Customer Reviews

Cowboy Wally Show

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Cowboy Wally Show presents the "Mockumentary" retrospective of the stellar career of TV "Legend" Cowboy Wally. The book unfolds like a real documentary- We get the "Candid Interview" first, followed by a rare screening of his French Foreign Legion epic "Sands of Blood", and, for the finale, a gut-busting screening, (as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse), of the jail-house retelling of Hamlet, complete with a drag-queen Ophelia, and paper cut-outs filling in for actors. If you don't laugh at the prison scenes ("Hamlet......it's a nickname my mom calls me....") you must be dead. Kyle Baker is a genius!

While not as accessible as Why I Hate Saturn, The Cowboy Wally Show is wonderful in it's own way, but it's very subtle, and as Spead Seduction Guru, Ross Jefferies, says, "I don't have time for your pathetic subtlety." Actually, I have quite an appetite for subtlety in comics and The Cowboy Wally Show delivers. Cowboy Wally is a media sensation who is part Johnny Carson, part Ed Wood, and part Benny Hill. It took me a while to decide that I liked this book, but by the time Cowboy Wally recounted the story of shooting his version of Hamlet in a jail cell with just himself, his writer, their two thug cell mates and a box of props, I was hooked.

This is a funny, funny, book. Cutting social satire at it's peak. I have yet to met anyone who did not think this book was fantastic.

Film Producer: Basically, we love the work you guys do and we want another movie from you....We're giving you a buget of 10 million. the thing is, for tax reasons, we need this movie by he end of the fiscal year.

Wally: Sure! When's that?

Film Producer: Next Friday.

I have to go along with the other reviewers - this is truly a twisted classic. It was the first book of Kyle Baker's I had read, and I never laughed so hard. The tragedy was when I lent my only copy to a friend who lost it (and it had gone out of print). Now that it's back in print, I bought TWO copies - one to keep and one to lend out. Share this with someone who has enough of an off-kilter sense of humor to appreciate this totally original and utterly fall-on-the-floor funny masterpiece.

Everything you hate about TV and film, Kyle Baker REALLY hates about it and doesn't spare any of his wit in lashing out. This book is genius. Don't pass it up. I've read and seen more of his work than most and this is really the best. His new work should be coming within the next year! Buy this and Why I Hate Saturn and prove to Kyle that his fans can actually clammor for his work! Buy many copies and give them away at parties! Excerpt: Woman--"No. I think you're lying scum. Honest." Man--"That's nice of you to say."

This is, beyond a doubt, the single funniest graphic novel ever written.

Stop reading this review and buy it. Now.

This was the first graphic novel created by Kyle Baker. It takes the form of a documentary about the fictional "fat, loud and stupid" TV star Cowboy Wally. A journalist is interviewing Cowboy Wally about his life, and clips of "highlights" from his less-than-illustrious career are shown. He was in many shows that were cancelled after about two weeks. Probably the true highlights of his career (and also of the graphic novel) are a French Foreign Legion film and a ultra-low budget version of Hamlet. This is a funny comic book, which shows that Kyle Baker had talent even at the beginning of his career.

Another one of Kyle Bakers self-contained Graphic Novels, aiming for fans of sarcastic/ironic humor of which there is plenty. Baker likes to secretly criticize and mock everyday society by filling his stories with fictional characters and than make them act (exaggerated, but still) like real persons we see everyday. This is another good example of it.

This is the fictional life-story, brought as a documentary with many flashbacks, of Cowboy Wally. All the way from when his B-career started up till today. Cowboy Wally is a guy who's big, loud and stupid and who got into show-business (and moves around in it) by `questionable methods' to say the least. That doesn't stop him from bragging about his achievements though (he IS his biggest fan), meanwhile emphasizing "how normal he maintained to be for a star of his caliber'. The reader gets to witness him making really really really cheap movies, him exploiting people who trust him and even ruining Shakespeare's `Hamlet'.

A pretty funny book (especially the last part where it all comes together and the past catches up on Wally) about a fictional TV-character, which satirically mocks real-life TV-personalities. Like in all Baker's books the humor is often very subtle though. The art is pure black-and-white (without tones of gray like in the same author's `Why I Hate Saturn'). It's nicely detailed and doesn't suffer from the lack of color though. It's comparable to Terry Moore's art in `Strangers in Paradise'.
Although it's pretty good overall I feel it could have been better with lesser segments in it, but paying more attention to the segments which remained. It looks a little cramped now, as if Baker didn't have as much pages as he really wanted to tell the tale. Nonetheless, for fans of satirical/sarcastic humor this is a good choice AFTER you've read `Why I Hate Saturn', his better book.

Kyle "I swear I've done more than just 'Why I Hate Saturn'" Baker has unfairly given his early work "Cowboy Wally" little print and little publicity. To me, the book is every bit as hillarious as 'Saturn,' and his use of upbeat wit is something that would be cutting edge stuff today, even though it was written ten years ago or so. Truly, truly a great book. If you're trying to decide between getting Cowboy Wally or the 167th Dilbert treasury... trust me. Go with Wally. I can't say enough good things. And Kyle, if you read this... we've waited long enough. Give us another book!

I loved this book; baker's 'why I hate Saturn' is one of my favorites, and I was pleased to see that 'cowboy' was as ironic, funny, and incisive -- without repeating the themes and conversations from 'Saturn'. the art, as always, is expressive and unique.