Customer Reviews

The House at Maakies Corner

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

 

 

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.

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 . . .

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.

In the comics desert of the late 20th century, who could fans of the Great Old Stuff look to? The old heroes are gone: Elsie Segar, Geo. Herriman, Hal Foster. Who even comes close? The only strips that aspire to any kind of artistic expression are either saccharine crud (Mutts) or winky-snarky napkin-doodling (Life in Hell.) Five cheers then for Tony M! Maakies has all the seafaring verve of the old popeye, all the poetic strangeness of Krazy Kat, all the fearsome draughtsmanship of Prince Valiant. The humor? Maakies could only be a fin-de-siecle strip; its gin-soaked angst and violent despair could only get yuks from today's jaded mal-vivants, weaned on Celine and the Brady Bunch. It's not for everybody; only those with the sap necessary to face the maelstrom in the teeth will see its gritty resonance and ludicrous poetry.

This compilation of Maakies strips made me laugh out loud at the bookstore. My hangover had vanished.
Then I said, loudly, "Oh, that's just wrong."
And then I thought about R. Crumb and George Herriman, aloud, while the customers stared at me, brains numb with Paxil, and slowly I began to preach.

It will give the child nightmares that will linger for years. Sadly, Millionaire here abandons the lyricism of the Sock Monkey stories in favor of extreme grossout humor and, what a surprise, misogyny. There are a few good strips here, and the drawing talent is still evident, but the jokes are mostly both witless and grim. (Example: a man decides that he'll be more like a woman if he "cuts off his penis and walks around crying." That WOULD make a dude cry.) My impression is that Millionaire is himself so easily grossed out by things like menstruation, that he wants to take it out on the world by making them feel as nasty as he does. Hopefully he's worked out some issues with this one, and will return to a more benevolent Sock-Monkey Land soon.