Bob the Angry Flower: Dog Killer [Paperback]

Stephen Notley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2006

Combining politics, surrealism, and pop-culture hilarity, Bob the Angry Flower is an edgy, trenchantly political, and achingly funny comic-strip character. Whether he's building killer robots, running for Pope, or getting creamed at 20 Questions, Bob is locked, loaded, and ready to destroy the earth—unless there's something good on TV. This collection of syndicated comic classics, the first to be published in the United States, is unpredictable, original, and wholly outrageous—perfect for disaffected teenagers, jaded grown-ups, disgruntled geeks, and Peter Pans of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bob is a flower, an angry flower. Joined by Stumpy the branch, the forlorn Love-Bot and a host of targets strip-mined from politics and popular culture, he's out to let everyone know that angry can be zany, if not exactly funny. The setup is surreal comedy gold, promising just enough Bloom County and Zippy the Pinhead to make for a great underground comic. Unfortunately, Bob (who stars in a weekly print and Web comic) has already sold out, and much of the book seems to have been hastily assembled. Occasional strips, such as Bob asking God for a sign of His existence or Bob's near-death experience, show the character's potential, but overall Notley may be more concerned with achieving wackiness than tightly constructed jokes or trenchant observations. A 28-page Pure Action insert feels like little more than filler to round out the book's page count. Notley's art is inconsistent, ranging from clean and tight to rushed and sloppy. Not polished enough for prime time, but not angry enough for the underground, Bob sort of languishes in the middle. This collection will likely appeal to existing fans, without drawing in many new ones. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Notley's syndicated Bob the Angry Flower exemplifies the new science-fiction comics. Instead of rocketing around the galaxies, it generally stays on terra firma and lets the aliens come to it. It features robots, especially the lugubrious author's alter ego, Lovebot, and, getting brainy for a change, quantum phenomena, as when Bob, instead of just chopping a "spunky crippled kid" up with an ax, whacks him with a "quantum waveform decollapser" that renders the annoying child into innumerable, identical, possible spunky crippled kids. Trenchant references are made to highbrow fantasy (Kafka) and sf (Brave New World), but Notley is obviously most inspired by 1950s "sci-fi" flickers and their progeny of giant reptile/bug/thing attack yarns (though the big critter that most excites him is the already-big-enough bear; see the long, wordless story in the center of the book, "Pure Action"). And he's incensed by the Bush administration. Bob is pretty transparently another Notley alter ego----the main one--yet he also seems an ambulatory bud from The Little Shop of Horrors' Audrey. Energetically drawn, top-drawer madness. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications (May 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892391341
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391346
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,598,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best comic strip out there!, June 27, 2006

By 

Donald W. Stein (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bob the Angry Flower: Dog Killer (Paperback)

A local alternative newspaper picked up Bob the Angry Flower a year ago and I got hooked. The concept and character is just amusing before the strip even starts. This book has some of my favorite strips so far including:

Your Oppressors

Battlecruiser Omega

Buy Everything Day

Wholly Communion

This book also includes annotations on each strip from the author.

My only complaint is the book's printing paper could be of higher quality.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flower Power for a new generation, January 6, 2007

By 

Mr. A. Markwart (United States of Whatever) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bob the Angry Flower: Dog Killer (Paperback)

Almost no topic is taboo for cartoonist Stephen Notley and his alter-ego (and also possibly his id), Bob the Angry Flower. If you've ever found yourself rooting for a movie villain, you will identify with Bob's schadenfreude style of humor. If you've ever been frightened by a scary movie, you will find a soothing balm in Bob's transformation of horror movie premises into palliative ridicule. Though not all material is appropriate for all ages (Bob really does mercifully, yet gruesomely, kill a terminally ill dog), Bob should be required reading for a new generation of budding teenage anti-establishmentarians.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Second Best Anthropomorphic Flower Comic Strip In the World, February 24, 2012

By 

David Kantrowitz (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bob the Angry Flower: Dog Killer (Paperback)

Yes, second only to Daisy's Electric Funtime Hour, Bob The Angry Flower is the best online comic available today. Though perhaps best well known for absurdist humor, author and scrivener Notley is also the King of Subtlety in such a way that Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll, in an increasingly archaic and irrelevant way.

So why should you pay actual money for something that's available online in its entirety, at no charge? There are several reasons:

1. Physical books are the only melee weapons known to be effective against Illiteron the Elder.

2. Paper can be used to start campfires in emergency situations such as being John Carter of Mars.

3. Several copies can be used as ad hoc body armor as proven by the popular TV series Mythbusters.

Still not convinced? Consider the fact that Love Bot loves you even though it hasn't met you or your extremely unusual fetishes. If that isn't enough, nothing ever will.