By Roy Mitchell (Ward Lock)
ISBN: 0-7063-6423-6
Not every book has to be great. Sometimes it’s enough simply to be fit for purpose. Like this plain and simple non-political, non-editorial cartoon book in the traditional “variations on a theme†manner.
Comedy often has venerable subjects, and cartooning doubly so. The comic greats and the merely adequate alike have all worked on the same set-ups, with mixed and unpredictable results. Possibly as commonplace as the Desert Island with a single Palm Tree or the Mother-in-Law Arrives is the bearded geezer suspended on a wall in a dungeon. The variations on this pictorial theme are endless and the punch-lines are nigh infinite.
The eighty cartoons here, like most gags, will be uproarious to some and soporific to others. The drawing isn’t the best you’ll ever see. But still, this type of thing was the backbone of the newspaper cartoon feature page, with collections like this sometimes selling in the millions, and quite frankly I miss them. Most modern magazines and periodicals would benefit from a few extra gag-panels to brighten up our days.
You might not be able to track this book down, but there are lots of others in similar veins, lurking in charity shops and at car-boot sales, so why not treat yourself to a bit of undemanding, old-fashioned frivolity for a change?
© 1985 Ward Lock Limited. All Rights Reserved.