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This post written by Clint Yotsuba&!
by Kiyohiko Azuma
[cover name=yotsubato]
Yotsuba is one of those kids who is always in her own little world. In fact, I’m not sure she’s ever not been in her own little world. I mean, she’s never seen a doorbell before. The thinks it’s some amazing button that makes people appear. She’s never seen an air conditioner before, but as soon as she sees one, she hates it.
The story starts with Yotsuba and her dad moving to a new city. When one of her neighbors asks where they moved from, Yotsuba says “Left!” She’s a strange little kid.
Not a lot actually happens in the story. At least, not in the first volume. I haven’t had a chance to read the others. Yotsuba wanders around her neighborhood, meets some of the people there, catches cicadas, and goes shopping at a department store. What makes this worth reading is that it’s like Yotsuba has never done any of this stuff before, so it’s all new and strange to her. Also, she has no filter between her brain and her mouth, so if she says everything that goes through her head. Everything.
Her facial expressions and the odd things she says and the really bizarre ways she misunderstands daily life are all just hilarious.
In case you are wondering, the title is pronounced “Yotsuba to!” which means “Yotsuba and!” Most of the chapter titles are like “Yotsuba & Shopping” or “Yotsuba & Rain” or “Yotsuba & something else that totally confuses her.”
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Where to Find It
[librarylist]
[linkplus name=”Yotsuba&!” url=”http://csul.iii.com/search/X?SEARCH=t:(yotsuba)&SORT=D&l=eng” series=false cchasone=some]
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This post written by Clint Nighthogs: a Pearls Before Swine Collection
by Stephan Pastis
[cover name=nighthogs]
Pearls Before Swine is one of my favorite comic strips. Pearls Before Swine is about the adventures of anthropomorphic (human-like) animals; the primary characters are Rat, Pig, Zebra, and Goat. Rat is dishonest and cynical. Pig is… special. But he’s happy, too. Zebra is always trying to help out his relatives who live in the wild, but they always get eaten by lions. Goat is the smart one, so naturally he doesn’t like interacting with the others.
There are a bunch of minor characters, too. Guard Duck is a paranoid duck whose first plan for any situation involves a rocket launcher. Unfortunately, he seems to own a lot of rockets. Snuffles is a cat who divides his time between looking cute and committing all kinds of serious crimes. A whole bunch of crocodiles live next door to Zebra. They would really love to catch and eat him, but they are far too stupid to be a threat (to him, at least). Stephan Pastis, the writer, shows up in the comic strip from time to time. Many of the other characters hate him.
There are a couple of features that may attract or repel you. First, there are a lot of death jokes. If crocodiles show up in a comic strip, odds are that at least one of them will get killed. Some strips start off like “So X died yesterday.” We’ve never met X, but he/she had to die to set up the joke that’s coming. Also, there’s cannibalism. Half the time, when Pig goes to a restaurant, he orders a ham sandwich or a BLT or something else with pork in it. Yeah, Pig’s special.
Second, Stephan Pastis loves puns, and he goes out of his way to work them in. Sometimes a Sunday comic, one of the really long ones, is nothing but preparation for a single pun. I don’t think the puns themselves are always very funny, even for puns, but I really have to laugh at the massive amount of effort he put into setting it up
If you want to see what the comic strip is like, it runs in several Contra Costa newspapers, or you can read it online.
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Where to Find It
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This post written by Clint Bone
by Jeff Smith
[cover name=bone]
Bone begins with the three Bone brothers, Fone, Smiley, and Phoncible, lost in an uncharted desert. They are separated by a swarm of locusts (in a desert?) and each make their way to a lush but very strange valley full of talking animals, quirky people, and monsters. The cousins eventually meet up, but they discover that there are dark forces at work in the valley, and that these forces have taken an interest in the Bones.
Fone seems to be a normal guy. He’s nice, but maybe a little bit naive.
Smiley is easygoing, but he does love to play pranks. He also smokes and gambles and can be talked into doing things he probably shouldn’t do.
Phoncible, also known as Phoney, is the real troublemaker. He’s greedy and dishonest, butt he doesn’t seem to be very good at being dishonest. He tries hard, though.
The story is a good mix of serious and silly. I’ve only read the first volume, but I have heard that it gets a little more serious and eventually turns into an epic fantasy, which some people compare to Lord of the Rings.
There are a couple different editions of Bone. Some are in color. Some are black and white. Usually there are nine volumes in the series, but there is also a 1,332-page single-volume edition.
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Where to Find It
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This post written by Clint Emily the Strange: The Lost Issue
by Jessica Gruner and Buzz Parker
[cover name=emilythestrangethelostissue]
Emily the Strange is kind of like Wednesday Addams. She’s got black hair, pale skin, a fondness for dark clothes, and a gloomy, gothic, warped outlook on life. Plus, she’s strange. And funny.
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This post written by Clint The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster
[cover name=thephantomtollbooth]
The Phantom Tollbooth is a modern fairy tale. It tells the story of Milo, a boy who travels through the strange places of the Kingdom of Wisdom and meets the even stranger people who live there. It’s absurd, funny, serious, and thoughtful, all at the same time.
You can look it up on Wikipedia.
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This post written by Clarissa What’s Michael?
by Makoto Kobayashi
Early volumes may be out of print, but each volume stands alone. This is one of the few American-comic-strip-like, purely comedic manga to be translated into English. It’s well-translated and hysterically funny series, examining the lives of housecats and making fun of both cats and humans. You might like it if you like really strange comedy–it’s a lot weirder than Garfield, and being Japanese, doesn’t feel the need for a punchline at the end of a joke. Sometimes weird things (like cats dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) just kind of happen, and then stop happening, and then the story is over.
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Where to Find It
[librarylist]
[linkplus url=”http://csul.iii.com/search/X?SEARCH=t:(what%27s%20michael)+and+a:(makoto%20kobayashi)&SORT=DX&l=eng” name=”What’s Michael” cchasone=some series=true]
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