Collection of Sam Henderson's early self-published issues of The Magic Whistle and various other minicomics and short strips. Includes classics Postal Perversity, The 'F' Hat and the Greatest Teen Movie Ever Made, co-written with children's book artist Michael Rex. Also includes writing contributions from Human Lard Dog Steve Erdman and Duplex Planet writer David Greenberger. Introduction by Mark Martin.
Sam Henderson's Magic Whistle comic has been nominated several times for a Harvey Award for Special Award for Humor. One of the funniest people in comics. Henderson's drawing is intentionally crude, but it has the same kind of energy you see in the work of today's best gag cartoonists, whose drawing also tends to be a little basic. Extremely low-brow humor that almost parodies low-brow humor - it's enjoyable on either level. Over the years Sam has done work for many dozens of anthologies, has done a self-syndicated comic strip and published comic Magic Whistle, now through Alternative Comics. Sam was also a writer of a number of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon shows.
"I like Sam Henderson's comics. I think they're funny, and I think they are also occasionally quite smart. His work can be so ragged visually that it's difficult for some people to think of a trade paperback as his most appropriate venue, and I'm not sure I disagree but unless Sam were some sort of mini-comics true believer I don't think it's fair to penalize him for choosing expedient venues that sell better in more places.
"A couple of things that are funny about reading this material now is that this book is really, really dense when compared to a lot of similar collections that come out these days -- there's a lot of writing, and analysis, and material that makes this difficult to wrap up effectively in one setting. The nature of a lot of those pieces are dissections of humor, which are fun to read, but I always thought put Henderson in a difficult place. People don't just read Henderson's comics to see if they're funny, they hold him to a really high standard of having too provide seamless, perfect comedy. It's like a restaurant providing instructions on it napkins as to what makes a great steak merely a good one. Perhaps a second look at this volume will reclaim for Henderson permission from some readers to make comics that are funny without defining humor itself."--Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
132 page black and white paperback Alternative Comics, 2005 Second Edition
