Fox Bunny Funny (Paperback)

~ (Author, Artist)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This wordless story has three distinct parts. First, a perhaps middle-school-aged, suburban fox-boy carefully pedals about town on his bike with a sack whose contents he keeps secret from neighbors' and parents' prying eyes. The punch-panel of this episode, in which the fox-boy dons a rabbit suit, surely refers to a young man's experimentation with cross-dressing. In the second episode, the fox-boy goes to the equivalent of Boy Scout camp, where he suffers from having to keep his identification with rabbits hidden from peers and counselors. When discovered, however, he turns on a rabbit and makes a species-correct meal choice. In the final part, the fox is now a young man trying hard to present his fox identity. When he discovers a city where foxes and rabbits amicably coexist, he faints, is whisked to a hospital, and undergoes an operation to conform his presenting biology to his inner rabbit. Deftly presented in crisp black-and-white, block-print-like panels, this is a must for libraries supporting LGBT collections. Goldsmith, Francisca

Product Description

The rules are simple: you're either a fox or a bunny. Foxes oppress and devour, bunnies suffer and die. Everyone knows their place. Everyone's satisfied. So what happens when a secret desire puts you at odds with your society? Starting from a simple premise - and without using a single word - Fox Bunny Funny leads the reader on a zigzag chase in and out of rabbit holes, and through increasingly strange landscapes where funny animals have serious identity problems. The tale swerves from slapstick to horror and back again before landing at the inevitable climax, in which all the old rules are shattered. When you emerge, you'll find yourself gazing at our own fragmenting society with new eyes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Top Shelf Productions; illustrated edition edition (July 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189183097X
• ISBN-13: 978-1891830976
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #983,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hartzell, Andy-- Handy, July 2, 2007

By	Ben Malisow - See all my reviews

This is not a fuzzy-wuzzy comic book. It's not something to give your kids when they're done with their latest issue of Donald Duck Goes To Happyland.

This is hardcore, down-and-dirty, mess-with-your-head weirdness.

And we can all thank Hartzell he took the effort to make it for us.

Andy's a talented guy; there's no escaping that. His earlier works, from the "Edna" series to his weighty "Monday," demonstrated his talent in both storytelling and pure art. His capability to lambaste the reader with emotion, using only line drawings, is remarkable.

And, like "Monday," "FBF" deals with weighty subjects...and doesn't use words.

Okay, for most writers, this would be a brutal undertaking-- punishment of the worst sort. "You want me to deal with WHAT? Without using any WORDS???"

But Hartzell can not only do it, he does it with a stark simplicity that probably conducts fear, horror, hatred, joy, and happiness better than prose can do...or has done.

FBF deals with The Other in a society; the easiest analogies are right there in front of you, barely hidden by the symbolism...but I think there are deeper, more universal feelings there, too. Can a character with a different agenda from those in a shared society, a character with an affinity for the taboo, subliminate its own needs for the sake of fitting in? And how far does that carry? And what else is there?

Hartzell goes at these questions with an ink pen that could be a metaphorical sledgehammer.

Let him hit you in the forehead. It's worth it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll keep thinking about it days after reading it, July 16, 2007

By	M. Fishbach "BookFish" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A beautiful and evocative visual story. Metaphorically deep and accessible to a wide age range. Highly recommended.