Book Description
Each week about fifty New Yorker cartoonists submit ten ideas, yielding five hundred cartoons for no more than twenty spots in the magazine. Arguably the most brilliant single-panel-gag cartoonists in the world create a bunch of cartoons every week that never see the light of day.
These rejects were piling up in the dusty corners of studios all over the country. Sam Gross, who has been contributing since 1962, has more than 12,000 rejected cartoons. (Seriously. He's been numbering every single cartoon he's ever submitted to The New Yorker since the very beginning.) Enter editor Matthew Diffee. He tapped his fellow cartoonists, asking them to rescue these hilarious lost gems. From the artists' stacks of all-time favorite rejects, Diffee handpicked the standouts -- the cream of the crap -- and created The Rejection Collection, a place where good ideas go when they die. Too risqué, silly, or weird for The New Yorker, the cartoons in this book offer something no other collection has: They have never been seen in print until now.
With a foreword by New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff that explains the sound judgment, respectability, and scruples not found anywhere in these pages, and handwritten questionnaires that introduce the quirky character of each artist, The Rejection Collection will appeal to fans of The New Yorker...and to anyone with a slightly sick sense of humor.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous!.......2007-09-27
This book is a must have for those who love New Yorker cartoons. They are even more amusing than some cartoons that are published, however, they are definitely not appropriate for all magazine viewers!!!
Rejected With Good Reason.......2007-09-23
I'm a fan of New Yorker cartoons and would be the first to congratulate the editorial staff on the fine job it's done these eighty years in discovering new talent, employing recognized masters like Charles Addams and Peter Arno, and knowing which cartoons fit the style and tone of the celebrated publication. The editors were wise to give most of the cartoons here in The Rejection Collection a big thumbs down. Sure, there are some concepts in this collection I liked and was surprised they weren't included in the magazine (Pat Byrnes' material most of all, the Marchetto quip on page 95, which was hilarious, and the Tom Cheney illustration on page 114, too) but mostly what's here is a gathering of gross, unfunny, perverse and mocking drawings that the readers of the New Yorker did fine without seeing at all. A much better collection would have dug into the vaults and let us see some rejected pieces that went back decades instead of just the 2000's. I understand a second volume of rejects is coming out this year and I hope it's not the letdown this one was.
You MUST have this book!.......2007-09-19
This is a hilarious and sometimes screamingly funny collection of cartoons that were deemed "too resque, silly, or weird" for publication. In other words, right up my alley.
As big as this volume is, it represents a small percentage of the thousands of brilliant items not fit for the New Yorker, and is absolutely over-the-top funny!
Not to be read in public..........2007-09-05
....unless you don't mind being seen cackling, gasping for breath with beer
running out of your nose.
You already know that these are cartoons by New Yorker cartoonists that were
rejected by that magazine. If you're a regular reader of the New Yorker, this book
will be a revelation: the difference between these cartoons and the ones that get
published is not just that these are much funnier. The difference lies in the
exuberance and boundary-pushing that's the hallmark or true art. Or at least
true cartoons. There's less of the insider-joke smarminess that congratulates you
for being hip enough to get what the joke is. Seeing what the magazine didn't
want to publish has diminished my respect for it just a bit. (I'm not cancelling my
subscription though.)
There's the cartoon of the couple sitting on a couch. Through the window, we see
the full moon. The man is visibly turning into a werewolf. The woman observes:
"You're lucky. I'm turning into my mother." Then there's the Roadkill Zoo and the
Santa with a craving for venison and the ventriloquist who getting drunk while
his dummy barfs and. . . . . . .
_Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG, which was rejected once or twice itself
A Funny Twist on the Usual New Yorker Cartoons.......2007-08-01
The New Yorker cartoons are always fun to read. This book of rejects contains many that can be categorized as "Things you think about but would never dare put on paper." They are laugh-out-loud funny. In addition to the rejected cartoons, each cartoonist was asked to complete a questionnaire, including his/her explanation of what an ink blob reminded him/her of. A most enjoyable read.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Another self-indulgent design monograph (practically everything we have ever designed including the bad stuff) is Stefan Sagmeister's hand-scrawled subtitle for the first book about his work, Made You Look. This, and the book's clear red case and silver-gilded pages, seem contrary to the raw, handwritten style he is known for, already setting us up for a wild and very personal ride through almost the entire corpus of the 39-year-old designer's work. Sagmeister once scratched words into his skin for his own lecture poster at Cranbrook, and this is the book version--sometimes enlightening, sometimes embarrassing, always self-conscious, and ultimately touching. The story is a conversation between Peter Hall's text and Sagmeister's handwritten commentary, a perfect and believable device for an absorbing dialogue. Self-indulgent as Made You Look may be, Sagmeister lays himself open with idealism, irony, and humor, creating one of the most moving books about design. --Juliette Cezzar
Book Description
Just as film, art, music and literature have the power to move people, Stefan Sagmeister's innovative work shows that graphic design, too, can cut to the emotional core. His desire is to transform stale thinking--Sagmeister Made You Look will do just that. Fully illustrated, with a red PVC slipcase, this monograph covers twenty years of his graphic design and features images from the studio archive as well as specific influences and reference points for his projects and ideas. Stefan Sagmeister, born in Austria, received his MFA in graphic design from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and, as a Fulbright scholar, a master's degree from the Pratt Institute in New York. Following stints at M&Co. in New York with Tibor Kalman and as creative director at the Hong Kong office of the advertising agency Leo Burnett, Sagmeister formed the New York-based Sagmeister Inc. in 1993. Text by Peter Hall. Designed by Sagmeister Inc., New York.
Customer Reviews:
Made You Look.......2007-06-14
Stephen Sagmeister is one of the most entertaining and innovative personalities in the design field. This book is an excellent showcase of his amazing and vast body of work. The book itself is an amazing piece of design. Highly recommended.
Sagmeister Rules.......2007-03-02
Stefan Sagmeister is my favorite designer, I get so much inspiration from his work and this book is really great. It shows the evolution of his career and it's really cool to see how his design solutions have evolved.
Brilliant book from a brilliant designer.......2007-02-07
As far as self indulgent books go, this is a great one. Stefan Sagmeister, the king of all the cool little tricks brings out everything in this book. His work is great, and cover the extent of his student, and profession careers, which is a lot more than you've ever seen. Everything from packaging coat hangers, paper turn tables, and self mutilation. The slip cover alone would sell me on this one, revealing a lot more than meets the eye. This is my favorite book; full of style, wit, and a lot more.
Sagmeister... the Master.......2005-08-16
Entertaining, Inspiring and Absolutely Perfumed Book.
One of those books you smell the pages (No metaphor, just put your nose over the pages) and relax completely.
Very creative, and well designed...
Stück Baby! Stück
Irreverent, subversive, and brilliant beyond words.......2005-04-04
If you have any interest in design, get this book. Page after page reveals Sagmeister's mind bending genius. The Stones' 'Bridges to Babylon' CD is far from his finest, but that's only because he didn't have full control over the project.
Book Description
The legendary graphic novel and the sequels that launched an art form.
With graphic narrative that "was closer to the writing of Bernard Malamud or Isaac Bashevis Singer than any comic art which had preceded it" (The Economist), A Contract with God, originally published in 1978, was the first graphic novel: the prototype—along with A Life Force and Dropsie Avenue—for such seminal works as Maus and Persepolis. Set during the Great Depression, this literary trilogy, assembled in one volume for the first time, presents a treasure house of now near-mythic stories that fictionally illustrate the bittersweet tenement life of Eisner's youth. With nearly one dozen new illustrations and a revealing brand-new foreword, this book ultimately tells the epic story of life, death, and resurrection while exploring man's fractious relationship with an all-too-vengeful God. This mesmerizing, fictional chronicle of the universal American immigrant experience is Eisner's most poignant and enduring legacy.
Customer Reviews:
High praise: Reads like a book.......2007-05-21
I'm a relative latecomer to the world of the graphic novel, though I did read my share of comic books as a kid. But a year or so ago, I read Will Eisner's "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and have been talking about it ever since. Time, I thought, to see what else Eisner might have written.
"What else Eisner might have written" is answered in part by this wonderful reminiscence of the Bronx of days gone by. The tales revolve around the history and residents of a tenement block on 55 Dropsie Avenue in the Bronx. To Eisner, it was always a neighborhood - greater than the sum of its parts and capable of moving callous men to teary nostalgia.
The book starts of with "A Contract with God," a relatively short and focused story about Frimm Hersch, a young Jewish boy who escapes Russian anti-Semitic pogroms, makes a contract with a just God, and loses his faith when his beloved daughter dies. Eisner tells us in the introduction that this story is one of the ways he dealt with his own daughter's death, a blow so severe that he plunged it deep into his psyche. What is so intriguing about Eisner's tale is that the reader never quite finds out what was in the contract. But one finds out a little about God and a bit about humanity's willingness to continue to struggle with this Witness to human misery and loneliness.
"A Contract with God" continues with other New York tales drawn from Eisner's memory - a tale about a lonely former opera diva who befriends a penniless street singer; a bitter tenement "super" infatuated with a young girl; a summer "cookalein" or cook-your-own boarding house at an upstate farm where city moms take their kids for a summer in the out-of-doors. Eisner is at his most frank here, not shying away from the pressures and temptations that entice people living in such close proximity to each other. The tales are sexy, brash, violent and always real.
The second story, "A Life Force," is a meditation on the unseen drive of all living things to remain alive and to reproduce. An out-of-work Depression-era carpenter finds a lesson in a cockroach's struggle to survive. His path crosses that of an ancient "rebbe" needs a room built for whose wife, who suffers from dementia. Soon, the story draws in a ne'er-do-well former playboy boy, young socialists, Sicilians gangsters and a woman from Nazi Germany (an old acquaintance of the carpenter) trying to extract her family from the growing turmoil back home. Eisner's depiction of the ever-triumphant "life force" comes alive in a myriad ways that look surprisingly like ordinary living.
The final section deals with the history of the parcel that became Dropsie Avenue. Eisner takes us on a kaleidoscopic tour from its days as Dutch farmland through its many incarnations as a residential neighborhood, vibrant gathering place for immigrant families, rat hole and locale for single-family homes. His tale is populated with crooked real estate developers, local politicians, druggies, thieves, ethnic priests, ineffectual cops and a variety of local characters. Eisner is at his best as he shows how greed and bad housing laws can strip the poor of housing, enrich the unscrupulous and reduce once-proud neighborhoods to rubble. I learned more about the roots of urban blight from Eisner's pictures than from any "serious" book.
Eisner's work is not disposable, like the comics of my youth. His stories have a depth of humanity that makes them fascinating and re-readable. His art exaggerates enough to telegraph his characters' inner feelings, but subtle enough to keep them rooted in reality. A wonderful experience.
Una obra maestra sin lugar a dudas!!!.......2007-02-07
Esta novela gráfica es simplemente sublime, las historias son maravillosas así como la presentación del libro que es de una calidad tan alta, pocas veces vista pero que definitivamente un trabajo tan bien logrado se merece. Cualquier otra cosa que te pueda decir, estaría de mas, si no conoces la maravillosa narrativa, dibujo e inventiva del maestro Will Eisner, este es un claro ejemplo de su maravillosa calidad como artista, ahora que si eres un seguidor, es un libro que debes tener en tu colección. Pero ya sea una razón o la otra, es una compra de la cual definitivamente no te vas a arrepentir.
Forging a path of respect for future artists .......2007-01-10
Comic and cartoon artists are finally getting the respect they have deserved since the Yellow Kid wore his one piece pajama. Artists like Charles Burns and Frank Miller; Seth and Tony Millionaire, all work in a medium whose fan base is basically adult, literate and mainstream. In reading current book reviews of works like "Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth" by Chris Ware or "Blankets" by Craig Thompson, it is clear that the Graphic Novel as an art form no longer requires an asterisk.
All these artists and cartoonists owe this new environment of respect in no small part to the work of Will Eisner, specifically the work contained in this volume. While Eisner was not the first artist to tell a story with pictures, he without question hammered out a stylistic language that others could learn and understand. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that he brought the concept of the graphic novel home and gave it a firm structure and a future. Also important was Eisner's unyielding believe in the graphic novel as a form of fine art, as legitimate a tool for storytelling as any of the traditional oral or written forms. All current artists working in comics owe Eisner in the same way that all Afro-American ballplayers owe a debt of gratitude to Jackie Robinson. Like Robinson, Eisner completely believed in what he was doing and refused to accept anything less than respect for his work, all done in a day when respect didn't come easily or automatically for them.
Now, about the work itself - what can one say? No one will ever replace or improve on Eisner's innate ability to tell a story with pictures. His work was absolutely gorgeous and fluid, the line and brushwork immaculate and dense without every looking fussy. He forged a unique and instantly recognizable style that is the true mark of a virtuoso in any artistic medium, and he was a very gifted storyteller into the bargain. There are certain panels in his best work, like "A Life Force" or "Droopsie Avenue," that are just jaw dropping in their beauty and absolutely unforgettable.
To this day his work is unmatched in its depth and sophistication of theme. Norton deserves much praise for reissueing these trailblazing works in a well bound and attractive hardcover. Recommended highly. -Mykal Banta
A Comic Masterpiece.......2006-12-13
Will Eisner is like Cervantes, Griffith and John Ford. The Contract With God graphic novel is his masterpiece. This is the Don Quixote of Comics. Truly art. Period.
Great Characters, Great Storys, Great Book!.......2006-11-06
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Will Eisner really makes you feel for the characters in his book. There are multiple storys in this book, but it is hard to decide which is my favorite. Even if you are not a huge fan of comic books you will like this book. The storys all take place in the depression era New York on Dropsie Ave. Bottom line is this book is well worth the read.
Book Description
This second volume of Eisner Award-winner(Best Writer, Best New Series) Brian K. Vaughan's Ex Machina collects the TAG story arch. Plus, learn how much the National Security Agency had on the career of the Great Machine.What forced Mayor Hundred to make one of the most controversial decisions in the history of New Yrok politics.This volume features an introduction by the Wachowski brothers and an all new cover by Eisner Award-winning artist Tony Harris
Customer Reviews:
A good comic gets better.......2007-09-06
Mitchell Hundred continues his third career: engineer, unwilling superhero, and now willing but inept mayor of NYC. Well, if you want something done strangely, count on an engineer. They're generally so honest that there's no way to guess what they'll do next - something logical, usually, and that always takes everyone by surprise.
This fictional world moves through the year or so after the 9/11 attacks on NYC and DC. In that world, though, Hundred managed to save one of the towers. And now, as mayor, he has the privelege presiding over the wedding of one of those heroic first responders, Todd Wylie, and his boyfriend. While that ruckus gets up to full volume, something quieter and more deadly is taking shape under the city ...
Vaughn and crew give a lot to like. The story is current and topical, but distant enough for escapist fiction. Vaughn's artwork carries the book - it's skilled and expressive, it has some of Chaykin's monumental quality, but with livelier and more natural poses. Continuing that "more natural" theme. Vaughn isn't afraid of ladies with shoulders, hips, and curves, or of the occasional goofy look on someone's face. The lines are gentler and the palette more subdued than Chaykin, too - but there's nothing imitative in the visual style.
I alrady have the next collection of Ex Machina on my to-read heap, and I expect more to follow it. It got that Eisner award for a reason - if you've read this far and haven't tried this title yet, you probably should.
-- wiredwierd
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Mitchell, now Mayor Hundred, still has the superhuman abilities gained from a strange accident. He no longer operates as The Great Machine, but something from he past may have triggered a serial killer that is now operating.
Taking some unpopular political stances, a good looking writer goes out with him, and will offer some advice and perhaps more.
Sci-Fi Politics.......2007-05-10
This second installment in the Ex Machina series explains how the main character got his powers and became mayor.
Ex Machina's story really takes off.......2007-02-25
'Tag' the second volume in the Ex Machina really takes off. Not only do we get a better understanding of Mitchell Hundred's powers and how he came to be Mayor but we get an outstanding thriller. Deaths are being linked throughout the city to a symbol that has some link to Mitchell's origin and he has to figure things out fast to save lives.
Meanwhile, Mitchell also has to deal with the day to day politics of New York and the hot button issue he sparks when he agrees to marry a gay firefighter and his lover. An excellent second volume really moves the series into high gear and we get a taste of how this might evolve into one of te best comic book series of all time.
Vaughan's Political Sci-Fi Continues To Impress.......2006-05-20
In the next five issues of Ex Machina, Brian K. Vaughan's story of a superhero-turned-mayor of New York City, Mitchell Hundred's administration has to contend with more hotbed political issues as well as some "unnatural" occurreneces that are connected to the device that gave Hundred his powers.
After a brief, and fairly unsuccessful, stint as the superhero The Great Machine, Hundred hung up his tights and jetpack and became New York City's mayor. A strange device gave him the ability to "communicate" with machines, but while he tries to put that life behind him in his new political career, Hundred can't seem to get away from his old life.
Hundred's political career is put in jeopardy when he decides to not only endorse, but perform a gay marriage between the brother of his Deputy Mayor and his conservative boyfriend. If that weren't enough, a mysterious symbol that was found on the device that gave Hundred his powers has been showing up throughout the city, and it is having dire effects on people who stare at it for too long. Along the way, we see flashbacks of Hundred's life during his campaign and we see his history with the NSA.
While the explanation for events at the end was a little confusing, this is still a solid collection. Vaughan can't seem to go wrong as there is nothing by him that I've read that I haven't liked. Runaways, Y: The Last Man, Ultimate X-Men, and this have all been great reads.
Average customer rating:
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New York Festivals 4 (New York Festivals Annual of Advertising)
New York Festivals
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0823065634 |
Book Description
From the wonderful golf cartoons published over the decades in "The New Yorker," cartoon editor Mankoff has culled the best for this book from the magazine's amazing artists.
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Gift!!!.......2006-11-05
I searched and searched for a present for my golf-mad boyfriend, and this was by far the best golf book I could have bought him. Even I enjoy and can relate to the cartoons, fantastic buy and sits proudly on his bookshelf.
Excellent Humor about "Course" and "Off-Course" Moments.......2004-04-12
This book only lacks a knowledgeable introduction by a humorist, top golfer or pro, or cartoonist to make it a five-star offering.
To me, the best humor is one that captures the reality of how the viewer perceives life. In the case of The New Yorker Book of Golf Cartoons, every golfer will recognize her- or himself . . . and members of past foursomes.
Unlike most sports cartoons, these wonderful offerings provide both female and male perspectives as players. There's still the battle of the sexes around the missing male golfer, but not all cartoons are sex stereotyped . . . which I liked.
Here are a few of my favorites:
One guru with a long beard to another in front of cave overlooking a canyon as the second guru tees off: "If you're so enlightened, how come you can't lick that slice?" This reminded me of the section about Deepak Chopra in Who's Your Caddy?
With a tree lying between the ball and the pin, the caddy hands a saw to the golfer.
"The Male Biological Clock" shows a golfer thinking: "If I don't learn how to play golf by the time I'm forty-three, I'll never learn."
A golfer is thrashing behind a bush and birds and animals run pell-mell away from him.
"I am the Lady of the Lake, and because thou hast defiled my crystal waters I must hence smite thee. That or penalize thee a stroke. Your call." As you can imagine, most golfers would avoid the one stroke penalty.
Man races out the door carrying clubs says to wife, "Gotta run, sweetheart. By the way, that was one fabulous job you did raising the children."
A woman stands on a widow's walk atop her roof looking through a telescope towards a golf course.
One golfer to another as the second one takes his ball out of the cup, "Bankruptcy doesn't seem to have hurt your putting eye a bit, Pete."
One golfer to another as the second one wrestles with an alligator in a swamp, "Oh, for goodness' sake, forget it, Beasley. Play another one."
A man holds clubs next to a woman who's just finished her swing. The ball drops into the cup after two bounces. She asks, "Like so?" This reminded me of the time I took my mother to play golf for the first time, and she beat me on almost every hole after the first four. She quit the game in disgust that day, complaining that it was just too easy to be interesting.
Two golfers are thrashing through the high grass beyond the green looking for a lost ball. One turns to the other and says, "You know something, Jeff. There is one place we haven't looked." That's exactly what happened to me when I hit my hole-in-one to a blind green.
I could go on, but won't so that you'll have something to look forward to (other than your next round of golf). You can see that the cartoonists have a great sense of the game . . . that can only come from having struggled out on the links themselves.
This book will be a great gift for a parent who is a golfer for either Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Fore!!
Amusing Perspectives on Both Golfing and Flogging.......2004-04-04
At least to me, reviewing an anthology of cartoons resembles reviewing a performance by Marcel Marceau. Just as you really had to be there to see the performance to appreciate his talent, you really have to see the cartoons to appreciate their creators' talent. So, what to say now? First, that I am avid golfer and thus have a special interest in this volume, one of several in a series. Also, I am a long-time subscriber to The New Yorker and had already seen most of Robert Mankoff's selections as editor. I just wish I had aged as well as they have. Finally, if you love both golf (which is "flog" spelled backwards) and a good laugh, and no one else has as yet purchased The New Yorker Book of Golf Cartoons for you, don't begin dropping hints resembling anvils and then eagerly await the next birthday, anniversary, or holiday. Treat yourself to a copy TODAY. Amazon enables you to check out several of Robert Mankoff's selections as editor. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt from the dust jacket: "Mark Twain called it 'a good walk spoiled.' Lee Trevino said it was the most fun he ever had with his clothes on. For duffers and pros alike, golf can be both a delight and a torment -- often on the same day, sometimes on the same hole." Been there, done that. And, alas, will no doubt do so again...and again...and again. Fellow duffers, however badly you may play, you can count on this volume to entertain you later...and thereby help you to have the right perspective when you golf and/or flog your way through the next round.
The perfect, brainy "no-brainer" gift for golfers........2002-05-25
Golfers are, almost without exception, fanatical and this book hilariously captures all the elements of the game - the joys and frustrations, the golfers and the golf widows, the pros and the duffers.
Book Description
More than a book, this is a bona fide publishing event. The largest-ever collection of New Yorker cartoons features the best of every decade in book form, plus two easy-to-browse CDs--Windows and Macintosh compatible--with every cartoon ever published in the magazine--more than 68,000 of them!
Since its founding in the 1920s, The New Yorker has had a profound cultural impact on the country and the world, and has almost singlehandedly elevated the cartoon to an art form. For the first time ever, EVERY cartoon ever published in The New Yorker is collected in one place.
Accompanying the cartoons in the book, several thousand of them organized chronologically, are essays by eminent New Yorker writers reflecting on the life and times (and sense of humor) of each successive decade. Additionally, each decade includes profiles and mini-portfolios of the cartoonists who made their marks on the era, from Peter Arno and Charles Addams to Bruce Eric Kaplan and Roz Chast. "Theme" features cover such subjects as Drinking, The Depression, and Politics.
The two accompanying CDs feature every cartoon ever published in the magazine in a format that is accessible on any home computer and is browsable by date, cartoonist, subject, and more. This groundbreaking book, several years in the making, has been lovingly compiled by current New Yorker cartoon editor (and respected cartoonist and author) Robert Mankoff, and the foreword is by David Remnick, the magazine's esteemed editor.
Customer Reviews:
Here's a solution to the size problem.......2007-10-08
I finally picked this book up yesterday (10/2007) at a local Barnes and Noble. First of all, everything you've read about the CDs is true; the resolution is so poor that the point of many of the cartoons is lost. Don't buy the book for the CDs.
Second, the cartoons included are great, there are interesting essays about many of the artists and even repeated cartoon concepts, like the "slipper dog." It's a great read.
Third, because the book was so (relatively) inexpensive ($19.95) and hugely heavy and large (it weighs over 9 lbs.) I have decided I might actually do something I would have considered unthinkable: to take the book apart and separate it into two or three pieces that I can actually read sitting in a chair. I've collected, read and loved books all my life and believe me, this is not something I'm considering lightly...
Wonderful book but massive!.......2007-09-28
Have enjoyed the New Yorker since I was old enough to turn the pages. This book is a "real history of our times" in addition to being a pleasure to read. Depressions, wars, politics, and general attitudes are shown with all their "warts and wrinkles". This is a wonderful book, but read it sitting at your desk, or kitchen table, or some other sturdy base. Take several days to go through it, (at the very least), since cartoon meltdown is a real possibily if taken all at once. Aside from the "reading logistics" it's a great book.
Cartoons for the "literati" - buy it for the CDs.......2007-09-10
A book with 6 decades worth of wry New Yorker cartoons needs a strong coffee table and a big lap. Flipping through the book gives you a wonderful look at the flow of current affairs, both social and political. Along the way the editors give us a narrative that's a good course in the history of American humor in the 20th century.
The real bonus, though, is not the book, which despite its being massive is not "Complete." It has maybe 20% of the 60,000-plus cartoon promised on the cover. The complete set you want is on 2 CDs included in the book, and the CDs are searchable by topic, etc.
So if you want a cartoon on consultants (and I'm a consultant), here's one: Two detectives stand over the prone lower half of a murder victim. "By the number an violence of the stab wounds," says one, "I'd guess he was a consultant."
Buy the book so you can open it at any point and smile or laugh out loud; use the CDs to browse the whiole New Yorker cartoon universe and/or find the smiles and laughs you want.
DVD and Book are fantastic.......2007-08-15
I had been apprehensive about this purchase after reading the reviews rubbishing the quality of the resolution on the DVD. I was surprised to find however, that the resolution of the cartoons is fine. Occasionally I will have trouble reading the finer print, but with 72,000 of them, it doesn't really matter.
I have never seen the book.......2007-07-18
It was a gift I bought for somebody else, but the person who received it, took picture of it and she was so happy with the book that I have to rate it 5 stars. Maybe I will buy one for myself too...who knows.
Average customer rating:
- x23 is good, nyx bad!
- Normally I would write a longer review...
- A Mixed Bag
- I love it when comics are THIS good...
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NYX X-23: Innocence Lost (X-Men)
Zeb Wells ,
Joe Quesada ,
Christopher Yost ,
Josh Middleton ,
Billy Tan , and
Jonathan Sibal
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol. 1
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ASIN: 078511825X |
Book Description
X-23: Innocence Lost reveals the full story behind the origin of X-23 - who she is, where she came from and the exact nature of her relationship to Wolverine. You think you know, but you have no idea. In NYX: Wannabe, X-23 joins up with a pack of New York City gutterpunks, the likes of which the Marvel Universe has never seen! The X-Men's dream has always been one of creating hope from despair - in a young mutant's darkest hour Charles Xavier will always be just around the corner, ready with open arms and a helping hand. But Xavier can't be everywhere at once. What becomes of a group of young mutants that have to rely on themselves for everything from food to shelter to lover? Wayward angels with dirty faces who, instead of preparing for Magneto's next big assault, must learn to survive in the cold, harsh world of the city that never sleeps. The world of the X-Men is brought to the streets, and the struggle for survival has never been more uncertain... Collects NYX #1-7 and X-23 #1-6.
Customer Reviews:
x23 is good, nyx bad!.......2007-09-18
the x23 origin story was very well done. on a few of her early missions she plays up to the 'cute little girl' decoy while ensuing to kill everyone in sight! hehe. good story, good artwork, and alot of action! well done!
the nyx storyline, however, sucked. flat out sucked. it sucked so bad, this will be the last line of my review for it!
Normally I would write a longer review..........2007-01-04
But in this case I doubt it neccessary. The X-23 character is, in my opinion, one of the better creations of Marvel to date. Her start on the Saturday morning cartoon X-men Evolution was unlikely but to then be continued into the comics is serindipity. And now the two largest and most focused of those comics are in this trade paperback.
The initial story of X-23 is a better read really. Its a focused story of how she came into being and why she later ends up in New York. The art is clear, well colored and detailed. Added to all that there is a short section about the origin of X-23 as a character in the front with cool little easter eggs in the comic.
The NYX stories are also a good read but the focus on X-23 shifts totally and she is really only a side character. No big deal, its still a good read and while, again in my opinion, the art isn't as crisp and the pastels are less evocitive, its still high class work.
A Mixed Bag.......2006-12-27
I agree with the other reviewers that the first half of this book, collecting the X-23 miniseries, is superb. The writing and storytelling are top-notch, featuring characters that you care about and can sympathize with, and it's also a gripping action/adventure tale. I would compare it to watching episodes of 24 back to back, it's like one long two hour action movie with great characters. The art, also, is superb. It's pretty appealing, with great colors, and very crisp and delightful. Moreover, the action was always clear, and you could always tell what was going on. I would give the story and art both A+.
However, the second half of the story is a mixed bag. It collects NYX, issues 1-7, which was a pretty problematic series. First of all, the writing isn't as good as the first half. It's paced abysmally slow, with new characters being introduced all the time whose purposes are not really clear. Moreover, I found the majority of the characters to be incredible unlikeable. Whereas I could read the first half in one continuous setting, the second half I was often bored and had to put it down to go back to it.
The writer, Joe Quesada, is a great artist in his own right, and did some great things for Marvel as the Editor-in-Chief. However, he's just not that good of a writer. The plot is decent enough, but the dialogue could have used a polish. Honestly, there were many points where the characters were unintentionally hilarious. I applaud him for trying an edgy story, but the way the characters acted and the way they were written made them somewhat comical and laughable. Fortunately, Joshua Middleton's art in issues 1 to 4 more than made up for the story's inadequacies. Not only is his line work gorgeous, but his layouts made up for the writing's problematic pacing. The story and dialogue might have been lame, but the art sure was pretty to look at. However, when this book came out, it was perpetually late, as Joe Quesada could not get the script in on time, and as a result Joshua Middleton left the series to pursue more reliable work to be replaced by Rob Teranishi, who didn't quite live up to the preceding brilliance. Rob Teranishi is no Joshua Middleton, and the characters looked drastically different. Additionally, whereas Middleton told the action very clearly, Teranishi's storytelling was a bit muddled, and I had difficulty understanding some of the action at the end. It was quite a drop from Middleton's excellent artwork to Teranishi's rather average art. On top of that, you could definitely sense that the story was meant to go on much longer, but had to wrap up quickly because Quesada couldn't maintain a monthly schedule. For the previous seven issues, subplot after subplot is laid out, and then... 90% of them were forgotten. So all in all, a mixed bag. Writing: C+. Middleton's Art: A+. Teranishi's Art: C.
So all in all, I would say, the first half is one of the best reads I've had in a while, while the second half was rather disappointing. I would still recommend this though, if you're a big visual art fan. Billy Tan's excellent art from the first half and Joshua Middleton's beautiful art deserve the oversized treatment. Otherwise this volume might be a bit too pricey.
I love it when comics are THIS good..........2005-12-05
Coming from someone with extensive knowledge of the Marvel Universe but knowing nothing about "X-23", let me tell you I was pleasantly blown away by this compendium.
The book is divided into two sections: one corresponds to the X-23 mini-series, the second has the first half-dozen or so "NYX" issues. The two stories are separate and have distinct personalities, written and drawn by separate teams. The common link is the X-23 character. The first part is her "origin", the second part would be something like, "chapter two", I guess.
Anyways, "X-23" is an absolutely stunning story about this waif with retractable claws, created by some clandestine quasi-government operation.
So immediately, there are a few things that come to mind. Obviously, the character Wolverine MUST be involved somehow, no? I mean, come on...look at the cover.
Well, he is, but not in the way you might think. And even if it IS in the way you might think, the story plays out in ways NO one could have foreseen. I read these issues in one white-hot, desperate sitting.
Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, with outstanding art by Billy Tan and Jon Sibal (and sublime color by Brian Haberlin), this is about as good as modern comics get. I'm dying to tell you more, but that would spoil so much of the experience...
Before I go on...no kiddies should be reading this stuff. Lots of violence, blood and gore here...with "adult" themes more prevalent in the book's second half. It's pretty intense.
The book's second half doesn't burn as brightly as the first. The story, by Joe Quesada, and the art by Joshua Middleton, Robert Teranishi and company, aren't as jaw-droppingly good.
Let me get this straight: they're still pretty freakin' awesome. It's just that they happen to follow a particularly mind-blowing set of comics.
This tale introduces us to several young teens, having a bit of trouble in and around the seedy areas of Alphabet City.
By "a bit of trouble", I mean drugs, guns, prostitution, extortion, homelessness, abuse, and of course, those pubertal hormones that cause havoc on young mutants.
Again, it's real tough to avoid spoilers here...there are so many good plot twists and visual sequences in both stories...
...if you are at all curious about these titles...this is an excellent buy.
If you own them already, I have to say you still might want this. The book itself is on par with the other excellent Marvel hardcovers of the past few years...nice binding, great paper, excellent reproduction...and it's a bit bigger than the original comic, so it's, in a tactile sense, a pleasure to read.
I love it when comics are THIS good...
Average customer rating:
- A delight for all ages
- Things that go bump in the night
- Pictures that talk
- Oh the horror - TV watching, jam eating, video game playing wolves!
- Inventive, Witty, Exciting, Perfect for ALL Ages.
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The Wolves in the Walls (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))
Neil Gaiman
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 038097827X
Release Date: 2003-08-05 |
Amazon.com
Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling, and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.
Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. (Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles.") Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.
Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout, "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze." Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware! (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson
Book Description
There are sneaking,
creeping, crumpling
noises coming from
inside the walls.
Lucy is sure there are wolves living in the walls of their house—and, as everybody says, if the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over. Her family doesn't believe her. Then one day, the wolves come out.
But it's not all over. Instead, Lucy's battle with the wolves is only just beginning.
Customer Reviews:
A delight for all ages.......2007-05-05
I don't think I really fell in love with this book until I started reading it aloud to my daughter. I remember reading it to myself first and thinking it was clever and witty and had beautiful illustrations, but when I read it for her for the first time I found myself taking on the different voices of the characters and making sounds effects and really letting the story take us both elsewhere for a while.
It's a simple story: young Lucy hears noises in the walls of her house, and she is convinced that there are wolves living there. None of her family believes her and dismiss her concerns, but she maintains her belief. When the wolves (of course they really are there!) come out of the walls, they do what any wolves would do -- chase the family away and take over the house, wearing the family's clothes and playing video games and eating toast and jam in front of the television with the volume as loud as it would go. The family, with nowhere else to go but led by clever Lucy, has to take their turn inside the walls of their house.
It is as smart, funny, and canny of a book as we might expect from Gaiman (who is often at his best when writing in the short form like this) and is accompanied perfectly by McKean's unique style of illustration, well suited to the story.
But as good as it is, believe me when I say it gets ten times better when you read it aloud for someone. Watching a child's eyes as they get engrossed in the story, as they get excited in the parts where the wolves finally appear, as they sparkle with laughter when they see what the wolves are doing, is its own brand of magic. Once they learn the story (which does not take long, Gaiman makes it easy for them), you'll find them reading parts of it with you, like the repeated statement about what happens when the wolves come out of the walls: "It's All Over!"
My youngest daughter now requests that I read 'The Wolves in the Walls' to her nightly, and if that doesn't tell you this is a great book for kids, nothing else will. And, because I love it too and I love reading it to her, I do.
This is a very, very special book to us.
Things that go bump in the night.......2007-02-04
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean is great. What a wonderful little book! The Wolves in the Walls is about what may be behind those things that go bump in the night. It's the story of a young girl named Lucy who hears wolves in the walls. Of course, her parents don't believe her until the wolves come out, and then all hell breaks loose. This is a great book for children who are afraid of night time noises. It shows that the source of the noises may be just as scared of you as you are of them. It's beautifull illustrated by Dave McKean. Like The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls can easily be mistaken for an art book. I don't think there's a better Writer/Artist duo than Gaiman and McKean. If you haven't already read this one, do yourself a favor and give it a read. There was a play put on not too long ago that was based on this book and unfortunately I didn't get to see it as it didn't come anywhere near New Orleans. I would've really enjoyed that.
Pictures that talk.......2007-01-12
Gaiman-McKean, superb combination as usual.
Honestly, I don't read picture books, but I bought this cute book
to my girlfriend, (as a present for a New Year) because she is also an illustrator and she makes that kind of stuff. (She liked it).
But let's get back to the book.
Mr. McKean's artwork is fascinating as always.
Nice mix of photos, paintings and drawings.
Storyline is crazy, like some short trip into dreamworld.
I won't describe it ofcourse, you can get it from the net.
I liked the balance between the light and the dark part of book.
The light part is when everything was still allright, (before the wolves came), and the dark part is afterwards.
McKean gives us a nice light colours in the beginning, and later, takes us to the night and chills of this interesting short story.
I didn't read much stuff by Mr. Gaiman, (I prefer King, Barker etc) except those Sandman series, and other comix and graphic novels, that I liked also, but never his books and his picture books.
This is first pic book I saw, and I must say that it's great, really.
As an graphic novels author and comics teacher I prefer that kind of stuff, but I'll say to you, give it a try, it's OK for the collection,if you like the work of Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman.
But remember, it's for children!
Oh the horror - TV watching, jam eating, video game playing wolves!.......2006-09-10
This book is so comical I don't see how anyone could really find it disturbing. Sure, the wolves come out of the walls and the family decides to leave but what silly party animals these wolves are. And of course we find that the wolves are actually terrified of the humans as in "when the humans come out of the walls it is all over" The family gets their home back with just some humorous "losses" (a wolf has beat brother's high score on his video game) and a bit of cleaning up to do. The ending has been done again and again and I took it more as a satire of typical children's picture books rather than Mr. Gaiman and Mr. McKean wanting to start an "in the walls" franchise. I think this book would be perfect to use with fifth grade/middle school kids to teach some storywriting techniques and I mourn that picture books are not more often with older students. The illustrations are clever and unique. Yes, in one scene the wolves have red jam on their mouths that could be blood but the text makes it very clear this is all in fun and the red stuff is JAM! This is a fun book and not to be taken seriously.
Inventive, Witty, Exciting, Perfect for ALL Ages........2006-09-10
Lucy believes that there are wolves in her house's walls. She tells her mother, and she says it must be mice. She informs her father of her worry, and he says it must be rats. She goes to her brother, and he says it is bats. Still, Lucy is not assured. ''When the wolves come out of the walls", they tell her ''it will all be over''.
Of course, the wolves DO come out of the walls, and the family is forced to move outside. Any imaginative child will get the humor of the story and will not be scared. The worst things the wolves do are play the tuba and spill jam on the floor. Dave McKean's scratchy illustrations are combined with real photographs to create a beautiful affect. Great fun for readers of all ages.
Customer Reviews:
Mad Just Before the Decline........2003-11-02
Mad as a magazine hit its pinacle in the mid 1960s and then began a decline away from the adult readership to the aimed at kids pap it is today.
The 1970s was however was a fertile period but you can see Mad's shift away from social issues towards the entertainment industry.
Still a fun read though.
When MAD was at its best!.......2002-11-03
Reading this book shows you MAD Magazine as it once was, the only place where anyone and anything can be slammed without stirring contrversy. I am a MAD subscriber and the issues I get have a lot of sexual innuendo or white trash humor or stereotypes of young adult life. (But it's still funny) MAD was great in the 70s, and am I glad to own a copy of this!
hysterically funny remembrances of the seventies.......1999-01-20
If you lived through the seventies, and watched t.v. and movies during that period, this will bring all of the fun memories back to you! The satires of the movies and t.v. shows are, in particular, HILARIOUS!!!
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