The House at Maakies Corner [Hardcover]

Tony Millionaire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2002

A new oversized (12" x 7") hardcover collection of one of America's most beloved weekly comic strips. Tony Millionaire's Maakies is one of the most popular weekly comic strips in America, running in over ten of the largest US weekly newspapers, including the New York Press, New Times Los Angeles, and Seattle's The Stranger. Maakies features the comical adventures of a drunken crow on the high seas, blending vaudeville-style humor and a breathtaking line that harkens back to the glory days of the American comic strip. Designed by publishing's foremost graphic designer, Chip Kidd, The House at Maakies Corner features a year's worth of Maakies in a beautiful, deluxe hardcover format that complements the strip's elegant and classical style.

Maakies suggests a contemporary collaboration between E. C. Segar, creator of Popeye, and seafaring novelist Patrick O'Brian (Millionaire is a tremendous fan of both). Millionaire has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards and Maakies has appeared as a series of animated segments on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Millionaire is a great master of the old-time freewheeling comic strip, and this work takes full advantage of every last bit of the medium. It combines the comical seafaring tales of Drinky Crow (yes, a drunk crow) and Uncle Gabby (a monkey of questionable morals) with nonsense strips and the occasional foray into something utterly unconnected. In these strips, Gabby goes to the art museum with predictably disastrous results; Drinky plays with guns; and there's a tremendous amount of drinking and violence, not to mention suicide gags, all with little visible effect on these "heroes." Each of the strips has a smaller, secondary strip running below it, and both are drawn in an excruciatingly detailed pen and ink style reminiscent of late-19th-century illustration and E.C. Segar's classic Popeye comic strip of the 1930s. Millionaire's carefully rendered art never interferes with his loony punch lines. His work also benefits from a rare occurrence in comics publishing: the right package, in this case a book produced by the acclaimed graphic designer Chip Kidd, who chose an elongated format (12" 4") based on 1910 Mutt & Jeff collections. Millionaire offers transporting, irreverent and unique comics, all beautifully drawn.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The alternative comic strip "Maakies" stars Drinky, an alcoholic crow drawn as a constructivist concatenation of geometric shapes, and Uncle Gabby, a monkey sometimes rendered as a sock puppet. They are two jolly tars on a ship captained by an Ahab knock-off and often beset by another ship full of French-accented crocodiles in Napoleonic uniforms. Ashore, they try to make time with women, puritanical Phoebe Bird for Drinky and a brunette for Gabby. Their patter is a stream of puns; ethnic stereotyping; and barf, scat, and sex jokes. Drunk most of the time (Drinky only f---s up when sober, he says), they frequently blow their brains out in despair. Their crude antics occur, however, in a context of virtuosic draftsmanship. The sea scenes look real enough to illustrate Horatio Hornblower. Millionaire effortlessly adopts the styles and manners of classic strips, including a ministrip run under the main strip. "Krazy Kat" began as a ministrip, and "Maakies" sometimes seems to be "Krazy Kat" reinvented by a slacker Bill ("Calvin and Hobbes") Watterson. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (December 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560975083
• ISBN-13: 978-1560975083
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 4.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,785,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in the fishing town of Gloucester Massachusetts, a town full of fishermen and seascape painters. My grandparents were artists, they taught me how to use ink pens and oil paint. My grandpop showed me lots of old newspaper comics he had saved, old ones, Roy Crane, Lionel Feininger, Winsor McKay. When I was in college I discovered R. Crumb and S. Clay Wilson. I drew a lot of perverted comics, until one day I discovered George Herriman, the grandfather of American comics. The true master. People often ask me if comics are "art." Whatever, I don't care what you call them, but when you're immersed in a collection of Herriman Sundays you understand what they're getting at.
I love funny comics but I love moving, emotional, poetical comics, too. Preferably a mixture of both.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Demented and amazing, August 1, 2004

By 

Rob Banzai (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House at Maakies Corner (Hardcover)

I had to laugh at the reviewer who gave this book one star because it should not be given to a child. Would he give one star to a waffle-iron for the same reason?
Maakies is distinctive for the inspired artwork and the absolutely crazed antics of Drinky Crow and Uncle Gabby. Yes, some of the strips are gross to the point of making one choke at reading them, but after you're done choking you will start laughing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ghastly but Good, July 9, 2003

By 

Stefan Jones (Suburbs of Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The House at Maakies Corner (Hardcover)

Tony Millionaire's weekly strip about the raunchy adventures of Drinky Crow and Uncle Gabby isn't for kids. Or grandma. Or maybe even for you; a lot of people will be terribly offended by the violence, sexism, and depiction of drunk, frequently suicidal animals.

But to heck with them! In small doses "Maakies" is great fun.

_The House on Maakies Corner_ hardcover is beautifully produced. The extra-wide, one-strip-per-page format shows off Millionaire's considerable talents better than the previous collection.

Alas, this also means that there are far fewer strips here. Pricey fun . . .

4.0 out of 5 stars Twisted Nautically-Flavoured Comedy Ahoy!, April 28, 2005

By 

J. Glover (LB, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The House at Maakies Corner (Hardcover)

Take Drinky Crow, a monkey called Uncle Gabby, and a cast of characters straight from the age of vaudeville, put them in the Napoleonic wars and you have Tony Millionaire's newspaper strip, a brilliant, literate and twisted take on history and humour. Rude and erudite, philosophical, completely unique and beautifully drawn (especially the ships.) I'm overdoing the adjectives because it's so hard to quote from. When it comes right down to it, these cartoons are very funny, very original. A whole year's worth of the strip is hardcover bound in a short long book that stays true to the form of the format, giving the only quibble that it's hard to fit on a shelf. A cunning plan to force you to leave it lying around.