No one walks away from a "Close to Home" cartoon unscathed. John McPherson's lumpy characters and bizarre situations are tailor-made for gut-splitting laughs. And then there are the cartoons that leave readers shaking their heads, sputtering, "Oh my gosh" as a guilty smile passes across their faces. "The Scourge of Vinyl Car Seats" delivers what fans expect from McPherson: jokes about everything from parenting to dating to car repairs. McPherson takes his readers on a journey that's very Close to Home.

John McPherson's single-panel comics have appeared in 11 previous books. Nearly 600 daily and Sunday newspapers regularly carry his work, which has been syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate since 1992. A line of McPherson greeting cards, mugs, and calendars has sold well in the United States, and will soon expand to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the European Union. Still, fans cannot get enough of Close to Home!Now comes Ferociously Close to Home. Like its predecessors, this 144-page volume delivers McPherson's trademark take on the absurdities of everyday life. To say that his solutions to these perplexing situations is 'out there' is an understatement. Consider Gina, who decides a branding iron will be the ideal memory aid for her birthday date-challenged husband. And poor Lanny, whose treadmill session is interrupted when he inadvertently triggers the health club's offensive odor alarm.McPherson has long walked the line between grotesque and goofy. But somehow, his figures with big noses and bulging eyes connect with readers with a surefire magnetic precision. Whether it's health care or parenting, dating or car repairs, Close to Home delivers McPherson's warped world without fail.