Customer Reviews

What Does This Say?: Family Circus

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Yeats once wrote, "None other knows what pleasures man/At table or in bed." Bil Keane, however, seems to have found in his latest 'Family Circus' opus a treasure-chest of pleasures for each and all of us.

There are some who chafe at the seeming repetitive themes within Keane's major works; I would respectfully submit that all great stories are about life and death, love and loss, fear and triumph. If not Keane, then so go Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz and Callimachus, too, for good measure. It is not originality that spawns thought and wonderment; it is the vessels of those themes (Billy, Grandma, Barfy, PJ) that inspire and enlighten.

Keane, as carrier of these vessels, reminds us of a truth so eloquently immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Some books leave us free and some books make us free." In 'What Does This Say', it is clear that the tome achieves the latter, with gusto and aplomb.

There is a certain sadness one feels in remembering happy times: turning over the last page of a good novel, and reflecting over the wonders we have just experienced, the characters who have become our friends; discovering old pictures, seeing ourselves in the halcyon throes of youth, silly smiles on our innocent faces; the plangent last notes of a Chopin nocturne, the theme, growing softer and softer now, floating across the room to rest against our face like the rhythmic breaths of a peaceful, sleeping lover.

I don't know how: but Keane captures this feeling, this happy sadness - "Oh heavy lightness," as Shakespeare put it. Billy romps around the yard. He runs all over town. His parents are in love. His family is love with itself, each unto each. Can our lives ever be like this? Perhaps not, but we can watch, watch ever single day, and wrap ourself in that happy sadness. And maybe forget, if only for a little while, the way our lives really are, the way they have to be: our heavy lightness. Thanks, Bil Keane, for that, and thanks to Amazon for letting people express themselves. Thank you all.

If there is a finer piece of work every written in the history of comics, I have yet to see it! Once again Bil Keane has published an anthology just as sure to raise the bar for his peers in the comic industry as it is to delight his legions of fans. Though he utilizes only a single, circular panel in his art, time and time again Keane has proven that in no way does this format limit his genius of comic delievery. He consistantly produces panels of a dazzling scope and depth, which hide layers upon layers of humor that seem to demand multiple readings. Although enourmously complex and even at times displaying a dark sense of humor, Keane nevertheless is able to keep even the youngest of readers amused through his delightful art and the uplifting messages his panels hide. Sad to say, but since the death of Charles Shultz, Bil Keane has been left without a true peer in the world of comics. ...No, truly each period of human exsistence has produced a select few men whom society can look up to. Just as the Roman Historian Sallust could proudly say he lived in the Republic of Caesar and Cato, and past generations could say they lived in the days of Washington and Jefferson, so can we say we knew the time of Keane and Roy, and thus are we more fortunate than all others who came before.

Hear me people! The scribble on the front cover held up by PJ is not an origianl scribble! I knew I had seen it before, but I could not quite place it. Finally like a bolt of lightning, I sat up in bed at 2:45 AM and knew where I saw that scribble! I quickly opened my bottom drawer and pulled out my copy of the Necronomican. It was right there on page XVIII!!

I only had two hours before I started my shift at McDonald's. It was Thursday morning and that meant I had to be there very early to unload the truck delivery. I looked at the cover of this Family Circus book and could not unlock my gaze on Jeffy. "What does this say?" "What does this say?" "What does this say?" It mocked me, it called me, it demanded my attention.

Then from out of nowhere I got an idea. I opened this Family Circus novel to the LAST page. I then proceeded to read the book BACKWARDS! Then true horror struck my heart.

Start with the last cartoon, write down the last letter of each caption and work your way backwards to the first cartoon where Dolly is trying to take the skin off a cupcake. When you have all the letters written down, this message will appear.......

"Thel is the goddess of lust and desire. She lives for the pleasure of the flesh. Prices slashed at Jerrys, all items must go. Buy one spatula get one free."

Cold chills ran up and down my spine as I deciphered the what I now call the "Da Keane Code". I have quit my job at McDonald's and now work full time at home with a mountain of Family Circus books, the Necronomican, and the Book of Revelation, I believe I can pinpoint the exact time of the Rapture. I will report my findings as I discover them.

I read.
I wept.
I am humbled by this great, great work of literature.
Thank you Bill Keane.
Thank you.

To experience Family Circus, is to stare into the face of God himself. I recently spent a long hot summer afternoon outdoors wrapped in a camouflaged snuggie, with a piping hot mug of swissmiss in one hand, and this book delicately splayed open in the other. Exploring the subtle complexities of this, yet another, Keansian masterpiece, prompted me to re-examine everything I thought I knew about the universe and my place in it.

This flash of genius, known only as Family Circus, is truly why the caged bird sings. Indeed, this work of art makes Maya Angelou look like an illiterate hobo upstart who, as they say, does not have her tray table in the fully upright and locked position. Keane can flash me with his genius any time. Although his works have been callously relegated to the category of "comics", this under appreciation and lack of recognition of something so worth recognizing, only serves to highlight the poignant, philosophically-laden messages contained within his short quips, and the plight of humankind in general.

If only I could liquefy this book and take a bath in it, I would achieve total nirvana.

Bill Keane seriously created culture, an mirror to suburban American life in the mid-20th century. This critique was something that was fittingly read once a week on the day one would regularly spend mornings worshiping a guy who was nailed to some wood for having the temerity to say that people should be nice to each other.

It was telling though that the words and terms such as "napalm," "CIA," "assassination," "race riot," "LSD," "lynching" and a whole host of terms were kept out of Keane's hermetically sealed idyllic world. Keane was a subtle propagandist, but let's face it, it's not BS-ing to say this.

Keane was "safe," unlike the guy who did Zippy the Pinhead.

But I get more of a kick out of reading Zippy to my kids than I ever would with Keane.

Kids ran around with dotted lines marking their trails though.

WOW! I am brian 6 years old and family circis is my favorite cartoon strip. all the kids are funnie but pj never sais anything. Sitill he is the funniesty and littlest. but JEFFY is about 6 like me i think so i like him to. BILLY is a big meanie but he reminds me of my big brother who is always piking on BRIAN (thats me) so i like him because he is just like my brother and i love my broter. then i like DOLLY. DOLLY is a pretty girl and is also my favorite besides PJ. they are both pretty but DOLLY is prittyer. VERY GOOD BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this book is better than the bibler for familys. It has esquisate representations of family togetherness and love. It shows that a family when they stick together can get through anything.

i love bil keanes family circus series. i wish there would be more to come. i am looking to collect all of the books he has ever made but they are extremely hard to find! i would buy all. they are a funny yet family oriented cartoon series that makes you feel all fuzzy inside reading them. i absolutely love the family circus!!!!!!!!