Tales Designed To Thrizzle #2
Dear WeboComicsBlogoNet,
It's hard to do this. It's hard to be honest. It's hard to face a breakup, especially when you send me Valentines. I'll be so lonely when you shun me, and pretend like we never knew each other. You won't talk to me in the halls, or even accept my cleverly passed notes in English class.
Still, I have to risk it ... because what's a relationship without honesty? What I have to say isn't what you want to hear, and I fear how you'll view me.
I didn't like Tales Designed To Thrizzle.
There. I said it.
I'm sorry. I tried, but I just couldn't like it. I see where you're coming from: the design is fantastic, and Kupperman's range of his ideas is astounding. It's just that the book was trying too hard to be funny, so desperately calling out on each and every page "Hey! Look at how I phrased this kooky idea in an old-timey style! Isn't that hilarious? I'm talking about poop, but with irony." It's unrelenting in it's simple setup-punchline Dada structure. There's no change of pace, it's not surprising because you know that with each page you'll get about the same joke: something from Column A (Octopus), something from Column B (Fireman), add a dash of deadpan and bake until laughs emerge.
I know ... you laughed. And that's great - it really is.
But I didn't ... and if you're not laughing out loud at Thrizzle, there isn't much else there. Kupperman has an incredible eye, and if he gets past dadaist one-liners I'll be first in line. But even if it destroys our relationship, I won't be buying more Thrizzle.
So there it is.
I really liked Action Philosophers World Domination Handbook, though. Can we at least still be friends?
Love,
Mark
4 comments:
Uh-oh. I specifically mentioned that if you don't like this, you may go straight to hell and we probably can't be friends anymore. But at least you enjoyed Action Philosophers!
I understand your objections to Thrizzle. I liked it not for its ground-breaking-ness, but for the fact that it was like very little you ever see in comics, and it was funny for what it wanted to do. I doubt if I will track down issue #1, because if it's more of this, I agree that it might get annoying. For a one-and-done kind of thing, it's great. It's something completely different, it's very pretty to look at, and there are plenty of laughs. So that's my thought on the whole thing.
But Action Philosophers! was better.
You're not alone. I've also been passing Thrizzle up because Kupperman's work just seems to be trying to hard to impress me with how "weird" it is, and that's a turn-off.
fart
Thanks, Anonymous for putting it all in perspective. :)
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