Maakies [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Tony Millionaire (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This volume collects Millionaire's popular weekly comic strip Maakies and follows the dubious adventures of a monkey and bird, Uncle Gabby and Drinky-Crow, a drunken seafaring duo utterly divorced from reality and compelled to escape life through total inebriation. Ever sloshed, these two "heroes" stumble through decapitations and amputations of every variety, delirium tremens and self-cannibalism, in a never-ending cycle of comical misery, pain and death. But in the great tradition of comic-book characters, they come alive again ready for their next horrific exit. The two also recite poetry: world-weary reflections on love, death, drunkenness and the futility of life. Even the fish are alienated, sighing "the baited hook, a tired clich‚," as Gabby casts his fishing line into the water. Millionaire's strange and engaging comics style alternates between an almost sincere romanticism and a wholly unpredictable cartoonism. He'll devote a series of panels to beautifully rendered riverboats, while the next entries feature a roving band of ear mites who take up residence in Drinky-Crow's rotted, sun-baked skull and ask him to describe the afterlife ("like being strapped to a tornado of pain," he responds). The black and white drawings are impressive, with gorgeously rendered sailing ships, nostalgic seascapes and drawings in the style of 19th-century German prints. Designed by the esteemed Chip Kidd, this is a must-read for comics fans.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
A must-read for comics fans. -- Publishers Weekly

Alternates between an almost sincere romanticism and a wholly unpredictable cartoonism...a must-read for comics fans. -- Publishers Weekly

America's best newspaper strip. Eerily hilarious. -- Alternative Press

Nobody alive draws better sailing ships, sea battles, woolly mammoths, runaway brains, or Pasteurella Pestis than Tony Millionaire. -- Hermenaut

The off-color ministrip along the bottom is often a riot. -- Seattle Times, Mark Rainer, 10 October 2000

There's a darkness to his work, yet everything is treated with this gung-ho adventurous spirit, which is funny in itself. -- Bob Odenkirk

What separates this alternative comic strip...is Millionaire's insanely detailed artwork and his unrivaled f--ked-upedness. -- Alive, 5 December 2002, J. Caleb Mozzocco

[A] beautifully designed new collection. -- The Stranger, Bret Fetzer, 19 October 2000

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; 2nd edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560973919
• ISBN-13: 978-1560973911
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #579,057 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caustic, morbid, and hilarious, August 24, 2000

By	A bookish fellow (Juneau, AK USA) - See all my reviews

Tony Millionaire's MAAKIES is a nonpareil in comics -- the wittiest, most surreal dark humor I've seen since Elzie Segar's Popeye. There is nothing arch or arty about this stuff either -- it will offend and scandalize the pure of heart as sublime comics should. The draughtsmanship is breathtaking, on a par with anything Hal Foster (of Prince Valiant fame) or Walt Kelly ever did, but that's the least of it. The wit is gin-soaked and angry, shot through with genuine pathos and not a thimbleful of sentiment. By the time you encounter Uncle Gabby the ape charging a platoon of Napoleonic alligators with his head on fire, yelling "I'm a barrel full of hate boys, open me up!" you'll know if this painful hangover cure is for you or if you'd rather just curl up and gurgle with "Mutts Vol II."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something to be Crowin' and Apin' About, August 23, 2000

By	twostools (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

The unbound joy and glee released upon these 136 pages should make any die-hard smirkin' sarcastic fool smile.

For those of you unfamiliar with Drinky Crow and his faithful side-kick, Uncle Gabby, they have graced the panels of Tony Millionaire's "MAAKIES" cartoon strip since 1994. Drinky Crow is an alcoholic and suicidal crow and his stovetop hat-wearing ape friend, Uncle Gabby, is often the "Costello" to Drinky's "Abbott."

They are found at sea or on land, misguidedly navigating one another through mishaps and adventures of folly for drink, food, drink, gold and women. Oh yes, and they do "likes to drink a bit."

The penmanship of Tony Millionaire is to be marvelled upon in the depth of his inking styles and his ability to create characters and atmospheres appropriate to his story lines. The overall feel of these strips is reminiscent of the classic early 20th Century work of Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland."

And the stories tend to make one wonder what sort of mind came up with some of these plots and twists of thought that land Uncle Gabby and Drinky Crow in so many hilarious, yet dubious circumstances.

It is absolutely amazing what Tony Millionaire's imagination can do to a stuffed crow and a former sock monkey. And we're glad he does. Welcome to the wild and tipsy world of MAAKIES.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Good Bye, Cruel World!", August 18, 2004

By	Briggs May (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read this book last summer and I found it so uproariously hysterical that I decided to get up and fix myself another drink instead of shooting myself in the head. Such is the power of Tony Millionaire's Maakies. Yes, a comic book saved me from depression.

What's the secret behind Millionaire's unique formula? Suicide+alcoholism+naval battles=comedy? William S. Burroughs+Walt Disney+Herman Melville? The artwork, which is fairly detailed and traditional, and the cute characters act as a deceptive foil to the dirty jokes and ultraviolence that usually occur by the third or fourth panel of each strip. Maakies is a world constantly flipping back and forth between surreal poetic whimsy and scatalogical tomfoolery, innocent beauty and profane nastiness waltzing together in the ballroom of the subconscious.