Customer Reviews

The Argyle Sweater: A Cartoon Collection

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I had never read 'The Argyle Sweater' before picking up this collection. That said, the sharp artwork and great use of color caught my eye and piqued my interest. The book is physically larger than I had expected, and features 2-3 comics per page.

The art style is immediately reminiscent of Gary Larson and his work on 'The Far Side'. The dry humor is also very much a 'Far Side' homage. The jokes however are largely just puns or a version of a play on words. 'The Mummys Curse' for example, shows an Egyptian Mummy stubbing his toe and 'cursing'. Not laugh out loud funny, but humorous. It's the kind of stuff you see taped to the cash register at your local diner.

The content of the book is fairly PG, but some of the gags are a bit more sexually themed than I had expected. A 12-year-old boy would adore this collection of illustrated schoolyard jokes.

The Argyle Sweater is a cartoon collection by Scott Hilburn, filled with single-panel episodes in the tradition of Gary Larson's farside.

Recurring topics include anthropomorphic animals involved in various compromising situations, fairy tales with a twist and pop culture references. Definitely an adult book with a western slant, but often clever and funny.

Many of the panels have a seemingly innocuous or bizarre first look but when you read the text you get the punch and take another look.

An example is a picture of a couple of zebras on an airplane with the wife telling her husband not to worry because "statistically...we're safer in the air..." while he looks around at the lions, bears and other predators on board.

Another one has a guy in a red and white striped hat and sweater (Waldo) with a Sasquatch, Elvis and D.B. Cooper, "I'm somewhere where I'll never be found."

Funny stuff that will make you think, scratch your head and sometimes laugh out loud.

Scott Hillburn's collection of cartoons in The Argyle Sweater is nothing short of brilliant! There are dragons who are thoughtful enough to recycle a knight's armor when finished with its prey; there are 3 little pigs asking the wolf to huff and puff into a sobriety test; and two gals discover their glove compartment is in fact a "love" compartment, complete with a man on a heart-shaped bed, glasses of wine, and a disco ball.

Hillburn's focus is on our humanity, our everyday speech, and the blunders we all make. His cartoons are also of topics that make us say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

For example, Popeye is being questioned about the green, leafy substance he is carrying around. Gary Coleman's to-do list is laughably cringe-worthy (star in a sitcom, make millions, lose millions, run for governor), and almost complete...now if he could just figure out what the heck Willis was talking about, he'd be done!, and the Energizer bunny has a dirty little secret in its closet. Can you guess what it would be? If not, get this book. It will surely keep you laughing and you won't regret the purchase.

I am keeping this on my coffee table, in plain sight, so whenever I need a laugh or a bit of pepping up, Hillburn's cartoons are sure to do the trick.

I'll skip past the obvious (and arguable) comparisons between Scott Hilburn's The Argyle Sweater and Gary Larson's The Far Side. If you're reading this, you already know, and probably have come to your own conclusion.

Casual fans of The Argyle Sweater are in for more of the same with this book. Other than the dedication, the book is reprinted comics from cover to cover. The scaling is a bit disappointing, with two or three comics on each page, and an unusual amount of white space for this sort of book. The coloring is decent, but doesn't have the same "pop" that you see in other books like this.

If you're a dedicated fan, or plan to run in to Scott Hilburn and want him to autograph something, this book should keep you happy. Otherwise, I'd pass this one over and hope for a new book that's got more going for it.

After reading the first few pages of "The Argyle Sweater" paperback, I could have kicked myself for not having bought "The Argyle Sweater" 2009 desk calendar over the Christmas holidays. (It was an exclusive from Borders.) I was standing on my front porch, having just removed the paperback from its shipping box, and had eagerly begun to read the first pages. My neighbors must've thought I was crazy when they heard my laughter. These full color cartoons by Scott Hilburn are hilarious. For a free sample, go to his web site which is the same title as his paperback (without the spaces). He prints a new cartoon every day, and you can view the ones dating back to 23 Feb 2009.

Nothing is sacred to Scott Hilburn. He pokes fun at everything from Abraham Lincoln to Norman Bates, from the Three Little Pigs to Humpty Dumpty, from Casper to Garfield, and from Pinocchio to Tony the Tiger. Hilburn has an excellent knowledge of the English language and a great imagination. He loves to build jokes around words that rhyme and words that have more than one meaning (homonyms). For example, since I enjoy horror movie classics, I especially appreciated the following two cartoons: 1) Hilburn does a parody of "When a Stranger Calls." Sylvia (a duck) is called by the park ranger; he tells her that the duck calls have been traced, they are coming from within her house, and she should run. The cartoon caption reads: "When a Ranger Calls." 2) A group of women have gathered for a bridal shower at Norman Bates' house. He pulls a knife and the bride screams, "That's not on my registry." The cartoon caption reads: "The Bates Family's Lesser Known Shower Scene." Another one of my favorite cartoons, one that made me laugh out loud, is the one with the following caption: "Beethoven's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and Fifth." Beethoven is passed out drunk at his piano with a bottle of whiskey and four shot glasses lined up in a row on the lid.

I was very depressed when Gary Larson announced that he was retiring from drawing "The Far Side" cartoons. I have several paperback collections of his cartoons that friends and relatives have bought me. I continued buying his desk calendars for a few years but stopped because I had seen all his cartoons many times over. Also, I became a fan of the "Close to Home" cartoon by John McPherson. It is very similar to "The Far Side" but doesn't have as many lovable animals performing insane skits. "The Argyle Sweater" appears to be more like "The Far Side." Reading "The Argyle Sweater" was a great joy and I recommend it to all comic strip fans, especially those who miss "The Far Side." I promise that this Christmas I will not miss out on purchasing "The Argyle Sweater" 2010 desk calendar. I will take it to work and sit it next to my "Close to Home" desk calendar.

My husband and I love this cartoon collection. It is a great book to pick up , enjoy a few laughs. The cartoons are adult humor. In these times a break for humor is a great choice. It's in our suitcase right now to take of vacation and show all our family... spreading the humor...

Or, fan of bad puns? Then this book is for you. Much like Gary Larsen's Far Side comics, Argyle Sweater gives you some interesting views into the world of animals.... but not the way we see them. For instance, the cover shows 2 men and a bear sitting at the bar. One man is wearing a coon skin hat, the other man, a skunk skin hat, and the bear wearing a hat that appears to be a human butt. Lots of dogs, cats, snakes, camels, moths, dragons, insects, moths, and yes some humans take part in this humorous book.
My husband and 28yr old son also read the book and gave it two thumbs up.
Very entertaining!
Thank you.
MEF

You will LOVE this book. Just the cover alone gave me the giggles for five minutes. The drawings are all in color and the humor is clever and witty. Though The Farside is still funnier, hands down, there aren't any new Farside books to read. This book would make a wonderful gift for any age or gender as long as the person has a sense of humor.

A rhino that charges a safari vehicle - with jumper cables. Satan filing out a sudoku puzzle with all 6's. Paul Bunyan eating a suspicious-looking blue steak. These are just a few of the best cartoons from Scott Hilburn's collection of single-panel cartoons, "The Argyle Sweater". Hilburn may seem like another of the myriad cartoonists trying to fill Gary Larson's very big shoes, but he does a better job than most of the others and hits the mark more than he misses. His drawing style also owes a lot to Larson. The book contains over 250 cartoons, many of them memorable like the ones cited above. On the other hand, a number of them fall a bit flat. Hilburn has a penchant for the groaningly bad pun (like Glinda from Oz asking the hardware store salesman if "this is a good winch or a bad winch"), but that's all right with me, a fellow punster - the bigger the groan, the better the pun. He also has a preference for certain creatures, like moths and dung beetles (the "poop jokes" get a little old after a while). But overall, it's a very funny collection, with many panels worthy of posting on the fridge or office cubicle. Enjoy it.

Hilburn fits in the small group of humorists that successfully mingles absurdity with sophistication, creating something of an approachable elitism.

The barage of pop-culture references separate The Argyle Sweater from Gary Larson's The Far Side, though the paneling and art influence is unmistakable. And that's not a bad thing. By keeping references mainstream and current, The Argyle Sweater feels relevent and fun, and closely akin to Seth McFarland's Family Guy series.

And I give the same admonition about this book I do about those I've compared it to: it isn't for everybody. And that's okay. This is a savvy, styled collection that will delight those who get it and will be passable to the mainstream.