Customer Reviews

The Incredible Upside-Downs of Gustave Verbeek

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Some of the miracles of publishing today is that great books go out of print and never, never will be available again....unless maybe e-books bring them back. Gustave Verbeek is a genius only to be compared with Escher. All the stories are perfectly drawn and as soon as you come to the end you turn them upside down and .....they continue. Incredible! How in the world can we admit that cultural treasures like these vanish and get forgotten? Once I got hold of some issues I bought five of them: One to keep for myself and some to give them as presnts to my best friends. Imagine: there was an issue in my language (german) and the holder of the copyrights won't bring this out again! There are more exemples of cultural tragedies like this! Just like "Cinderella" this book aproaches to be a childrens book but is of the same value for adults as well. Timeless, eternal, simply monuments of everlasting value. Buy it, enjoy it, give it to friends, show it to Your children, use it as presents for well-beloved, have your heart enlighted by this masterpiece which is really unequaled. I love it, all those who got it from me love it.....You will love it as well!

I first saw these strips twenty-odd years ago in a comic book my brother had. They immediately captivated me, (despite being initially perplexed by the weird hair and funny hats - then suddenly it all made sense), I tried (unsuccessfully!) to emulate them and immediately realized that one needs the brain of a genius / savant to overcome the problems of creating a cartoon that makes sense upside down, as well as continuing a sensible story. I told my brother I'd bought him a copy and he was ECSTATIC, as if I'd given him a crock of gold! Verbeek is in the same class as M.C. Escher when it comes to creative talent, I'm so pleased to be able to own examples of his work at long last! Do yourself a favour and get this - it's $10 of lasting pleasure. Gets my 5 stars.

Gustave Verbeek's "The Upside-Downs" , published in The New York Herald between 1903-1905, was the M.C. Escher of cartoon strips! Pure genius, a visual wonder, extremely difficult to create (especially weekly), quaint and both simple and complex simultaneously. The cartoons could be read right-side up, and then again upside-down - the characters, scenery, etc., are transformed before your eyes, akin to an optical illusion, and the story continues. In other words, there are really 12 different cartoons and captions within only six panels. Amazes children and adults alike! Drawing "Doonesbury" shouldn't cause burn-out, but it's easy to understand why Verbeek only created 64 weeks' worth of the cartoon.

I read this compilation of turn of the century comic strips by someone who had a unique genius - you read the story told by the strip...then turn it upside down and the story continues...with those same pictures transformed into new pictures which make sense in the continuing story. Has to be seen to be believed. Fun for any age. Quite a conversation piece.