The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties [Paperback]

Wiley Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

Since its debut in 1992, Non Sequitur--a comic that jabs at the feats and foibles of modern-day life--has become one of the fastest-rising comic strips in the U.S. Named Non Sequitur because no one strip has anything to do with another, each cartoon features no central character or theme. Anyone who loves to laugh will want to curl up with this outrageously hilarious collection of tongue-in-cheek philosophical musings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wiley Miller began his career as a political cartoonist in 1976, and his incisive drawings have won him several honors, including, in 1991, the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1992 to devote his full-warped attention to Non Sequitur. Non Sequitur is the only cartoon to win National Cartoonists Society awards in both the comic strip and comic panel categories, and Wiley Miller is the only cartoonist to win a Reuben in his first year of syndication.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836217853
• ISBN-13: 978-0836217858
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 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: #462,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I began my career in art illustrating educational films. But my interest was always in print and cartooning, so in 1977 I moved from film in Southern California to work as a staff artist and editorial cartoonist for the Greensboro Daily News and the Greensboro Record (they were the morning and evening papers at the time and have since merged into one). In 1979 I moved on to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Ca.), as doing the staff art for one paper instead of two gave me more time to do editorial cartoons. My editorial cartoons then went into syndication with Copley News Service in 1980. Unfortunately, I was laid off in the recession of 1981, which, fortunately, led me to create my first comic strip, "Fenton", which was syndicated by Field Syndicate. It had moderate success, but my love was still with editorial cartooning. When the position came open at the San Francisco Examiner in 1984, I went for it and somehow got it. I enjoyed a good run there until the recession of 1991 hit in the wake of the Gulf War. Learning from my previous experience with recessions and the lack of job security for anyone in art, I decided to make my way out before the ax fell and created Non Sequitur, which went into syndication with the Washington Post Writers Group in 1992. It was met with immediate success, but it's growth with a small syndicate was limited. When I reached that limit, I moved over to Universal Press Syndicate in 2000, where the strip now appears in 800 papers world wide.Now, of course, I taken a new turn in my career, taking a story I did in the Sunday editions in 2005 called "Ordinary Basil" and made it into my first children's book with Blue Sky Press (a Scholastic imprint). The second book in the series, "Attack of the Volcano Monkeys", came out a year later, with a third book now in the works.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of hilarious cartoon gems, August 16, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties (Paperback)

The best cartoonists are right about their subject matter yet make it appear simultaneously bizarre and normal. Wiley is one of the best, as can be seen from this collection. My favorite is a three-caption cartoon that has a man sitting at a bar with two women a couple stools away. He tells the bartender, "But I've always been my own worst critic." The women turn their heads and with smiles on their faces the closest one asks, "So... You've never been married?" Wiley satirizes all aspects of life in the nineties, from those fed up with the world to people trying a new and unusual way to cope with a common situation. Death, taxes and many not so inevitable situations in between are covered, and this is literal. One caption has a funeral where the headstone says, "I thought it was death or taxes."
If life has got you down and you feel the need to fight back by laughing at it, then this is a book for you.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lawyers and More Lawyers, July 31, 2006

By 

R. J. Scanlan III (Woodbridge, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties (Paperback)

Wiley likes lawyers. Or no, actually maybe not.

It's interesting to see how much this has evolved into something of a daily New Yorker panel written for the Washington Post from its origins as a relatively (logical.. pro-sequitur?) series of little picture stories played out in the Sunday papers. I remember when the life cycle of a mosquito (or dragonfly, or just bug?) was first printed. Interesting to note he draws all his dailies twice (long and square formats) and I think maybe some of the Sunday panels too.

It's worthwhile to check out Homer and Danae as well, but expect to do a lot more thinking. Those strips harken back to the days when people used to READ the comics. I think I might use that line in another review now.

1 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just great, March 25, 2001

By 

Sahil Mehta (Roslyn Hts, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties (Paperback)

This book is incredably funny. It will make your day.