Comic Review: Lobster is the Best Medicine: A Collection of Comics about Friendship by Liz Climo

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Running Press

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fans have fallen in love with Liz Climo's charmingly quirky animal kingdom, which was first featured in The Little World of Liz Climo-a place where porcupines, anteaters, and grizzly bears all grapple with everyday life with wit and humor.

Friends: They are there when we just want to hang out, or need someone to listen. They make us laugh, and lend a shoulder to cry on. Comic artist Liz Climo captures the true spirit of friendship with this quirkily charming collection. Her animal kingdom is a place where sharks, otters, porcupines, and even crustaceans come together to show the best of what friends have to offer.

This little book will remind you to appreciate your own friendships...and inspire you to share with a special pal.

Review:

This is a collection of animal comedy strips. All two panel pages of humor, light-hearted and sweet; mostly about friendship and odd friend pairings, but also some odd situations animals can get into and puns.

I'd read some of these before, but others were new to me. It was a very fast read, but also really fun. Quick little humor snippets, cute drawings and sense of humor.

This was a delightful little book, and I plan on picking up more.

Comic Review: Herding Cats (Sarah's Scribbles, #3) by Sarah Anderson

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: 2018

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Adjusting to life as a world-famous cartoonist isn't easy. Terrifying deadlines, piles of junk-food wrappers under a glowing computer screen, and an ever-growing horde of pets....umm, never mind--it's pretty much the same.

With characteristic wit and charm, Sarah Andersen's third collection of comics and illustrated personal essays offers a survival guide for frantic modern life: from the importance of avoiding morning people, to Internet troll defense 101, to the not-so-life-changing futility of tidying up. But when all else fails and the world around you is collapsing, make a hot chocolate, count the days until Halloween, and snuggle up next to your furry beacon of hope.

Review:

I have only just recently started expanding my comedy comics collection, and I've read a bit of the Sarah Scribbles stuff online, so picked this up when it was on sale. Not realizing that it was the third and final book in the set, of course. Thankfully none of it necessarily has to go in order, so not too big of a deal. I could tell it was her more recent work, though, more polished, than some of her earlier stuff.

The protag here is an introvert and a cat lover, and this is mainly comedic strips featuring the struggles regarding the everyday life, only she's also a famous cartoonist. It's all very fun, really. Very relate-able and funny.

About a quarter of the book, at the end, features some advice from a cartoonist to potential artists out there. It's actually a really sweet bit of the book, with heartfelt advice and encouragement. I definitely recommend picking this up, or gifting this book in particular, to the artistically inclined people out there.

Comic Review: Strange Planet by Nathan W Pyle

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5-5

Publisher: Morrow Gift (William Morrow/HarperCollins)

Release Date: November 2019

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Available November 19, 2019, Limited Quantity. Author Signed First Edition Hardcover. Straight from the mind of New York Times bestselling author Nathan W. Pyle, Strange Planet is an adorable and profound universe in pink, blue, green, and purple, based on the phenomenally popular Instagram of the same name! Strange Planet covers a full life cycle of the planet’s inhabitants, including milestones such as: The Emergence Day Being Gains a Sibling The Being Family Attains a Beast The Formal Education of a Being Celebration of Special Days Being Begins a Vocation The Beings at Home Health Status of a Being The Hobbies of a Being The Extended Family of the Being The Being Reflects on Life While Watching the Planet Rotate With dozens of never-before-seen illustrations in addition to old favorites, this book offers a sweet and hilarious look at a distant world not all that unlike our own. I feel more attractive. Honestly, you are. It’s the star damage. I CRAVE STAR DAMAGE.

Review:

I've been following Nathan W Pyle on Twitter for a while now, after discovering these Strange Planet comics. I pre-ordered the book pretty early on.

These comics are so funny and so cute. I love the perspective of looking at the human world from an alien perspective, describing things in much more real terms that we don't think of anymore. They're very real sometimes, too, in their honesty and portrayal.

There are some new comics in this collection, as well as the loved ones posted online. It's a very nice hardback, with pretty comics on the inside covers and organized in an interesting way.

If you like fun comic strips and humor books, I definitely recommend picking this one up.

Manga Review: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Volume 3, by Izumi Tsubaki

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: May 2016

Volumes: 10+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

To the eyes of classmate Chiyo Sakura, high school student Umetarou Nozaki--brawny of build and brusque of tongue--is a dreamboat! When Chiyo finally works up the courage to tell Nozaki how she feels about him, she knows rejection is on the table...but getting recruited as a mangaka's assistant?! Never in a million years! As Chiyo quickly discovers, Nozaki-kun, the boy of Chiyo's dreams, is a manga artist...a hugely popular shoujo manga artist, that is! But for someone who makes a living drawing sweet girly romances, Nozaki-kun is a little slow on the uptake when it comes to matters of the heart in reality. And so Chiyo's daily life of manga making and heartache begins!

Review:

After taking a break from this series, and reading more of her Oresama Teacher series, I think her humor has started growing on me again. This volume was a lot of fun, and just what I was looking for. I'm very behind, but I might have to catch up.

There's a rather big cast in this series, and I tend to forget who some of them are. We got a few chapters featuring side characters, like Nozaki's publishing team—his editor and his friends, like at a school reunion. Aside from that, there are some miscommunicated dating attempts, a visit to the glee club, a check in with the theater club. Chiyo finds her forgotten Valentine's chocolates for Nozaki, and Wakamatsu discovers and renames some tones.

I really do enjoy all of the time spent working on Nozaki's manga, and how crazy it can be. Seeing his flaws in that area is also quite funny. The other school antics are great, and all of the characters are so odd. It's a lot of fun to read.

I'm really looking forward to the next one now.