Product Description

Richard Thompson reminds us that being a 40-year-old isn't hard, but being a four-year-old is. His warm, welcoming reminders are wonderfully lighthearted and funny as he brings home Alice's life in a fun, new Cul de Sac collection.

Alice and her Blisshaven Preschool classmates charm fans of all ages. Their adventures ring alarmingly true to parents of little ones, too. From doing projects in a whirlwind of crayons and markers to their nonstop chatter to trying to comprehend a completely incomprehensible world, Thompson's characters make Children at Play a must-read. The little boxes crammed together, the shopping malls, and the insane traffic systems set the scene for the storylines and adventures that only suburban life can provide.

Thompson's witty dialogue meets comically unique drawings to make Cul de Sac a place worthy of visiting on a daily basis.

"I thought the best newspaper comic strips were long gone, and I've never been happier to be wrong. Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac has it all--intelligence, gentle humor, a delightful way with words, and, most surprising of all, wonderful, wonderful drawings." --Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43553 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780740789878
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Richard Thompson's illustrations have appeared in U.S. News and World Report, the New Yorker, National Geographic, and the Atlantic Monthly. He has received numerous illustration awards, including the National Cartoonists Society's Magazine and Book Illustration Award, and he is also the creator of Richard's Poor Almanac. He resides with his family in Arlington, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Nicely subversive and intelligent, shows promise
I mostly avoid the comics pages these days and just grab Frazz, 9 Chickweed and Mutts. Even the once great Rose is Rose is just total pap now. But I grabbed this because of the favorable reviews and comparisons to Calvin and Hobbes.

Well as expected it's no Calvin and Hobbes, but that comparison is just setting it up for failure, and it's not bad either. The art is superficially ugly, but in a good way that keeps it interesting. You can tell it's not a lack of artistic skill, just Thompson's style - It really reminds me mostly of Mutt and Jeff or Shel Silverstein, not Watterson. Each character is an instantly unique design and can't be confused with another. My only real complaint is that the style doesn't work very well with the reproduction here, and the images are noticeably artifacted and pixelated.

It's Yet Another Suburban Family Comedy, which normally means flee like the wind, but it manages to undermine that in a way that Frazz used to (starting with the name - 'Cul-de-sac' is usually translated as 'bottom of the bag', but it's 'ass', which is why neurotic suburbanites and planners prefer 'Dead End'). The children are a little too advanced for their age, but are still childlike, and not precocious enough to be annoying. One character, Ernesto, is annoyingly clever, but he seems to be a conscious jab at too clever children in comics so it works. The parents aren't total helpless dweebs, though Dad does suffer a little from comics/sitcom generic blundering Dad-ism. Amazingly, even when it's being clever it's never really being mean spirited, which takes some work - this is an easy trap that even Frazz and 9 Chickweed fall into. It's also not afraid to just resort to simple jokes when they're funny.

There are a wide variety of scenarios just in this year's worth of comics, including an oboe recital that is slowly introduced and grows into an epic month's worth. There are a couple recurring gags like Petey gnawing his arm off and some revisiting of topics, but I never got the sense that the author had retreated back into just cranking it out with the same old gags. He's obviously got plenty to work with. The writing actually seemed to get even better over the course of the book, so either I was growing into it or Thompson is improving.

If you think George Costanza comedies and Zits are high comedy you'll probably think this is ugly and miss the humor, but if you're looking for a strip that has a good heart and you can handle lines like 'Look at him, he's a bulwark of stasis in an active world!' or haiku like 'The dolly is mine / And her accessories too / Mine mine mine mine mine' give this a shot. I'm looking forward to seeing where this strip goes - even Calvin and Hobbes took some time to bloom.

Surreal combo of Far Side and early Peanuts
We Washington Post readers are lucky enough to see Cul de Sac daily and get a bonus weekly satirical cartoon from Richard Thompson, so the excellence of this collection was no surprise to me.

Richard Thompson combines a surreal view of the world with a sense of humor on the order of Far Side AND a set of believable child characters. If you can deal with Stewie on Family Guy being far more articulate than a baby should be, you can deal with the vocabulary and insights of these kids, who are much funnier and less nasty. Petey Otterloop (last name a DC joke)is an all-purpose neurotic kid, while his sister Alice is a much more typical child, albeit an articulate genius child. Their parents are funny too, not clueless - AND we get to see their heads, unlike in Peanuts.

Thompson is funny and insightful and uses perspective and line weight in amazing ways. Great text, great characters, amazing drawing, and good insight - what more do you want? Possibly the sweetness of Calvin and Hobbes, which most emphatically is not here. But Thompson isn't mean, either.

Funny, cute, for adults as well
I had never seen this comic strip before getting the book. I was pleasantly surprised by the wit, and variety of the humor - all wrapped around in child play.

Both kids and adults can enjoy the strips.

Things to know:
- it has tons of comic strips (decent size book)
- Most are in black and white, but there are some in color
- Some show the follow up or continuations of previous strips, while others seem to go unfinished

When I want to smile a bit before going to bed, I pick up this book for about 15 minutes.

Worth it, even for those who have never read anything from Children at Play.