Hark! A Vagrant

Kate Beaton's style is bound to become a classic, if it hasn't already. I love everything she does, from the historical insights and literary parodies, to the Gorey covers, to the pirate and gangster stories. I'd already read all of her comics on her website, but I am still so glad I purchased this book, because it's a whole different experience to flip through it and also to show it to friends. I should have bought it sooner.

I saw this book while browsing a bookstore and flipped through it. The first I read was a Jane Eyre comic which was very funny. I checked out Kate Beaton's website before I actually bought the book and enjoyed her sense of humor so much I needed the book, even though you can find most of the cartoon strips for free at her website. Much easier to sit down with a book. I love how she weaves histroy and literature with her rye sense of humor. She is sort of like the historical version of McSweeney's. I definitely need to pick up her first book, now.

Definitely for a niche market, Kate's cartoony style is charming and works well in some strips but in others its unappealing. I like the fact that this book adds some vague historic stories but the humor was just to snarky for my tastes. I think like others mentioned before Kate's style works best as quick webcomics when you put them in a collection, the cracks start to show a little bit and the snarky jokes become repetitive.

I've been following Kate Beaton's work for years, and I can say honestly that she is one of today's best and brightest cartoonists. Her style is emotive and distinct. Her humor is both highly intellectual and hilariously crass, often at the same time. Few cartoonists reward their readers with material as rich as Beaton's, so if you're not already reading her material and purchasing her book, do it now. I'll give you a preemptive "You're welcome" for when you thank me later.

I've been reading countless webcomics in the past 8 years and so few comics have been able to reach this level of quality. With a unique and original approach to her strip, Kate Beaton has put out a collection completely unlike anything else. The hard cover is a great addition to the living room and everyone should own this book!

Sometimes the jokes are beyond me, but in general this comic is quite funny. Historical heroines and Victorian literature are much of the fodder for this quirky collection of comics. I like the rather goofy art. The googly eyes crack me up every time.

...than Sara Crewe ever could for Ermengarde St. John. The best? "Dude Watchin' with the Brontes". If you love history and quick wit, Hark! A Vagrant will keep you smiling long after you've finished reading it.

Kate Beaton is one of the few cartoonists who can make me laugh out loud! Her skewed sense of humor (and history) added to her delightfully goofy drawings are a perfect storm of hilarious weirdness. My personal favorite of all is the cartoon of the Canadians, "hopped up on hockey", coming to teach the rude Americans a lesson...

...but really, they are all good!

Many of the responses to the negative reviews here state that this book is funny if you get the references. Not true. I get most of the references, and the comics aren't funny to me. They're not clever, and most try to be funny by giving historical or fictional characters the emotions and preferences of today's most shallow people, and not even in a clever way. These are bad cartoons, people. There is one funny one though, only because someone says something like, "Be careful, those Canadians are all f***ed up on hockey." But this is in no way characteristic of the book as a whole. I strongly agree with the other reviewer who advises you to check out her website first. Don't trust a friend's opinion like I did.

Actually, my title sums up what i received from this book. There're some jokes that are really funny, but most of em, they were kinda hard for me to understand at all, because i nearly recognized the characters in it.

When you consider how many people there are in this world it is easy to accept the fact that there is a market for everything and anything. Be sure to check her web site to ensure that this is something you would appreciate and don't feel poorly about yourself if it is not

These cartoons were not a bit funny. Mostly I didn't get them but even when I did they didn't make me laugh.

Here's an example: "Micky" (not Max for some reason) from Where the Wild Things Are asks "Is this where the wild things are?". A wild thing answers "No, it's where the lame things are". Micky answers
"Like you even care." That's the whole thing - can anyone tell me what's funny about it?

I suggest you check the author's website which is called Harkavagrant.com where you can see samples of her work. Then if you like them you can buy the book. Obviously many readers do like her work, but it's not for everyone.