Widgey Q. Butterfluff [Paperback]

Steph Cherrywell (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2009

Widgey Q. Butterfluff is the most sickeningly cute person in the Snugglepump Valley, a place that has been stuck on Saturday Morning for over 20 years. With little more than a sunny personality, the titular heroine takes on the full range of kiddy-cartoon villains, from teenaged ennui to armored skeletons to timeslot-appropriate drug metaphors. This original graphic novel by Steph Cherrywell starts us out on a tour of the magical valley and introduces us to a cast of characters to appeal to the cartoon-junkie in all of us.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Widgey Q. Butterfluff is an upstanding resident of Snugglepump Valley, a magical land where it’s perpetually Saturday morning, TV cartoon-style. Hence, Widgey is sweet and cute and nauseatingly cheerful. She and her friends defend Snugglepump Valley from the archvillain Lord Meanskull and his hench-witches. With personality and pluck they avert such clichéd kiddy-cartoon catastrophes as pollution, puberty, and nonspecific drug addiction while also tackling more obscure problems, such as high-school flashbacks, dinosaur Santa, and emo-teens. As a send-up of the sanitized, feel-good cartoons kids are subjected to these days, Widgey is spot-on. Cherrywell achieves the treacly sweet, inane overtones then throws in some priceless snark, slipping in grown-up jokes with calculated precision. The art is cute and fluid, with a bit of an Ameri-manga flair. Those who appreciate the sarcasm of Animaniacs, Emily the Strange, and the like will enjoy this book. --Tina Coleman

Review

Widgey Q. Butterfluff is an upstanding resident of Snugglepump Valley, a magical land where it s perpetually Saturday morning, TV cartoon-style. Hence, Widgey is sweet and cute and nauseatingly cheerful. She and her friends defend Snugglepump Valley from the archvillain Lord Meanskull and his hench-witches. With personality and pluck they avert such clichéd kiddy-cartoon catastrophes as pollution, puberty, and nonspecific drug addiction while also tackling more obscure problems, such as high-school flashbacks, dinosaur Santa, and emo-teens. As a send-up of the sanitized, feel-good cartoons kids are subjected to these days, Widgey is spot-on. Cherrywell achieves the treacly sweet, inane overtones then throws in some priceless snark, slipping in grown-up jokes with calculated precision. The art is cute and fluid, with a bit of an Ameri-manga flair. Those who appreciate the sarcasm of Animaniacs, Emily the Strange, and the like will enjoy this book. --Tina Coleman - Booklist

"...pitch-perfect sendups of the 80s cartoon genre, and, on the other hand, Mad-Magazine-grade gross-outs, filled with drug and sex references and highly entertaining self-reflexive humor. The black-and-white Slave Labor Graphics collection is great, lightweight entertainment -" --Cory Doctorow - Boing Boing

I hate to use the term subversive, but mainly because it s misused so frequently. In this case: completely appropriate. Steph Cherrywell has done a hell of a job of subverting the ideas behind children s cartoons, from the suspect motivation of the polluting villain to the concept of using caring as a fuel source. And it s funny! And it still manages to be kind of sweet even while satirizing the concept of cartoons with twee sweetness as their core concept! --Jonathan - Living Between Wednesdays

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: SLG Publishing (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593621841
• ISBN-13: 978-1593621841
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cute as a really strange, amazingly funny button., March 24, 2010

By 

G. Les (Bellingham, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Widgey Q. Butterfluff (Paperback)

Steph Cherrywell remains one of the cleverest comic writers/artists actively working today.
For those who've never seen her work before, her humor largely follows the format of
"Follow the genre trope to its simultaneously logical and utterly bizarre conclusion." Thus eco-friendly activism
leads to a plague of mutant sandwiches, a candy shortage leads to all-out war, and sex education leads
to both a hilariously public breakup, the loss of a cure for cancer, and partial cannibalism. Her ability to
create new permutations on this theme seems essentially endless.

The art is clean, consistent and charming, with just a touch of the grotesque in all the right places.
It's all black and white, but with the kind of expert balance that makes color unnecessary. The characters
are drawn as extended caricatures of their functions within the story, which is of course exactly what they are,
so that all works out perfectly.

Cherrywell is a genuine talent who is just starting up in the paper comics business, and this little book
is a treat both for those familiar with her online work and for newcomers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun, wicked "kiddy story" for adults, April 21, 2010

By 

Bennybob - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Widgey Q. Butterfluff (Paperback)

Having followed some of Steph's other online comics for the past year, I was interested to find out what else was available. I saw she had a new hard-copy book out, and figured, "Hey, ten bucks, why not?"

And I'm glad I did. Steph's writing is brilliant - this is a parody of the old-style kiddie cartoons that's so sharp it'll give you a papercut. (Bring your own gloves.) The characters could have been lifted straight out of any kids' show from the 80s, but they've been given a dash of 00s "adult" post-modernism. "Special" themes that cartoons dealt with, like anti-drug messages and adolescent relationships, have been dealt with by Widgey and her friends in the most ludicrous and hilarious ways possible. Let's just say, go easy on the pillows.

The artwork is sensational. The characters all have a wonderful vibrancy and emotion that is typical of Steph's work. And yes, the book itself is in black-and-white, but that's not a flaw, it's a special "Colour In" feature!

Widgey's adventures are a fun and engaging read for like-minded adults who grew up watching kids' shows in the 1980s, and is a must-have for fans of Steph Cherrywell's work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Read, April 13, 2010

By 

T.B. Haven (Harmony, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Widgey Q. Butterfluff (Paperback)

I loved this book. Cherrywell is a highly talented artist with a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. The characters are expertly drawn, each panel rich to overflowing with interesting and funny details. The author is both a highly accomplished illustrator and a gifted storyteller, showing care and attention to little details.
Each of Widgey's adventures gives evidence of the creative mind of the artist and delights the reader. This is a book to be enjoyed and savored by all who can appreciate quality, from adults who've witnessed the absurdities of this world to kids with inquiring and independent minds. Considering the excellent artwork, the well-crafted stories, the richness of the text, and Cherrywell's attention to details, this book is a bargain at the price, and one to be read over and over again.
Snugglepump Valley, Cherrywell's imaginative illustration of Widgey's world, is a wonderful place that nurtures and nourishes the reader's imagination. One can hope that there will be a Volume 2 to transport Widgey's fans back to the valley -- to Sweetopia, Sunwood, Greeny Lawns, and the dastardly villians that live in Castle Meanskull, East of the River Sticks.