Teo Degas' Books & Decks

Beaton is a Canadian cartoonist, actually, a historian turned cartoonist that makes cartoons on historical episodes, historical people, old books and a range of other subjects. This book is a collection of comic strips on different subjects chosen from the strips she regularly publishes in her website Hark! A Vagrant.

Beaton is irreverent, witty and sarcastic. Beaton has an interest in history in general, in the 19th Century in particular, and in recreating old book covers to give them a modern twist.  Beaton uses deadpan humour. Beaton is able to see incongruence and present it an appealing ways. Beaton likes the "whats up dude" approach to stuff. Beaton is funny!

Some of her strips will make you laugh out loud. Others aren't laughable, but they are still a funny reading or just witty overall. I found many others not funny at all. Certainly, different strips will appeal to different people.

Her humour is somewhat elitist. I don't think a person without a good level of education and a good level of knowledge on history, literature, music or the 19th century will able to enjoy some of her strips. On the other hand, some of her deadpan sentences, some impossible dialogues, and irreverence make an entertaining reading overall

I especially like her recreation of old cover books, and the comics related to strong women, femme fatale and feminists. I found them hilarious.
There is a freshness and spontaneity about Beaton's comic strips both in her drawing style, conception and realisation that I love. It feels as if they had been thought and produced in a microsecond, but I am not sure that is the case. It doesn't really matter, they are still great.

I came across this book while browsing several lists of best graphic books of the year 2015, where it was consistently included.  I am not sure if I would include this collection of comic strips among the best graphic books of the year, but it is still a great collection of funny cartoons.

If you don't want to spend your money, just to to her site, as mentioned above, or to her tumblr site. I actually think her website is better to browse her work than any Kindle book.