I rarely buy books on first sight but one glimpse into this small volume sold me. My wife and I took it home and allotted ourselves to two pages a day to make it last. Then we both took it to work and caused downturns in productivity as we showed it to all our coworkers. Now it sits on the shelf in easy reach and gets brought out whenever people come over. Why?
Well, this is simply the funniest thing I've come across in a long time. It's a book of simple black and white cartoon line drawings of bunny rabbits either planning their own demise, or showing the result of their suicide. There is no dialogue (except one sequence involving Darth Vader), no captions, just these ridiculous little rabbits with completely deadpan faces and a sadistic self-destructive streak. The most common comparison is to Gary Larson and the talking animals of his "Far Side" panels. These are somewhat similar in that they unfold in a single panel and are sublimely ridiculous and clever, but there's also often a Rube Goldberg character to the elaborate suicide plans. In terms of tone however, I think Edward Gorey is perhaps more on the mark, in terms of depicting the darkest deadpan humor possible.
Non-Brits should note that some of the jokes depend on being versed in British popular culture. For example, one is only funny if you're familiar with the work of Damien Hirst, another is only funny if you've seen the classic British cult film The Wicker Man, and one requires an understanding of British hand gestures (the "peace sign" being flashed by a bunny lined up with Nazi soldiers cited by one reviewer is actually something rather more rude...). But for the most part, the humor comes from the hilarious juxtaposition of the earnest bunnies and their tools of suicide, example include: windmill + pickaxe, trampoline + helicopter, stapler + angry dog.
In any event, Riley's collection of macabre bunny death is pure brilliance, and will doubtless be popping up on t-shirts and postcards soon--in the meantime, the book makes a great gift.
