Customer Reviews

Get Your War on

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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the days following Sept. 11, about the only thing that moved faster than MSNBC's news tickers was the mass market comic book industry. All the corporate mainstays of the genre, DC, Marvel, and so on were quick to join in the textual and visual relief effort with varying degrees of success. From The Amazing Spider Man #36 to the Heroes project to the 9-11 Artists Respond volumes the lines between humanistic testimony and tribute and jingoistic posturing became murkier and murkier. Enter David Rees, the author of such clip-art classics as "my new filing technique is unstoppable" and the sidesplitting "my new fighting technique is unstoppable" (a must-read for anyone who remembers Black Belt Theater on late night).
Now published by Soft Skull Press, this book collects Rees's clips from October 8, 2001 to August of this year. Rolling Stone magazine even included a small write-up in its August "Hot" Issue (reproduced in that issue is the final page in the book (excluding the epilogue).
Colson Whitehead, former NY journalist and author of the sublimely brilliant THE INTUITIONIST and JOHN HENRY DAYS (in this book he reveals an affinity with comics), usefully focuses on the appropriateness of clip art as THE genre by which to respond to the emotions and events of the past year. In the hands of Rees's generic office drones, file clerks, claims adjusters, and Dilberts-in-waiting, a fierce, sensitive and ultimately humanitarian response emerges. Combining the inanity of the office water cooler conversation with the intellectual paranoia and insight of Chomsky and Herman's MANUFACTURING CONSENT, Rees has given us a kind of new vocabulary by which to gauge our responses not only to the tragedy of 9-11 itself but also and perhaps more crucially the ever developing terror of the current administration's ongoing war fever and assault on basic domestic human rights and freedoms.
Rees's profane burlesque is a hysterically parodic assault on the corporate controlled "news" toadies who provide us with much of the biased worldview and conservative jingoism that passes for information and is disturbingly parrotted throughout the workplaces (and homeplaces) of the U.S. Thus, Rees is a kind of Lenny Bruce of sequential art. He asks all the right questions (in the process giving some of the right answers), and presents it all in a manner entirely and gloriously inappropriate to the watered-down censored palaver of the evening news.
A satirist on the order of Rabelais, a social critic on the order of Chomsky, and a patriot in the truest sense not unlike Thoreau at his very very best.
Buy this book, weep with it, laugh your ... head off, and then roll up your sleeves and get to work; learn about the Adopt-a-Minefield Campaign and the related grass roots community groups the book benefits and donate more money and time beyond those you spent buying and reading the book. ...

I was browsing through the "current events" section of my local mega bookstore (sorry, amazon) and happened across this decidedly un-serious-looking book. I picked it up and began thumbing through it, and before long, I found myself choking back laughter (didn't want to make a scene). One of the best things about democracy is the diversity of ideas and expression. One need not agree with Rees at all to find these strips hilarious. If you can cope with a generous use of expletives (or "explicatives" (sic) as one reviewer called them), you will find yourself laughing so hard your mid-section aches. My husband and I enjoyed this book so much we bought 10 copies (yes, from amazon) and gave them as gifts to friends!

I have not bought this book yet but I have read the online comics. They are one of the most hilarious cartoons about the war on terrorism, but I must warn firm supporters of U.S. foreign policy to stay as far as way as possible from this book. You will be so offended that you will be calling Lynne Cheny to tell her to put David Rees on the terrorist watch list and ban all of his literature. If you have a dark sense of humor, a fan of Doonesbury, and you are not offende by profane language, then I recommend this book for you. It only costs $...which is cheap for most collections of comic strips. All of the royalties given to David will go to fight for getting rid of land mines and getting the the U.S. to stop producing land mines, which is a very worthy cause. If you are still not sure if you want to buy this book then may I suggest that you go to a search engine and search for Get Your War On. You should be able to find his free site which contains a bunch of free comic strips from Get Your War On. If you like these free strips then you should love the book because it contains 100 pages of that kind of humor. Almost forgot. If you are a fan of Mallard Fillmore or you are the author of Mallard Fillmore, don't buy this book because you will hate it more than the Clintons, The New York Times, and Tom Daschle combined.

My first exposure to "Get Your War On" was a single frame of clipart found online. In the frame, a woman on the phone is exclaiming: "We can't find Osama because Arthur Anderson f----ing shredded him!"

As with The Onion's "attack on america" issue, "Get Your War On" was a well-timed, perfectly executed masterpiece of comedy and anger. And it still holds up today. It's not just funny... reading it gives you a feeling of relief: You're not alone, your fugitive thoughts are shared.

"Get Your War On" is for everybody who wants to indulge in the prevailing jingoistic anger of victimhood and revenge, but finds his mind getting in the way.

The clip-art stars of David Rees's website have been my favorite refuge from the surreal events of the past year and a half. Can't believe what you just read in the paper? Feel powerless to change it? Get Your War On helps, somehow.

No, the book is not beautifully produced, but the money funds landmine relief in Afghanistan. And your purchase supports the work of someone who isn't afraid to say what needs to be said.

Besides, nothing has EVER made me laugh so hard.

First of all, Get Your War On is hilarious. I think anyone who would consider buying this book already knows that. You should be interested in how the book looks, how it reads, its physical presence, and so forth. As far as that goes, the book is sub-par.

Each comic is presented on its own separate page. Since it was sent to the publisher a while ago, this also means that there isnt very much material... only a few weeks worth. So about half of the current online content is missing from the book. Since there are so many pages and so little content, it doesnt develop the same flow as the multi-strip pages on the web site. You'd probably be better off printing out the strips yourself, and putting it together. Now, part of the cost of the book does benefit the Afghan landmine removal campaign, but if you feel bad aboout it, you could always donate money directly to them.

Hilarious comics, but not a good book.

buy this book, read it. Laugh because this book brings a humour side to a dark situation. And cry, because you will realize that everything in this comic strips is for real.

First: based on reading the other strips this guy's done, I doubt he'll ever create anything as funny as this strip again.

Second: I didn't mind the war in Iraq at all. And I think the Road Map to Peace thing is pretty noble, all things considered.

With that out of the way... this is one of the funniest things I've ever read. While reading it, I had to get up a few times, I was laughing so hard. Some of them I can't even think about without laughing:

WOMAN (on phone): "I'm a little confused. Are U.S. citizens allowed to kill suspected terrorists now?"
MAN (on phone): "I think so. But you have to be really, really sure the person is a suspected terrorist! So be super-double sure that they make you feel nervous!"
WOMAN: "Well, this dude standing by my desk is wearing a really ....-up jacket -- can I cap him?"

(Note: that strip is on his website)

Just .... great.

If you are a twenty-something or younger, lean left politically, don't care whether your cartoons look pretty, and are into irreverent and usually vulgar humor, Get Your War On is the promised land. I find Get Your War On to be gutbustingly funny, but through trial and error I've discovered that receptiveness to the humor is limited by certain demographic realities.

I've tried to share this with my left-leaning sixty something mom and she just couldn't get past the profanity. I tried to share it with some left-leaning twenty somethings and they couldn't get past the clip art. I tried to share it with some politically conservative hipsters and they couldn't get past the politics.

So, sadly, a narrow demographic. But for that demographic, it just doesn't get much better. These are the kinds of WTF? conversations that you had with your friends after 9-11, trying to make sense of a world in which even the good guys seemed nuts. A world in which the question "Why do they hate us?" was answered in record speed with the trite "because of our freedom."

Get Your War On has all the emotions of the post 9-11 world: ambivalence, fear, dread, rah-rahing in spite of oneself, and finally resignation to living in a world that is dominated by religious extremists and misguided actors.

If you're reading this review, you likely know what Get Your War On is all about from looking at the strips at www.mnftiu.cc. So your last remaining question may be what the book's production values are like and whether it is worth buying. The answers are: very good and yes, buy it, the profits go to clearing mines in Afghanistan. Besides, it's more convenient to leave the book on your coffee table instead of a dedicated monitor displaying the comics from the website.

After reading this,I crack up when I watch all the SUV's in my neighborhood with their double sided window flags and huge "pride and power" bumper magnets. Buy this book only if you are ready to laugh that nervous laugh that you sometimes might have at a funeral.