Taking up the role of laughter in society, How the Other Half Laughs: The Comic Sensibility in American Culture, 1895-1920 examines an era in which the US population was becoming increasingly multiethnic and multiracial. Comic artists and writers, hoping to create works that would appeal to a diverse Audience, had to formulate a method for making the "other half" laugh. In magazine fiction, vaudeville, and the comic strip, the oppressive conditions of the poor and the marginalized were portrayed unflinchingly, yet with a distinctly comic sensibility that grew out of caricature and ethnic humor.Author Jean Lee Cole analyzes Progressive Era popular culture, providing a critical angle to approach visual and literary humor about ethnicity-how avenues of comedy serve as expressions of solidarity, commiseration, and empowerment. Cole's argument centers on the comic sensibility, which she defines as a performative act that fosters feelings of solidarity and community among the marginalized. Cole stresses the connections between the worlds of art, journalism, and literature and the people who produced them-including George Herriman, R. F. Outcault, Rudolph Dirks, Jimmy Swinnerton, George Luks, and William Glackens-and traces the form's emergence in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's Journal-American and how it influenced popular fiction, illustration, and art. How the Other Half Laughs restores the newspaper comic strip to its rightful place as a transformative element of American culture at the turn into the twentieth century.

A visual celebration, from a master cartoonist, of all the ways in which cats have slunk their way into the English language

Over the centuries human beings have had such a passion for cats that not only have they invaded our homes--occupying the sunniest corners and sitting on the softest mats they can find--they have also invaded our language. Norman Thelwell's collection of drawings is a celebration of this fact. From "scaredy cat" to "catnap," Thelwell's delicious and sleek drawings remind us of these phrases in hilarious and often unexpected ways. Moving beyond phrases to words, Thelwell's endearingly witty vignettes also offer punning feline interpretations of such words as "catarrh," "platypus," and "opus." For lovers of cats and pictures of cats, this collection is a must.

Contributions by Kylie Cardell, Aaron Cometbus, Margaret Galvan, Sarah Hildebrand, Frederik Byrn Kohlert, Tahneer Oksman, Seamus O'Malley, Annie Mok, Dan Nadel, Natalie Pendergast, Sarah Richardson, Jessica Stark, and James Yeh In a self-reflexive way, Julie Doucet's and Gabrielle Bell's comics, though often autobiographical, defy easy categorization. In this volume, editors Tahneer Oksman and Seamus O'Malley regard Doucet's and Bell's art as actively feminist, not only because they offer women's perspectives, but because they do so by provocatively bringing up the complicated, multivalent frameworks of such engagements. While each artist has a unique perspective, style, and worldview, the essays in this book investigate their shared investments in formal innovation and experimentation, and in playing with questions of the autobiographical, the fantastic, and the spaces in between. Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist, known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary. Meanwhile, Bell is a British American cartoonist best known for her intensely introspective semiautobiographical comics and graphic memoirs, such as the Lucky series and Cecil and Jordan in New York. By pairing Doucet alongside Bell, the book recognizes the significance of female networks, and the social and cultural connections, associations, and conditions that shape every work of art. In addition to original essays, this volume republishes interviews with the artists. By reading Doucet's and Bell's comics together in this volume housed in a series devoted to single-creator studies, the book shows how despite the importance of finding ""a place inside yourself"" to create, this space seems always for better or worse a shared space culled from and subject to surrounding lives, experiences, and subjectivities.

Confront the spectre of failure, the wraith of social media, and other supernatural enemies of the author Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist's signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones. Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the wilful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic's incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity! Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.

Desperate Times is the unmissable new collection of sketches of contemporary political life by The Times's master of satire, Peter Brookes. Within these pages, the multiple winner of the British Press Awards Cartoonist of the Year showcases the stand-out pieces from his daily cartoons in The Times, up to the minute and breath-taking in their bite and wit. Desperate Times catalogues one of the most eventful years on record with Brooke's usual satire and unsparing critique of political leaders at home and abroad. From Trump to Biden (literally), and from COVID-19 19 to Brexit, this peerless collection of hilarious and beautiful cartoons provides a peerless tonic for these torrid times!

Thelwell really understood the English countryside, its animals and people, and appraised with sympathetic eye both horses and the horsey. That is why his drawings adorn the studies of some of the fiercest Master of Fox Hounds in the country as well a being sure pin-up material in many Pony Club Members' dens. The angels in Angels on Horseback are children but there is plenty here about their parents. Both for readers of Punch who knew Thelwell, and those who did not meet him before, this book is a savoury at all time but especially after attending a gymkhana. J. B. Boothroyd writes in the Foreword: 'Punch has had equestrian artists before. In mid-Victorian times it was difficult to open a copy without being trampled. But the creations between the present covers achieve something entirely new: they combine portraiture with caricature, a thing which most artists would hesitate to try with human beings, let alone the more temperamentally elusive and psychologically inscrutable horse. This means that while no horse could possibly look exactly like a Thelwell horse, all Thelwell horses manage to look exactly like horses.'

The third volume in Canongate's acclaimed series, with a specially commissioned introduction from The Simpsons' Matt Groening. We travel into the mid-1950s as Linus learns to talk, Snoopy begins to explore his eccentricities, Lucy's unrequited crush on Schroeder takes final shape, and Charlie Brown becomes ... well, even more Charlie Brown-ish.

The world's most beloved beagle shares his philosophy on life in this beautifully produced gift book for all generations. In his inimitable style, Snoopy spends his days extolling the virtues of dancing, hanging out with his best bird friend Woodstock, pursuing a full supper dish and giving his owner - our favourite lovable loser, Charlie Brown - the run-around. For the millions of faithful Charles Schulz fans, and those who fondly remember the joyful dog with the wild imagination, this is the first in a new series to cherish that will see the beguiling Peanuts gang share their sentiments on everything from food to friendship.

A timelessly funny cartoon collection by Tim Whyatt. Everyone has at some stage had a 'senior moment' whether you've called your child by the wrong name, returned from the supermarket without the one item you went out for in the first place or even moaned at the annoying kid who is playing their music too loud. The years may keep piling up and our bodies may be losing the ultimate battle against gravity but our humour remains the same! Senior Moments: Ageing Distgracefully is an amusing collection of some of the best of two-time 'Henries' winner, Tim Whyatt's hilarious imagery, depicting the highs, lows, laughter and indignities of later life.

Britain's best-loved basset hound returns in this all-new collection of witty cartoon strips from the Daily Mail Keep an eye on any unguarded sausages, because the gang is back! Join Fred and his friends as they embark on a whole new collection of lively adventures and light-hearted mischief, and prepare to discover the delights of life on four paws. Fred Basset first sauntered onto the pages of the Daily Mail in July 1963, and over more than half a century he has made himself a household name with readers all over the world. Nearly six decades after his debut, Fred and his friends continue to delight and entertain us with their trademark mix of wholesome humour, wry wit and shrewd observation. Their familiar faces and new adventures offer readers a source of comfort, contentment and amusement in our increasingly hectic, fast-paced world. This is classic Fred Basset and an essential read for all fans.

Randall Munroe is . . .'Nerd royalty' Ben Goldacre 'Totally brilliant' Tim Harford 'Laugh-out-loud funny' Bill Gates 'Wonderful' Neil Gaiman AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The world's most entertaining and useless self-help guide, from the brilliant mind behind the wildly popular webcomic xkcd and the million-selling What If? and Thing Explainer For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally bad that no one would ever try it. How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. 'How strange science can fix everyday problems' New Scientist 'A brilliant book: clamber in for a wild ride' Nature

A hilarious cartoon collection by Tim Whyatt. Everyone has at some point watched their pet in despair as they fight the losing battle of trying to chase their own tail. Or maybe you've felt personally targeted by a particularly vicious seagull who had his eye on your ice cream? Animals are supposed to be our friends and our loyal companions, but we all know that isn't always the case. Tim Whyatt's Senior Moments: Animal Instincts is an amusing collection of cartoons showing the hilarious thought processes of the furry creatures we share our world with and the animal instincts that lurk inside every human. With hilarious imagery and captions, this new instalment in the Senior Moments series is perfect for the animal lover in your life.