The Fun Never Stops! (Paperback)

~ Drew Friedman (Author)
Key Phrases: liver spots

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Alternative-comics creators have gone way over the top and around the bend since Friedman's early-1980s debut, but back then he was the height of transgressiveness. With or without his brother Josh Alan's scripting, he envisioned Sheriff Andy leading the lynching of a well-dressed black man who has the temerity to come to Mayberry, and I Love Lucy sidekick Fred Mertz leading a criminal nightlife. Friedman's shtick was to put the beloved public faces of (or characters portrayed by) mid-twentieth-century minor celebrities in scenarios that contradicted the wholesomeness they represented—or vice versa, when he depicted eccentric comedians, such as the Three Stooges, aging in failing health and straitened circumstances, like so many regular folks. Such stuff was and is screamingly funny and moving. There's not that much of it, however, in this collection of gag strips, one-panel cartoons, and portrait caricatures, most of them done in the demanding stipple work that Friedman abandoned in 1994. Sans stippling, Friedman's style remains ultrarealistic or, as the title of his 1990 collection aptly puts it, Warts and All—heck, he adds warts, wrinkles, and liver spots beyond those his famous subjects usually display. He's the finest caricaturist of his generation. Olson, Ray

Review

Drew Friedman holds a marvelously warped lens up to crusty politicians and debauched celebrities. -- Entertainment Weekly

Drew Friedman is the unchallenged living master of the art of caricature. -- Chris Ware

I love Drew Friedman. He's my favorite artist. -- Howard Stern

With a distinctive and painstaking style… and a great eye for the ugliness beneath the sheen of celebrity glamour Drew Friedman is a caricaturist to savor. (Danny Graydon - The First Post )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (June 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560978406
• ISBN-13: 978-1560978404
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #385,282 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HA!, July 6, 2007

By	Paul Karasik - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Fun may never stop, but, alas, this collection terminates after page 144 leaving the reader crying for more.

Whether Friedman loves or loathes humanity is irrelevant. He understands the power of schtick to be able cloud men's minds so that they actually believe that a child/man screeching, "Wanna buy a duck?" is a knee-slapping riot.

He also understands how to use a brush.

By the way, this book contains one of the greatest one-page comics of all time.

Get out your credit card.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE SCARY FUN from the universe's most lethal caricaturist!, June 21, 2007

By	GAGOON (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

Drew Friedman's distaste of humanity is equaled in intensity only by his loving devotion to the myriad design flaws of the packages that it arrives in.
Friedman has logged more honest man-hours toiling in the dermal pleats, gorges and buboes of the rich and famous than any Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon that ever lived.
His celebrity topographies should be a compulsory cultural vaccination for every American citizen within striking range of People magazine!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The drawings Drew drew in the last 15 years, September 14, 2007

By	David Burd (East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I guess I've been following Drew Friedman's work for about 25 years now. I think it just gets better.

Drew's pioneering use of his hand-made halftone technique was really amazing right from the get-go. Now that he's moved into other media and color (!), it's easy to see that there's an extremely talented artist at work here in addition to an innovative craftsman. Nobody draws better likenesses and Drew's are simulataneously accurate and satirical. Without the gross exaggeration you find in most caricature work, Drew captures the image of these famous and semi-famous people, and adds something indefinable to it. The result is an almost photographic portrait, a satirical comment and an outlandish cartoon all rolled into one.

The book begins with a long biography which I found fascinating. Even as a kid, Drew was extraordinary. (I won't spoil it for you.)

The artwork (and there's lots of it) is dazzling. The comic strips and illustrations are funny, poignant, silly, sad, disturbing, wonderful and puzzling, sometimes all in one piece.

If you're a fan of Drew's work this is a must-have. If you're new to Drew Friedman, this is a good introduction. Cheap at twice the price.