Okay, I'd like to make a correction from last month's post: I'm ready to go back to 2024.
January's finally over, and that felt like forever. David Lynch AND Simpsons Tapped Out died, not to mention any hope of not being anxious over the...general state of everything.
But I hope you all remembered to celebrate National Gorilla Suit Day!
Somewhat related, but earlier this month I picked up a book I'd been searching for since my childhood.
"Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head & Other Drawings" by B. Kliban.
A now-deceased family friend that lived Upstate had it when we went to visit on family vacations. She had a few Calvin and Hobbes books and a few other comic strip collections, but this was the one I poured over most of all.
It was the first time I ever saw swears in a comic strip and it blew my tiny mind. It was the first comic in the book, and it was a taste of what was to come.
For literal decades I could not remember the name of the book, nor who drew it. But then one of those engagement farm posts went around Bluesky about comics that influenced you, and I googled the only drawing I remembered (the one you see above), and I hit the jackpot. I quickly found the cheapest copy off Amazon and now it's all mine!
The book was published in 1976 and B. Kliban (or "Hap" as he liked to be called) was once an artist for Playboy, and this book does not hide that one bit.
It's one of a few nude pictures in that book, but it was the one that stuck with me. And it's still timely all these years later.
But THIS is my all time favorite drawing in the book. Just eating pies like he just bit into a big sandwich. There's so many pies, and there's even pictures of pies on the wall! It just tells one hell of a story.
If these cartoons seem familiar, Gary Larson has cited B. Kliban to be a giant influence on The Far Side, and man does it show. This one seemed to be the most Far Side-like, in both artwork and the story it tells.
Then I saw this one and I said "oh yeah, I see it now."
I think about this one all the time.
And this one.
And especially this one.
You can tell this is from 1976.
Incredible pun.
And another one that would've been at home in The Far Side.
I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure the website was named after this.
And now a bunch of my other favorites.
Another piece of my puzzle falls into place.
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