Product Description

The Wizard of Id deals with the goings-on of the run-down, oppressed Kingdom of Id. It follows characters from all corners of the kingdom, but concentrates on the court of a tyrannical dwarf-sized monarch, known only as "the King", his wizard, Wiz, his chief knight Sir Rodney, Bung the Jester and many, many others!

The strip has been running since 1964

A collection, specially selected by the family of the late, great Reuben Award winning, Johnny Hart taken from 25 years worth of best newspaper strips of the 20th century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31945 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-10
• Released on: 2009-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781848563636
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Taking an idea from a deck of playing cards to create the first few strips of The Wizard of Id. The strip was first syndicated on November 9, 1964, drawn by Parker and co-written by Parker and Hart. In 1997 Brant Parker passed his writing duties on to his son Jeff Parker, who had already been involved with creating Id for a decade.

Customer Reviews

"Mirth, merriment, and mayhem."
"The Best of the Wizard of Id" is a compilation of comic strips from the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond, featuring a pint-sized despot who rules over his wretched and impoverished subjects. The strip, which debuted in 1964, was created by Johnny Hart, who collaborated with illustrator Brant Parker and later with Brant's son, Jeff. Sergio Rossi, in his entertaining introduction, describes the inhabitants of Id as "a bovine people who, with tired resignation, endure an arrogant and neurotic king." Besides the diminutive and insecure monarch, the cast of characters includes an inept and hapless wizard, his battle-axe of a wife, Blanche, a spineless knight named Rodney, a perpetually drunk court jester, Bung, and Spook, a filthy and hairy creature confined to a dungeon and limited to a diet of swill. Larson E. Pettifogger is a shyster lawyer and Gwen is a pretty but misguided young maiden who longs for Rodney. The peasants all look alike. They are chronically dissatisfied with their greedy and callous king who is always taxing them heavily and delivering meaningless orations from his balcony.

The wittiest strips satirize the times in which we live. Parker and Hart take jabs at such diverse targets as lying politicians, arrogant and unscrupulous attorneys, marriages from hell, financial malfeasance, overpriced restaurants, despots who use their power to tyrannize the populace, materialistic doctors, and the idiocy of war. The humor is mined from lively sight gags, cute puns, and clever anachronisms. As the book progresses, however, the quality of the illustrations deteriorates; the earlier drawings are generally sharper and more vivid. In addition, throughout the book, quite a few jokes fall flat and several are, for some reason, repeated.

Still, who could resist cracking a smile when a peasant, right before he is about to hang, asks, "I suppose community service is out of the question?" or when a lackey brings the king a bunch of hate mail containing bomb threats. The king sighs, "Nothing from my sweet old granny?" The lackey answers, "They're all from your sweet old granny." In general, "The Wizard of Id" is an amusing place that, although rife with poverty, cowardice, incompetence, stupidity, avarice, and despair, generates hearty chuckles and more than a glimmer of recognition.