Neil Swaab: Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles (Attitude Featuring) [Paperback]

Neil Swaab (Author, Illustrator), Ted Rall (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Attitude, Featuring | Publication Date: August 30, 2005

Neil Swaab is one of the most dangerous cartoonists in America. Astoundingly depraved and outrageously hilarious, his comic strip, Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles, turns family values on its head. Journey to a wonderful world of addiction, intoxication, psychosis, and misanthropy all at the hands of a sexually deviant teddy bear and his human companion. Nothing this wrong should make you laugh this hard!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some of the pieces in this collection of alternative-weekly newspaper comic strips are grossly offensive, while some are hilarious—and they're frequently the same ones. Swaab's strip has two continuing characters: a balding, insecure geek, who stands in for the cartoonist, and his eponymous companion, a cute, crack-addicted, child-molesting teddy bear. Imagine Garfield with a much more sarcastic attitude and very serious behavior problems. Every time either Neil or Mr. Wiggles starts looking cuddly or emotionally needy, the other responds with a devastating putdown or a poop prank. Whether insulting people with physical handicaps or taking an alcoholic Jesus to an AA meeting, each strip dances gleefully past the far fringes of good taste. That's part of the humor, as readers' nervous laughter reveals how artificial our polite attitudes really are. At times, this feels like a continuation of the angry underground comix of R. Crumb and S. Clay Wilson, even though Swaab's minimalist style looks more like Scott Adams's mild Dilbert than the work of those earlier taboo-mocking cartoonists. Nevertheless, his depraved little heart is in the right place. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Oh, those bad boy cartoonists. A family of rage-oholics wasn't enough (Peter Bagge's The Bradleys). Ex-hippie cretins weren't enough (Rick Altergott's Doofus). Foul-mouthed office workers weren't enough (David Rees' Get Your War On). Stinky kids fixated on body fluids weren't enough (Johnny Ryan's Blecky Yuckerella). Drunken animals blowing their brains out weren't enough (Tony Millionaire's Maakies). Now it's a depraved, child-molesting teddy bear, Mr. Wiggles, and his unconscionably tolerant roommate, an alter ego (we're told) of Swaab. Drawn in the sophisticated-crude manner of Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comique, Swaab's weekly feature is usually just as wordy, but in service to the gag rather than nuance. A week gives Swaab enough time to goose the full comic potential out of a gag, though he'll do a series if the idea needs it (see the sequence about Jesus' drinking problem). Swaab suggests that his strip exercises the honored strategy of laughing the devil to scorn, which reduces--a bit, at least--the guiltiness one feels for chortling at his funny, funny (hideous, blasphemous, obscene) ideas. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156163428X
• ISBN-13: 978-1561634286
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neil Swaab is an illustrator, designer, cartoonist, and writer based out of Brooklyn, NY. His work has been recognized by numerous publications and organizations including The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts, and Print Magazine. In addition, many of his characters and drawings can be seen on the first season of the show Superjail! on Adult Swim. He is an instructor at Parsons The New School For Design.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Genius, October 9, 2005

By 

Sarah R. Horvitz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neil Swaab: Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles (Attitude Featuring) (Paperback)

If you haven't gotten into Mr. Wiggles yet, you NEED to. He is the sickest, most demented little bear and he will be your new hero. He is the shizznit!! Pure comic genius! No comic has EVER mad me laugh out loud as much as this! Not for the easily offended (a.k.a. people with no sense of humor) Get this if you want to laugh your arse off!

5.0 out of 5 stars Despicable, unconscionable, beneath contempt!!!, January 19, 2008

By 

Albert C. Doyle "EMcKenzie" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neil Swaab: Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles (Attitude Featuring) (Paperback)

Every bit as sick and twistedas you could hope for. Your friends will think less of you for owning it.

4.0 out of 5 stars pressing an unexpected button, February 23, 2006

By 

at8ax (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neil Swaab: Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles (Attitude Featuring) (Paperback)

This is really a 4-1/2 star review. I'm okay with grossness, perversity, foul language and such when it's this funny. But I'm very put off by ... the bad spelling! Doesn't anybody edit these things?

By the way, this might not be the best choice of reading matter for the exercycle at the gym. Especially if there are people sitting on exercycles to either side. As I learned this morning.