Review: Goldilocks and the Infinite Bears: A Pie Comics Collection – John McNamee
Goldilocks and the Infinite Bearsby John McNamee
Publisher: Lion Forge Comics
Publication Date: August 14, 2018
Genres: Graphic Novel
Pages: 128
Source: NetGalley
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My rating:
Pie Comics began as a college comic strip way back is the mid '00s, when flip phones roamed the earth. But it wasn't until a shoulder injury forced John to simplify his drawing style and improvise the comics instead of actually sitting down and writing them that Pie Comics became the beloved strip it is today! This collection showcases some of the funniest and most trenchant of Onion writer John McNamee's online comic strips, found at piecomic.tumblr.com.
I was only vaguely familiar with the author’s work, but when I figured out that the majority of the comics included in this collection are hilariously snarky riffs on fairy tales, fables, superheroes, and beloved children’s classics, I had to read it. If you’ve found your mind drifting while reading bedtime stories to your kids and wondered what would happen if the Hungry Caterpillar just kept eating or if Cinderella harnessed her army of forest friends, this book is for you!
The art is a simplistic-looking web comic style which works perfectly with the often understated humor. Most pages consist of a single self-contained comic, with only a few spreading over two pages. Mr. McNamee seems to excel at taking extraordinary situations and subverting them with everyday annoyances. I genuinely laughed out loud at several pages, and had a few that were so good that I had to immediately show them to my husband. Several of the punchlines have become go-to gags in my house, namely “it’s magic as fuck here.”
The humor is snarky, absurd and unquestionably adult. Some comics riff on the creation story from Genesis, Christianity in general, and the Greek pantheon, so if that would upset you, steer clear. Overall, I found the humor right up my ally and very much enjoyed this collection, and found it mostly dud-free. I’ll definitely be picking this back up when I need a quick pick-me-up!
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