Customer Reviews

The Pain: When Will it End?

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Stop what you're doing and buy this book!!!!

I grew up reading Doonesbury and Bloom County. As I got older I looked for sicker, darker humor. I love Johnny Ryan, Kieron Dwyer, Ivan Brunetti, Kaz, and Derf. I'm a seeker, always digging, always looking for something sicker and darker and funnier and more extreme. Well, I found it. I knew nothing about Tim Kreider and bought this book on a whim. So listen to what I'm about to say and listen good:

This is THE Funniest book I have ever read in my entire life.
Ever.
Hands down.

I've laughed harder in my life, but never have I laughed so consistently from beginning to end. This book had me gasping for breath from beginning to end. It is simply brilliant. STunningly good. Kreider isn't as sick as Ivan Brunetti and I would say he isn't quite as good an artist as Kieron Dwyer (although he is still excellent), and his comix are all single page or single panel. But if you want brilliance in a comic book that will make your jaw drop - buy this book. Trust me.

There are jokes in here, like "Butt First for Love" that I looked at thought "am I really looking at this!?!?", humor that slaps you immediately in the face and has you cracking up from the word go. Then there are more subtle jokes, like "Kasparov vs. Gravedigger" that get funnier and funnier each time you look at them (I didn't laugh at that one until about the fifth time i had looked at it - then I couldn't stop laughing).

BUY THIS BOOK - nOW

Think a more foul-mouthed and angrier Oliphant. Having seen the entire online collection of The Pain, I must say that depending on the themes, the comics are hit and miss (the "loser who never gets laid" schtick is really old), but when Kreider does draw blood, the result is some of the most brilliant political satire I have ever seen. If you want intelligent, exceedingly sharp, unbelievably funny and, above all, brutally honest liberal satire, and don't mind a bit of foul language, then this book is an absolute must have. Ten points out of five.

Fair warning: this is extremely raw, nihilistic stuff. How you'll feel about it probably depends on how amused you are by nasty jokes about Jesus and Gandhi, Hitler and Mickey Mouse, pornography and suicide, big-breasted women and disabled children. Oh, and lots of people going postal. A few of the panels might be shown to polite company, but by far the majority are completely inappropriate.

So if a cartoon about "Onan the Barbarian" sounds like it might make you laugh, you may get a big kick out of this book. It's dark and scabrous and witheringly cruel and probably some of the most brilliant cartooning of the last ten years. Tim Kreider makes S. Gross look tame by comparison. He isn't just a leftist political cartoonist; he's a mordant observer of life itself, a man unafraid of utter self-abasement and slobbering crudity.

A second collection - "Why Do They Kill Me?" - is just as side-splittingly cynical. These books deserve a wider audience, but don't show them to anyone who is emotionally sensitive. For that matter, letting kids read them would be a form of child abuse.

A lot of people have been waiting for this book for a long time since we need to get a dose of Tim's cartoons every night before sleep and it's not practical or comfortable to bring a laptop to bed with you and go online. If I had the time or inclination (or analytical skills) to breakdown why exactly the drawings are so unbelievably funny I probably still wouldn't bother because I'd run the risk of ruining that moment when I see a Tim Kreider picture of Dick Cheney cringing or Condolezza Rice flashing the President's staff and I haven't even read the joke yet but I'm already in hysterics over the way it's drawn. There's just nobody in the world--not Steve Brodner or Oliphant or Ben Sargent or anyone--who wrings as much laughter out of his expressions and linework. It gets even better. Go to his website and click the "artist's statement" for each comic. They're every bit as funny as the comics themselves.

Tim Kreider is a thoughtful, introspective man and a brilliant cartoonist. Here, then, are his innermost self-insights rendered in graphic form. Like every confession, it challenges, but take heart - at least you're not him.

Tim Kreider is more than an editorial cartoonist. He is a man who has been blessed with the ability of exposing the faults and failings of humanity in a series of fine lines. If you're expecting cute and cuddly stuff, save your money. But if you want to laugh at self-recognition, stop reading this review and buy this book. It's harsh and dark, but then, so are the realities of life.

Not very often does a book make me laugh so hard I accidentally snort Diet Coke out my nose. "The Pain" treads the line between high-brow intellect and complete retardation in a way that is completely addictive and hilarious. I read it from cover to cover and then read it again. I've already bought two copies for friends. I wish my local paper ran Mr. Kreider so I could see new work every week.

This is a funny collection of cartoons which is perfect for smart, jaded, cynical people with dark senses of humor. It is not a book for the dumb, unattractive, faithful or optimistic.