NO ONE YOU KNOW: A Collection of Cartoons
Bruce Eric Kaplan, cartoonist forThe New Yorker, is a former writer forSeinfeld, and it shows--Kaplan's style of humor is observational, playing on modern foibles and putting new spins on clichés. His taglines are droll, slice-of-life bits of dialogue juxtaposed with slightly surreal situations. The Angel of Death bickers with his wife, a woman discusses the merits of dating a Cro-Magnon man, and preschoolers fret about innuendo on the playground. Kaplan's graphic style is spare, using bold lines, hollow "Annie"-style eyes for his protagonists, and very little clutter--nothing to distract the reader from the joke at hand. Which is a good thing, because the joke at hand is invariably hilarious.--Ali Davis