You're all just jealous of my jetpack

Following on the success of Goliath, Gauld offers a collection of strips drawn from his weekly cartoon for U.K. newspaper the Guardian. The author offers wry perspectives on many topics, from trivial amusements to darkly serious subjects, from literary infighting to the war on women, and from video games to generational conflict. Instead of giving in to despair, Gauld seems to embrace human absurdities, reveling in the comedic possibilities offered without languishing in mean-spirited cruelty. His economical art-think Edward Gorey drawing elegant stick figures-is married to dry, incisive humor, making each strip a carefully composed marvel. The Guardian strips have for the most part not been available to North Americans. This book will change that and establish Gauld on this side of the Atlantic as a cartoonist on par with Charles Addams and Gary Larson. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Following on the heels of Goliath is cartoonist Gauld's (The New Yorker; The Believer) collection of weekly cartoons originally created for The Guardian. Considered the best in the field, Gauld uses a minimal, clean style that owes more to the classic elements of art than to over-the-top sight gags, giving the panels a restrained beauty to complement the oddball world they represent. This small sampling of work runs the gamut of subjects showing the author's range of talent, although literature and academia are popular topics. Readers are treated here to a Feminist Fairy Godmother and the Bronte Sisters video game, as well as a host of acutely observed thoughts on popular culture, literature, science, and human nature that use the absurd as a touch point. Verdict Intellectual and wryly funny and a treat for literary graphic novels readers.-E.W. Goodman, Art Inst. of Pittsburgh (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.