, think himself smarter than he really is, while the dog, Satchel (heh, I do not actually recall name of dog), continued being kind of dim but with moments of smarter than expect. The human was rarely in this collection oddly enough. And . . . um . . . right.

Rating: 3.3

June 4 2018



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Jane's World 8-11 by Paige Braddock

Jane's World: Volume 8 by Paige Braddock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jane, Chele, Skye, and Jill go on a vacation trip together to the Florida Keys but before they reach their destination, their plane crash lands. Stuck on one of the 800 'large enough to be on the map' islands in the Keys, the four attempt to do stuff. Like sleep. Then some Polynesians show up (despite being in the wrong ocean for them to show up) and attempt to marry one of the Polynesian women to Jane. Jane want no part of this but the others press her into going through some 'tests' because they figure that this would be a way to get off the island. Eventually they run into 'shallow-breast guy' who is also on the island, along with a photographer and some bikini wearing models.

A funny continuation of the series. Though it should be noted that at no time do Chele and Jane walk in a river while carrying stuff over their heads like on the cover of the comic strip collection.

Rating: 4.4

April 15 2017



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Jane's World: The Quest for Love by Paige Braddock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


'The Quest for Love' - the various women in the comic series are on a quest for love, and/or attempting to have more 'mature' relationships. Well, some of them.

Chele is dating the photographer from the prior book - Michele (this is the first time I noticed that they actually have the same name, unless Chele is not actually a nickname taken from Michele). Jill is dating Skye (who had been dating Jane). Jane is dating . . . a Hooters waitress (and is having an on-again-off-again 'situation of confusion' with Dorothy).

As noted, Chele meet Michele in the prior book - Michele had been taking photographs of barely clothed women on the beach while Stephan Pastis stood around making vaguely inappropriate comments. Jill meet Skye . . . well, not sure when they first meet, but the certainly bumped into each other on that same Flordia Key's vacation/crash landing that put Chele and Michele together (though they didn't start dating at that time). And Jane?

Recalling that Jane works as a reporter, several news assignments were given to Jane. One saw her sent undercover to Hooters to investigate . . . um . . . the treatment of women or something like that. Jane? Undercover at Hooters? No Jane's breasts didn't suddenly get bigger or anything like that, they actually got smaller. By having them strapped down - she went undercover as a boy. Meanwhile, as part of that story, the woman who Jane attempted to use as a life coach a long while back pops up again - and see's Jane in her 'boy' costume and assumes that Jane is 'transistioning'. Because of that she admits that she, a lesbian, has a breast phobia (and then proceeds to have a flashback as to why - almost smoothered by a large breasted woman; oddly I've already seen this plot line before in a different comic series - in 'Ménage à 3' (in that comic it was a psychology student while here it was a life coach; that one also had a woman who had a penis phobia and was, for the most part, straight - her father was hugely popular manga author/artist in Japan - famous for his use of tentacles molesting women, the woman with the penis phobia sees the penis as a tentacle and freaks out in a 'must kill it' kind of way)). Naturally Jane believes that the way to 'cure' this phobia is to bring that woman along to Hooters.

Later, after having one of the Hooters waitress's flirt with then begin dating Jane (already knowing that Jane was actually a woman - just thought she was ultra butch, not thought she was a boy), Jane goes on another reporter assignment - to investigate . . wait, no, to report on a mountain bike race.

Which lead to basically every female character in the series (well not really, just a lot of them) to end up popping up there as well. And an orgy breaks out. No, really.

Another fun, humorous, way to pass the time.

Rating: 4.55

April 15 2017

ETA: I've no idea how to get this rereading thingie to stop recording everything I read as being either not completed or read 3 times (if I don't insert the dates, it doesn't get recorded as read; if I do insert the dates, it records the books as being read 3 times (even if only 1 set of dates shows). mmphs. I think I fixed it, though, but if I haven't - that's why I include this note here. That I've only read this collection once.



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A New Frontier by Paige Braddock

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the '10 year anniversary' collection. Collects the next set of comics not previously released, and includes text - a little nonfiction section in which the author mentions how Jane's World came about and a little mini-autobiography about herself. Quite fun and informative and stuff.

The 'new stuff' involves a version of Jane sucked into a 'Last Starfighter' type situation (or, more accurately, recreates that movie with Jane in the starring role). And like in that film - a 'I'm not a robot but a simul...somthing' is put in place of Jane on Earth while Jane is up flying around in space. 'Fake Jane' is super competent, doesn't whine, is good in bed, doesn't eat as much junk food, and is a good reporter -naturally every one is suspicious of this Jane because this Jane isn't 'acting right'.

Both the science fiction 'Jane's World' take on 'Last Starfighter' and the author's autobiographical section were fun things to read. And basically take up the entirety of the book. Sooo I guess I have nothing else to comment on since I already commented on both of those thingies.

Rating: 4.68

April 15 2017



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Jane's World, Volume 11 by Paige Braddock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The last of the collections available to be read and devoured, though there's a prose novel set in this universe that occurs after this one, and comic strips online that also continue the story (and then there was a reboot or something like that relatively recently - haven't looked closely yet to see what that might mean, though I know the woman who popped up on the prose novel turns up almost immediately in the comic so I think it's more of a continuation, though again I haven't looked yet).

Sooo . . . what happens in this one? More wackiness, of course. Jane continues as a reporter, adjusting to life back on earth and with a live-in girlfriend. Then the paper closes, the girlfriend moves out, and she's briefly sucked back up into space for a moment or two. You know, the average. Meanwhile the other women in the story continue bouncing around, doing their thing, going into and out of relationships (sometimes with the same woman they already were in a relationship with).

Somewhat less satisfying than the previous collection, and some of the others. Don't really have much else to say so . . ..

Rating: 4.18

April 15 2017



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Pearls Hogs the Road: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury by Stephan Pastis

Pearls Hogs the Road: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury
by Stephan Pastis
Pages: 264
Date: April 25 2017
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Series: Pearls Before Swine

Review
Rating: 4.44
Read: 4/8/2017-4/9/2017

*I received this book from the publisher and Netgalley in return for a fair review.*


This is a Treasury instead of a Collection which means that it contains two of the smaller 'collections'. Which two? hmms. Not sure. I do know that it contains "18 months' worth of Pearls strips." because the introduction says so. That tidbit plus the part wherein three of the comic strips were "drawn by Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, who, in 2014, ended a 19-year hiatus fromt eh comics page to draw three Pearls Before Swine strips."So, if nothing else, this Treasury contains that important bit of comics - three Waterson drawn comic strips. - And then I read the introduction. And it was hilarious. All about attempting to contact Bill Watterson, workign with him, etc. And then the introduction indicated where I could find the Watterson strips so obviously . . . I finished reaing the introduction. But once that was done, I hurriedly turned to those pages and gazed upon them (okay, I wrote that I did. Now I'll go gaze upon them; and so I read those three strips, and they were brilliant). And then I read the rest of the book. The end. Yay screamed . . . um . . . something screaming.

That was a neat hook to use, to pull myself into and through writing something, anything. Otherwise . . . what exactly do I write? 'The comic strips were good, they were funny - when the were, occasionally flat, enjoyable experience' - seems the safest without me going line by line and writing a 900 page treastise on Stephan Pastis's comic book. Because that's what I tend to do when I review comic books I pick up from Netgalley - ramble in a text box while reading. Occasionally inserting things like '*giggles* - you had to be there'. Fun, right? So - glad I had a hook to sink into the fish shaped . . . um . . . I need another word than hook, I already used it. mmphs.

Well, there is obviously something else I could mention - there are little wiggly lines underneath the comic strips - they form letters/words/sentences - Pastis has left thoughts on his comic strips. I do not recall if I've seen his thoughts before in such a manner. This is what I get for reading collections instead of treasuries, I assume. And there are some rather hilarious bits in those sentences (as, for example: "Whenever I'm unsure about something in the strip, I check Wikipedia, because whoever does the page for Pearls knows more about the strip than I do."). Occasionally I found myself laughing loudly - and realize that it wasn't because of the comic but because of the words under it. And then I'll giggle a few times, later, and realize it was because of the comic and not the words (see, this is what I was saying earlier, this is kind of boring. I stop now).

Rating: 4.44

April 8 2017

Business Cat by Tom Fonder

Business Cat
by Tom Fonder
Pages: 128
Date: September 27 2016
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Series: Business Cat

Review
Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
Read: July 31 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in return for a fair review.*

My first book by this author. A book about business, a cat; specifically a business cat and the humor inherent in such a concept.

hehe - like, for example, a cat sitting calmly in his seat at his desk looking around, up, down, around, ten calmly reaching over and pushing a coffee cup off his desk. Why? Because he is a cat.

Or leaving a dead bird for an underling. Then calmly stating 'you've earned it.'

Or rubbing against the legs of a potential business partner - 'turning on the charm'.

Or sitting on the floor in the bathroom . . . right, I need to stop babbling like this.

A mostly funny book, though I personally might have enjoyed it better if it had actually been a cat instead of a human with a cat head in place of a human head. Plus, the guy's 'cat' is a cat with a human head - quite frankly that was super disturbing.

Some of the jokes wer quite hilarious, some were funny, some where meh. Depends on how they hit you at the time, of course - for whatever reason, the liter box in the dinning room that the cat headed person showed to his human guest - the expression on her face, and the expression on the face of her husband who was sitting at the table eating with her right behind him - struck me as hilarious at the time.

And some of the jokes were confusing. Like the cat sitting in a waiting room holding a magazine titled 'Body Shame'. Confusing.

Other than the few meh and or confusing strips, this is a rather humorous great book. Though I recommend reading it in smaller snippets than I did.

July 31 2016

Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope by Berkeley Breathed

Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope
by Berkeley Breathed
Pages: 144
Date: September 13 2016
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Series: Bloom County

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: July 14 to 15 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, Diamond Book Distributors, and IDW Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

There are several disadvantages to not having a presence on Facebook. No . . . no, I'm thinking, I'm sure I can think of . . . holy crap, new Bloom County comic strips? Appearing on Facebook? Well crap, that'd have gotten me onto Facebook by itself, in and of itself. I might even use my real name if it had been Calvin and Hobbes, but I'd fake my way for Bloom County. Luckily for me in this specific instance, the only time I heard about this is when I saw the book appear on Netgalley and had the opportunity to read it right then and there. So no need for fakeness and stuff. Now excuse me for a few moments (or hours or . . whatever) while I read this book here I have in my limited time hands (55 days? I'll be done, like, immediately *nods*)

Ah Bloom County, how I loved the . . the. . . how do I spell the when it is spelled exactly like the? pfft. Okay then. Ah Bloom County, how I loved you, no matter what name you go under (and there have been several). Well, I did love you, but I'm still in the excited moment of realizing this book exists but before I actually read it. I've only gotten so far as to opening the book up. Hmm. I do not have the cover. No matter. Instead I open up on a picture of Opus hitting Bill the cat in the butt with a light saber.

Okay, one problem with reading this on this locked PDF reader thingie that I can't remember the name of - the text is tiny. mmphs. Ah, good, got it bigger. *reads*

A word about the accompanying text in this volume: all commentary comes from the original Facebook posts as written by fans in reaction to Bloom County strips

See? If you are like me, you do not even need to have been on Facebook - the entire experience is right there for you. Okay, the part wherein the comic strips are there plus the comments, minus having to read this on Facebook.

Okay, I just spent like 5 excited minutes getting the book, then writing in this box. At some point I need to actually read the book, right?

Hmm. Berkeley Breathed notes that Harper Lee directly inspired his comic strip.

Don't let Opus die
Love, Harper

As in Harper Lee.

After 26 years, Berkley Breathed played around with a panel. Not sure if he would reach the fourth one. And when he did he . . . snickered. He had found joy. And so, the comic strips he then produced.

hehaha - Opus tries out the internet for the first time. Visits Google. Puts in two words (separately, though Google doesn't know that) that bring him joy. Suds. Nuns. hehehe

hehe - Opus doesn't want to go back to a world of Clinton vs. Bush, Donald Trump running around weirdly, he wants to stay in this world. - hehe. Okay, I'll stop doing that now.

We're stuck in a National Groundhog Day Nightmare! Bill Clinton will soon be stalking the halls of the White House again, pinching asses with both hands!

Hmm. The comic strip just insulted cats and then started a 'Support Trump' grassroots. mmphs. 'Flightless fowl for Trump'.

This was a super funny series of comic strips.

July 15 2016

Big Nate: Thunka, Thunka, Thunka by Lincoln Peirce

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

Big Nate: Thunka, Thunka, Thunka
by Lincoln Peirce
Pages: 176
Date: March 1 2016
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Series: Big Nate

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 21 2016

Back when I used to read comic strips in the paper (and read newspapers, gah, I can still feel the print transfering and smearing onto my hands *shudders*), Nate was one of the comics I read. I have probably a good many of the collections that have been put out, just not in the collected form - just by reading the strips in the paper. I mention all that because I appear to only actually have one book by Peirce in my catalog marked as read. Odd, that.

No matter. I was offered the opportunity to plunge myself back into this universe, and I took leapt at the chance. And do what I sometimes do - the review as notes taken as I read:

hehe - well, the first strip is funny. So, so far I'm glad I got the chance to read this.
Nate: You're a celebrity. All over town you're known as "That guy who hands out lame halloween candy." - hehe - ack. hehe. See, I'm already giggling, then the punchline came and I actually laughed outloud. Not sure children would necessarily get it, though. Maybe, not sure.

hehe - some relatively mundane strips followed by one that made me laugh out loud again. Good good.

Okay then. A mix of relatively flat comic strips and some rather funny. *nods* Several that made me laugh a little too loudly.

'You might have a future as a mimie' - hehehehe

Bah, I was about to mention another funny line. But I can't keep putting them her, what'll other people do? No, I not be bad. So then, imagine this line here [redacted] - it was hilarous.

Dang, this thing keeps making laugh loudly. hmms. Who would have known, eh? Granted, part of this goes back to my first paragraph wherein I noted that I used to read this comic in the papers. Well, I haven't in a while so 99.9% of these are new to me. Therefore their humor is fresh and exciting.

Shesh. I just keep bursting with laughter.

Oh. I suppose I should mention something about what the book is about. Nate is a student at a school, P.S. something or other. Several reoccurring characters appear, like the teacher he hates, the girl he fancies, the girl he hates, the people who are friends with him, the big sister, the balding fat dad, the dog who is in love with a cat. A cat. (No, I'm not saying that in shock or anything, I'm including the cat in the list of reoccurring characters).

Various story lines are followed, Nate and his attempts to keep from getting detention, his non-athletic/nonmusical father who keeps trying to get involved athletically or musically; Nate's whining about Jenny and how she is with another guy and not him. The attempt to write a fight song for the school. The attempt to get a sponsor for the baseball team (Nate visits several places, including a mention of visiting Victoria's Secret, to find this sponsor).

hehehe - oops sorry, here I am trying to break away from rambling by actually writing stuff, and I got interrupted by a really funny bit. Sorry about that. I'll try to contain my laughter (I'd mention what it was that was funny, but I've done that too often and do not wish to spoil to book).

Ah man, it's over. I'm super sad now because the comic strip collection suddenly ended. By the way, apparently this collection is in some way connectd to 'amp! COMICS for kids'. To which I note: (1) I'm not a kid so I do not know if kids will enjoy the comic. It's possible. I know one or two punchlines might, possibly, be over their head. Depending on age. And general interests. (2) non-kids, as in humans and not the young of goats, should probably not be adversely impacted by seeing that 'comics for kids' on the label. Becasue it can be read by adults. At least one. Me. And I'm almost really old. But not yet. Hmm, if I joined the military I'd already have 20 years in. Right, got distracted there.

I recommend this book to one and all. Who like humor. That includes this humor being presented by way of a youngish child.

February 21 2016

Fowl Language: I Used to Be Cool and Do Cool Things by Brian Gordon

Fowl Language: I Used to Be Cool and Do Cool Things
by Brian Gordon
Pages: 128
Date: March 22 2016
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Series: Fowl Language
Webcomic address: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/?pw_highlight_code=74798

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 20 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

My first book by this author. I was looking around Netgalley to see what they had available to be 'read now' and spotted this book here in the humor area. Glanced at a few reviews over on Goodreads - which included several pictures from the book - and found the pictures humorous. So I selected this book to read.

Like the last book I attempted to read through Netgalley, I ended up starring at the provided file with confusion. Well, took me a while, but I've finally figured how to open a acsm file. See, it kept trying to load in the Adobe PDF thingie already on my computer. But that specific one couldn't read acsm files. So . . . . eventually I found something that read acsm files, downloaded it. Then realized that I had downloaded the program to my phone. Which didn't help me any. Eventually I figured out how to download Adobe Digitial Editions to my PC so now I can actually read this here book. Yay me. So then, the book itself.

First off I'll note that I've read several parenting/family themed comics/books, which this book here falls within, but am not myself a parent. I do have a nephew, so . . ..

From the introduction: 'I remember thinking that this crap was WAY less magical than I had been promised.' - hmm, confusing that. Having an actual human 'suddenly' appear where no human existed before - that's magical. Parenting? Who said parenting was magical?

Huh. I see now. Apparently everyone but him in his social circle had 'easy babies' but he had a 'hard baby'. Then he found out his experience wasn't, in fact, the sole experience of having a 'hard baby' out there. I see now why he got confused, if his social circle had magical babies and he didn't. Hmms. Magical babies. Odd concept that. If I had something like that in my life, not that I would (as in, I know my own genetics, a magical baby ain't coming out of me), I'd think that my baby had been replaced by an alien - or someone else's kid. If, I mean, the baby was magically easy. (yeah, I know, he actually concludes that his social circle were lying, not that there were magical babies out there).

Heh. Well, that bodes well. I moved from the introduction to the first actual comic and burst out in laughter. Odd, I am, but still. I laughed. Yay, my brain thinks.

'Who hates naps?!' - hehehe

'stupid genetics' - hehehe

hmms. I might accidentally die by laughter.

hehehe - 'Why I don't get invited to baby showers anymore' - hehehe

ha-hahe - 'evidently I was friggin' Hitler in a former life.'

hmms. Okay, some just flew over my head. Like the Advent Calendar one.

hehehehehaha - 'not a single piece of your Halloween candy was poisoned...'

'Three'. heh

'I don't wanna be a tree stump!' hehehe

Okay, I need to stop randomly laughing at stuff in this review. Needless to say, there's a lot of very funny stuff going on in this here book. It's funny, it is.

'But we're outside!!!' hehehehe. oops, was supposed to stop doing that, I was.

hehehehe - 'Holy crap, I'm raising a politician.'

This is/was a really really funny little comic book. All should read. *nods* Don't have to be a parent, I know, because I'm not a parent and I laughed really loudly.

February 20 2016

Grumpy Cat, Volume 1 by Ben McCool

Grumpy Cat, Volume 1
by Ben McCool, Royal McGraw, Elliott Serrano, Ben Fisher, Steve Uy (Goodreads Author) (Illustrations), Ken Haeser (Illustrations), Tavis Maiden (Illustrations), Agnes Garbowska (Illustrations)
Pages: 104
Date: February 16 2016
Publisher: Dynamic Forces
Series: Grumpy Cat

Review
Rating: 3.80 out of 5.0
Read: January 28 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

Grumpy Cat, the comic, is often times cute and funny. And really really short. A lot of the stories are quick little adventures. The kind where everything is set up, certain things happen, then poof off to the next story – all seemingly within a few pages.

Some of the ideas might be interesting to have seen followed through, like detective Grumpy; haunted house Grumpy; superhero Grumpy.

Characters
Grumpy - as might be expected, the cat that became a meme on the internet for having a permanent grumpy expression (a genetic condition) is, in fact, the star of this self-titled comic series.

Pokey is a hyperactive constantly in motion, constantly wanting to play house mate of Grumpy’s. Oh, and a cat. I forgot to mention the cat part.

Others - the above are the two most common characters to appear, though occasionally others appear, like a dog, and ghosts, and . . . others.

Plot
It’s hard to discuss/describe the plot since this is a collection of many very short stories. Mind you, some authors have become super famous for writing stories so short that they can be contained on one page. So super short stories, in and of themselves, are not a ‘problem’.

It’s not always easy to see in a collected volume, but there appears to be three or four stories every 26 pages. Most of these stories are, to a certain extent, interesting. Humorous at times. The problem, as I think I’ve mentioned before, is simply the fact that the stories get me interested in a certain topic/theme then . . . that specific topic of theme is suddenly over before I could ‘get my thrill.’

Overall
I think, I’m not sure now, but I do believe that I had recommended people to try at least the first comic way back when it appeared. I don’t remember if it was cheap, free, or what my rationale was, but simply that the comic was a humorous way to spend a few moments out from the overall hard working life many people suffer. That’s harder to say in regards to a complete volume, at least in terms of talking about how ‘inexpensive’ it all is. Still, I’d recommend Grumpy the volume. As long as you like cats. And mild humor.

I did something I rarely do – I looked at some of the other reviews before I started my own review. Therefore I saw a somewhat reoccurring theme, that being ‘Garfield’. Well, sure, both involve cats. Garfield is more lazy than grumpy, though that can, at times, come across as grumpy. And both Garfield and Grumpy have somewhat annoying younger cats that they kind of dislike (I can’t recall exactly the name of the cat, Nerman? Nermal? Norman? Something like that). Though the hyperactive, always cute cat in Garfield is somewhat a rare addition to the storyline, while Pokey is in, I think, all the stories.

In looks and temperament, I might have thought of comparing Grumpy and Bucky. I could be wrong, but they might be both the same breed of cat. Though, if I recall what I’ve read in the back story to the Bucky series, the writer/author there didn’t base the cat on any specific breed/cat. While Grumpy, obviously, is based on Grumpy. In looks mostly. I’ve some vague understanding that the real Grumpy might actually be a sweet little kitty, though again, I could be wrong there.

Oh, one thing I was going to mention – I didn’t actually realize, until I saw this on Netgalley that this series was for kids. See, here I was having fun reading a comic that had mild humor and involved a cat, and suddenly I learn that it was designed for kids. Mmphs. Heh. Would this hold a kids attention? Would a kid just absolute love this collection of comics? No idea, I’m not a kid and I do not have full time responsibility for any kids, so I am not sure. Would an adult enjoy a comic designed for kids? Well, I did.

I probably would give the overall collection of comic issues, I think they collect four or five issues?, a combined score of around 3.8 out of 5.0 stars.

January 28 2016