The Fun Never Stops! [Paperback]

Drew Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2007

A comprehensive collection of Friedman's best comic strips and illustrations, mostly from the 1990s. Showbiz has-beens, ugly old white men, nefarious politicians, debauched celebrities, the ubiquitous Lord of Eltingville, etc.

The Fun Never Stops is a comprehensive collection of premier caricaturist Drew Friedman's best comic strips, illustrations, and mug shots dealing with all the familiar Friedman themes the world has come to love: showbiz has-beens, ugly old white men, nefarious politicians, debauched celebrities, the ubiquitous Lord of Eltingville, etc. Most of the work is from the 1990s, and show Friedman's gradual phasing out of his famous (and amazing) black-and-white stipple look to his current (and equally amazing) lush watercolor style. In addition to the works written by Friedman, Fun includes many collaborations with his longtime partner K. Bidus, as well as Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), Mark Newgarden (We All Die Alone), and Bruce Handy, among others. Also included is artwork from the notorious Topps Bubble Gum Card series Toxic High, as well as art from the card sets Beauties and Cuties and Ed Wood Players. Comic strip highlights include "Everybody's Buddy" (RAW), which examines the legendarily combustible temper of drummer Buddy Rich; "Where's Johnny?" (Entertainment Weekly), a journey into what would have become of Johnny Carson's career had he never hosted the "Tonight Show"; "Hey, Academy!" (NY Observer), a demand from Friedman that Jerry Lewis be awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Motion Picture Academy; "The 10 Least Powerful People in Hollywood" (Details); "Howard Stern & Al Sharpton run for political office in NY" (The New Yorker); and "Kasablanca" (Esquire), which imagines Casablanca as directed by Oliver Stone. The book is topped off with a detailed, career-spanning biographical introduction by Ben Schwartz and a foreword by Daniel Clowes.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Alternative-comics creators have gone way over the top and around the bend since Friedman's early-1980s debut, but back then he was the height of transgressiveness. With or without his brother Josh Alan's scripting, he envisioned Sheriff Andy leading the lynching of a well-dressed black man who has the temerity to come to Mayberry, and I Love Lucy sidekick Fred Mertz leading a criminal nightlife. Friedman's shtick was to put the beloved public faces of (or characters portrayed by) mid-twentieth-century minor celebrities in scenarios that contradicted the wholesomeness they represented—or vice versa, when he depicted eccentric comedians, such as the Three Stooges, aging in failing health and straitened circumstances, like so many regular folks. Such stuff was and is screamingly funny and moving. There's not that much of it, however, in this collection of gag strips, one-panel cartoons, and portrait caricatures, most of them done in the demanding stipple work that Friedman abandoned in 1994. Sans stippling, Friedman's style remains ultrarealistic or, as the title of his 1990 collection aptly puts it, Warts and All—heck, he adds warts, wrinkles, and liver spots beyond those his famous subjects usually display. He's the finest caricaturist of his generation. Olson, Ray

Review

“With a distinctive and painstaking style… and a great eye for the ugliness beneath the sheen of celebrity glamour Drew Friedman is a caricaturist to savor.” (Danny Graydon - The First Post )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (June 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560978406
• ISBN-13: 978-1560978404
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #830,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HA!, July 6, 2007

By 

Paul Karasik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fun Never Stops! (Paperback)

The Fun may never stop, but, alas, this collection terminates after page 144 leaving the reader crying for more.

Whether Friedman loves or loathes humanity is irrelevant. He understands the power of schtick to be able cloud men's minds so that they actually believe that a child/man screeching, "Wanna buy a duck?" is a knee-slapping riot.

He also understands how to use a brush.

By the way, this book contains one of the greatest one-page comics of all time.

Get out your credit card.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE SCARY FUN from the universe's most lethal caricaturist!, June 21, 2007

By 

GAGOON (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fun Never Stops! (Paperback)

Drew Friedman's distaste of humanity is equaled in intensity only by his loving devotion to the myriad design flaws of the packages that it arrives in.
Friedman has logged more honest man-hours toiling in the dermal pleats, gorges and buboes of the rich and famous than any Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon that ever lived.
His celebrity topographies should be a compulsory cultural vaccination for every American citizen within striking range of People magazine!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The drawings Drew drew in the last 15 years, September 14, 2007

By 

David Burd (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fun Never Stops! (Paperback)

I guess I've been following Drew Friedman's work for about 25 years now. I think it just gets better.

Drew's pioneering use of his hand-made halftone technique was really amazing right from the get-go. Now that he's moved into other media and color (!), it's easy to see that there's an extremely talented artist at work here in addition to an innovative craftsman. Nobody draws better likenesses and Drew's are simulataneously accurate and satirical. Without the gross exaggeration you find in most caricature work, Drew captures the image of these famous and semi-famous people, and adds something indefinable to it. The result is an almost photographic portrait, a satirical comment and an outlandish cartoon all rolled into one.

The book begins with a long biography which I found fascinating. Even as a kid, Drew was extraordinary. (I won't spoil it for you.)

The artwork (and there's lots of it) is dazzling. The comic strips and illustrations are funny, poignant, silly, sad, disturbing, wonderful and puzzling, sometimes all in one piece.

If you're a fan of Drew's work this is a must-have. If you're new to Drew Friedman, this is a good introduction. Cheap at twice the price.