Library Thing: Early Reviewer "The Argyle Sweater" by Scott Hilburn

I am a member of the interesting site called LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/). There you can list all the books in your personal library and compare and contrast your library with others. You can also talk books and find out what is good and not so good, all in all a book-lovers dream world. They have an "Early Reviewers Program" that publishers use to get some books out to booklovers to have them review it and talk it up.

The latest batch of books have been delivered and I have been selected to receive a book of cartoons by the internet cartoonist Scott Hilburn and his one pane strip called "The Argyle Sweater." Stylistically Mr. Hilburn is a direct descendant of Gary Larson and the "Far Side" comics. Anthropomorphic animals, cavemen and seriously average looking humans act out puns and word plays in social situations. Interestingly, all the strips are in color, something that doesn't happen with a daily newspaper stip.

Overall this collection seems like the first time collection that it is. Somewhat uneven in its humor, there are more smiles than groans which is fortunate when there are as many puns are there are, especially in the beginning. The first gut laugh for me was on page 39, a strip that contained both a pun (cat-apult) and a word play (velocity versus curiosity). His humor is at its most effective when he does combine more than one joke in a strip. Another example would be a visual joke mixing the three little pigs and dominos on page 87.

The art work is very Larson-esque in a good way and the colors are bold and pleasant. I do have some quibbles with the typeface, as it is inconsistent, ranging from very clear and expressive to messy and distracting from the message. Only one strip was, in my opinion, R-rated and really un-funny to the point of disturbing, dealing with cannibal leftovers on page 78.

Overall a fine effort for a new artist. If a long career is in the future for Mr. Hilburn, then the "Best of Argyle Sweater" will be on every comic lovers shelves. Click the picture to go to Amazon.com to get "The Argyle Sweater: A Cartoon Collection" by Scott Hilburn.