Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
Hark! A Vagrant
by Kate Beaton
I've read some of Beaton's comics online, so when I saw this book in the library, I excitedly grabbed it to read. Some of my favorite strips were in this collection, including Jam-loving Watson and Poe fanboy Jules Verne. But there were also tons of comics I hadn't read and notes about almost all of them. The comics exposes some of the humorous situations in history and literature, or twist things slightly to make them even more humorous. I wasn't familiar with all of the source material, especially the Canadian historical figures. But I did know some of it, and the beauty is you don't need to know it to enjoy the humor.
My favorite in this collection turned out to be the series of comics depicting "scenes" from actual Nancy Drew book covers. I could not stop laughing at those. And my second favorite, along those lines, were the "Goreys," imagined scenes based on book covers that Edward Gorey drew. I couldn't stop laughing at these. It was also great to see Mr. Marconi show up in a comic as well.