Customer Reviews

What Would Wally Do?: A Dilbert Treasury (Dilbert Book Treasury)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Another compilation; this time it is Wally. If you have all the previous books, then this edition is redundant. But if you want just Wally, this is the book.

In the introduction Scott Adams talks about his time at Pacific Bell and the management decisions that resulted in the real-life Wally, an employee that worked hard to be in the bottom 10% so that he could be laid off with a substantial severance package. From there we move to the strips which cover most of the range of the Dilbert Years right from the early, unpolished days of Wally. Reading the collection we can see hoe the coffee mug carrying character has developed over the years.

Since this is a Wally retrospective there are no real story arcs in this collection. Instead, we get the strips that specifically showcase just how low Wally can sink. There are a small handful that seem like they don't belong to the collection but most give us the unvarnished truth about our favorite comic slacker. If you are a fan of Wally then you will need to read this almost-biography. General fans of the strip will still like the collection as it also showcases how the strip as a whole has changed over all these years. Check it out.

This is essentially a large collection of Wally cartoons and the various antics of the character. The foreward by Scott Adams gives the full story of the Pacific Bell individual--known as "Wally Version 1.0"--from being duped by weasals, to the unique position that WV1.0 was put in by management, to his antics upon stumbling across the golden parachute for the lowest 10% of employees. Though some of the comics are shown in other collections, quite a few I have not seen before in my other Dilbert books--particularly a number of older Wallyisms. Overall, a very good addition to anyone's Dilbert collection.

Dilbert is an acquired taste of those who deal or have dealt with corporate American over the years. This book, as do all Dilbert books, has real belly laughs for those who have had oblivious bosses and innane, unthoughtout corporate policies shoved down their throats by an unfeeling management. Unfortunately, these books are starting to recycle some panels and old ideas from past years and other Dilbert books. When you flip a page and find the same comic strips in one book after another, you start to feel a bit cheated. If there isn't enoiugh new material, don't count on a poor memory to make the "old" fresh again.Those of us who pay such a price for a compilation of comic strips need more respect from Scott Adams.

Dilbert is a great comic strip, and it's a fine idea to assemble a bunch of funny strips about Wally. I don't even mind that it's all recycled material.

But it's an insult to the reader to assemble the strips so badly. If there are two strips from the same sequence, why separate them by several pages? I'm taking this one back - it doesn't add anything new and it's edited badly.

I can't decide if the poor editing in this book is intended to be part of the humor or not. The "Wally Version 1.0" back story was entertaining and, as always, there were some laugh-out-loud strips in this book.

Unfortunately though, it seems that the publisher assigned some interns to pull out all the Dilbert strips they could find where Wally supplies the punch line and then put them in the book in no particular order. At first, it appears that the strips are being presented in the order they were written or published but that "theme" is not maintained. At one point, there are three strips on one page that are obviously part of a single narrative but the last strip on the page is the "setup" for the punchlines in the first two. This was only the most glaring example of the lack of effort put into this book. Several other related strips appear out of order (in at least one case, separated by about 1/3rd of the book). Other strips are presented without critical context (presumably because the contextual strips don't feature Wally?) so they lose a lot of their punch.

I laughed while reading the book but I couldn't help imagining the publisher was also laughing on his way to the bank with my money.

What makes it funny is that everyone knows a Wally where they work? It is funny because there is so much truth in it.

I have just about every Dilbert book, and it does seem that this book has many comics that have not appeared elsewhere. So that is great!. Now to the whinning. I'm sure it was done because it was the way Wally would do it, but it does detract from the book. What? The fact that the comics are not in chronological order. One of many things I really admire about Scott Adams is his ability to get as much humor out of a topic as seems humanly possible. In this compilation, although a strip will stand on its own as being funny, 12 pages later you will see the comic that preceded it, making the comic infinitely more funny. Sure, Wally would just put the comics in without regard to date, topic etc... and that's probably the joke. But Scott, it cost you a star, giving you something to work for next time.

I'm a fan of comics, but I'm very picky about which ones I choose to love. "Peanuts" will always be the standard, since I followed them since I was old enough to read. Of course, many other classics have hung around for decades, some, like Beetle Bailey, like seeing an old friend, and magnum puke affairs like "Family Circus", which is so square and traditional, you just know they're all neo-con evangelicals.
No strip out there matches day to day the wit, sarcasm and accuracy of "Dilbert", Scott Adams' view of the workplace and all the idiocy that comes with it.
"What Would Wally Do?" celebrates the worst worker in the world (although I know a few who could be serious contenders) or maybe the greatest work avoider of all time, depending on your point of view.
Adams is always on the money when it comes to the stupidity of corporate America, and it's scary because in so many cases it's true, especially in the suck-up world of management, where snitching, butt kissing and treachery are more important for success than dependability, hard work or intelligence. Wally, Dilbert's co-worker, knows the system and how to beat it.
All of the "Dilbert" books are brilliant and will make you laugh out loud and best of all, will assure all of us that in the world of the workplace, when it comes to dealing with morons and slackers, we are definitely not alone.

Great book, very funny. Wally is my favorite Dilbert character. He's like Randy Moss (of the Raiders, not the one today) but with much less talent for his career. I enjoyed this one as much as any Dilbert book.