Customer Reviews

Wrapped-Up FoxTrot: A Treasury with the Final Daily Strips (Foxtrot Collections)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A common problem you see in long running cartoonists' works is the tendency to repeat old jokes redrawn in slightly different ways. I suppose its character stereotypes or the like such as "Roger burning the BBQ", "Jason at school", most of the holiday ones such as "Peter and thanksgiving", etc.

I do like Foxtrot and have most of the Treasuries but the repetition gets stronger every year. If you're a true fan you're going to buy the book anyway. If you're new to Foxtrot it won't bother you but I'd suggest buying one of the early Treasuries instead. The daily strip ending is not particularly special or anything. The book is ok but not a must have.

I've been hooked on Foxtrot for a while, so I always buy the new treasuries. I felt sad a few years ago when I heard that Bill Amend was cutting back on his strips and only doing Sundays. This is one of my favorite comics along with Calvin and Hobbes.

If you're already into Foxtrot, you know you like it, so buy this book.

If you're new to Foxtrot, this is a great comic, so buy this book.

NOTE: As a treasury, this is a collection of some of his other smaller books so make sure you aren't buying repeats. What I do is only buy treasuries so I get all the comics and never overlap.

WRAPPED-UP is a collection of the final daily "Fox Trot" strips with the Sunday strips from the same period. The strips in this book have all been published before in the books HOUSTON, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM and AND WHEN SHE OPENED THE CLOSET, ALL THE CLOTHES WERE POLYESTER! The strips in the book ran in newspapers from the last part of 2005 through all of 2006. At the end of 2006 Amend went into semi-retirement; he stopped publishing daily strips and went to a Sunday only format.

A few of the stories in the book include Jason and his pet iguana, Quincy, dressing up as Quincy John Adams; Jason finding out that his World of Warcraft companion of several years is actually Eileen Jacobson, his secret crush; Paige's adventures as a JVV cheerleader; the week of Jason writing a horoscope; Jason's attempt to make a low budget version of King Kong; Jason search for a new computer; and Paige and Peter being turned into Christmas cookies. In addition there's a "Pearls Before Swine" crossover, a few Star Wars references, a couple of homages to "Calvin and Hobbes", and Jason's attempt at drawing other comic strips such as "Boondocks", "Zits", "Garfield", and "For Better Or Worse." There's also the usual gags about Roger burning hamburgers, Andy making food no one wants to eat, and Jason and Marcus causing all kinds of intelligent chaos.

My only complaint about the book is that for a treasury, there is no extra material. Amend typically doesn't include many notes, rejected strips, etc. in his treasuries. However, since this is the final "Fox Trot" treasury of dailies, I thought there would be something, but there isn't. There isn't even an introduction. Therefore, if you already own HOUSTON, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM and AND WHEN SHE OPENED THE CLOSET, ALL THE CLOTHES WERE POLYESTER! there's no reason to buy WRAPPED-UP.

If you're a true fan of FoxTrot then this last collection is a must have for your collection. It collects the last daily strips of this classic strip and all the adventures of Jason, Peter, Paige and the rest of the family. My one wish is that they would have included some commentary or extra features (like Pearls Before Swine does), but that's never been Amend's style.

I've been reading this series from the early 90's and am still never disappointed with the humor and laughter I get from the Fox family and friends. Some reviewers have said there are a few noticeable strips they seemed to have read on earlier books or seem to have the same story of an earlier strip, and sometimes that's true with any long lasting series but you shouldn't let that dissuade you from any series you might like because if you the one who's going to buy this book or anything else want to get it or find it entertaining enough than don't let anyone's opinion change your decision. The strip has all the friends of the fox family to enjoy as well Marcus(Jason's best friend), Qunicy(Jason's pet iguana and Paige's kickball), Eileen(Jason's other friend and more than likely girlfriend to her delight and his horror), Steve(Peter's best friend), and Nicole(Paige's best friend). Seeing the family live and squabble together I think will remind many of their own childhood days with their own siblings(I know many situations in the strip reminded me of my childhood days with my two older evil sisters). Unlike the daily strips like Mary Worth or For Better or Worse there won't be anything dramatic or serious in these strips and that is one of the things I truly appreciate since we have to deal with enough hard and sometimes heartbreaking situations in the real world to much already. Also the one thing I truly appreciate is that the kids stay the same age I know that's a little weird but after reading the strip FBOW and seeing those kids grow up throughout the years like in the real world and facing hard choices of today, again you just don't want to have to read that in the daily comic strips after watching enough real life sad choices and stories on the news. The series well grow on you as you read the strips and if you're entertained by this book there are plenty more to get as well all with the humor that is Bill Amend and the Fox family.

This books is great. Still the same humor as when I was little and that's what I love. Must get for Fox-Trot fans!

I love, love FoxTrot and Bill Amend. I was thrilled to receive this new compilation of comic strips and it was a joy, as always, to read and savor.

FoxTrot features an everyday family - laugh out loud Jason who is a computer geek who hates "girls" and feels as though they have "cooties". Peter who can eat three times his weight and never gains an ounce, Paige who is Jason's main victim for all his pranks and the parents - the mom who keeps cooking healthy and horrible food like tofu loaf and the dad who has two hairs on his head and keeps looking for someone to play chess with.

I never, never get tired of reading this strip. I laugh all the time, no matter how many times I read these.

This book had 192 pages which is one of their bigger compilations. There are a few color strips, but most of these are in black and white.

I look forward to much more from this strip.

After 19 years, cartoonist Bill Amend decided to semi-retire. While he no longer does the daily comic strips, he still does a Sunday comic. This book collects the final year and a half of the daily (and Sunday) strips. All of them have been previously released in the books "Houston, You Have a Problem" and "And When She Opened the Closet, All the Clothes Were Polyester!"

We've got about a year and a half here, most of which I hadn't seen before. These cover the second half of 1995 and all of 1996. While that makes for the occasional reference that isn't as timely as it was then, the jokes are still funny.

And they are still familiar. While I still laughed quite a few times at this book, I did find that some of the gags had gotten a little tired. The father still burns the hamburgers. Jason's pet iguana chews up his siblings' homework. And Jason and his friend Marcus still think playing a sports video game counts as playing outside.

But I truly can't complain because I still enjoyed the strips. Bill Amend still finds some ways to make the jokes original. That may not make them fresh, but it still makes them fun.

I'm sad to see another great comic strip closing its doors. Or at least mostly closing them. But I will treasure these treasuries for a long time to come.

I finally got to read the very last collection of the Foxtrot daily strips before Mr. Amend went to Sunday only, with "Houston, You Have A Problem", and "And When She Opened the Closet, All Her Clothes Were Polyester!" as part of the collection.

Very good read. I'll miss Foxtrot deeply.

With this purchase, I now own every FoxTrot book. This one is no different than any of the others...simply fantastic. If you are a FoxTrot fan, do not pass this up!