Last Laughs
Cartoons About Aging, Retirement...and the Great Beyond
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
At long last, here are cartoons about the truly important issues. Featuring twenty-six of The New Yorker's most talented cartoonists, Last Laughs is a provocative and exhilarating collection that will amuse, inspire, and occasionally unnerve everyone obsessed with the perennially compelling topics of old age, retirement, and, yes, death.
Longtime New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg has assembled an all-star cast of gifted and popular greats such as George Booth, Roz Chast, Leo Cullum, Frank Modell, and Jack Ziegler to join him in this exclusive collection confronting, illuminating, and celebrating the inevitabilities of life. Everything from cloning to cryogenics is tackled with humor and pathos. It turns out the Grim Reaper can be funny.
Also included in this book are brief reflections from the contributors that give readers a glimpse into their unique personalities. These artists prove that they are just as funny with the written word as they are with the image. Last Laughs is a must-have for fans of literary cartoons and anyone interested in slightly off-kilter insights about life and death.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twenty-six New Yorker cartoonists take on aging, retirement, death and the Great Beyond. George Booth, Edward Koren, Marisa Acocella Marchetto (creator of Cancer Vixen) and Gahan Wilson are among those confronting the Reaper. Some cartoons in the book have previously appeared in the New Yorker, but most are originals. Contributors range in age from their 30s to the 90-year-old Frank Modell. Various cartoons deal with the shock of baby boomers as their old age looms: Roz Chast depicts the body with a mind of its own, aging despite its owner's wishes; J.B. Handelsman draws an executive telling an older worker that the company encourages certain employees to die. But many of the cartoons celebrate the continuing vitality of seniors, such as Lee Lorenz's female astronaut who will be the first Gray Panther to walk on the moon. The hooded Grim Reaper is a continuing presence, but many cartoons are set in heaven or hell. In the back of the book, most of the contributors say who they would like to meet in the Great Beyond. In this life-affirming collection, even death can't halt the momentum of the human comedy.
