Man, I Hate Cursive: Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears

by Jim Benton

Jim Benton's first cartoon collection was nominated for an Eisner. This new volume collects more of Jim's most popular strips from Reddit, shining a light on talking animals, relationships, fart jokes, and death. From whimsical to cutting, from gross to poignant, Benton's grasp of the form is on full and hilarious display. 

Genres: Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult, Comedy, Comic Book

96 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2016

About the author

Benton began his career in a custom design t-shirt shop where he started designing his own characters. At the same time, Jim did illustrations and artwork for magazines and newspapers. People magazine named him "the most visible cartoonist in America" .

Benton also created greeting cards and worked in the magazine and publishing industry. In 1998, his SpyDogs characters became an animated series, The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs, that aired on Fox Kids. Licensing his own creations brought them widespread attention on products, such as It's Happy Bunny, The Misters, Just Jimmy and more.

Benton currently lives in Michigan, where he operates out of his own studio.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is by that dude that drew all those mean/sarcastic bunnies that seemed to pop up everywhere during my late adolescence:



i have a pillow he designed, and i discovered this book while looking for a replacement for it because this:



is unacceptable.

alas, i could not find one.

the book, though, i totally found, and it's a fun collection of his artwork/humor. he's blessed with a capability to draw in a wide range of styles, none of which look like those bunnies.







there are also instances where he seems to be channeling/referencing other artists, but that might just be my untrained art eyes.

this reminds me of jeffrey brown's star wars stuff:



this is as round and cute as liz climo:



this one reminds me a little of matt groening



and this is basically just a new yorker cartoon:



most of it is good - he's got this silly, irreverent, sometimes sick humor that appeals to me:







although this one was a bit of a departure from his typically snarky tone, with its attempt to hit the awwwww:



instead of the ewwwww:



but i guess everyone needs a family circus moment...

this one is probably my favorite:



although this one is also a contender, because it reminds me so much of interactions on a booksite so dear to my heart:



i just like the … oddness of his mind.







especially when i can totally attest to the accuracy of his situations:



all i know is that lately, i have been team sloth:



and this helped give me the giggles i needed so very much. thanks for the laffs, jim benton! now send me a new pillow, please!

come to my blog!

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, I Hate Cursive: Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears by Jim Benton is a collection of his cartoons and they are great! There is not one that is not funny! What a wonderful collection. I have to get this book for a family member of mine for Christmas this year! It would be perfect for the person "that has everything". The art is great and the humor is off the wall and hilarious. Loved it! I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

An artist who draws a crap duck painting then sells the pastel-splattered rag underneath it as the real art, a fat guy who likes Cheetos, a wizard who summons a lemon instead of a demon thanks to cursive (the cartoon on the cover), and what do the buttons on Darth Vader’s chest really do? These are the one-page cartoons of Jim Benton most of which are pretty meh, though a few aren’t bad.

I liked the God cartoons, like “Every time God closes a door, he opens a window” showing God closing a door, opening a window, and the dude plummeting to his death as he walks out of the window at the top of a skyscraper. And some poor bastard diagnosed with illness and being told this is all part of God’s plan – cut to God with a whiteboard: 1) Make universe, 2) Give Steve a tumour, 3) …?

I actually laughed at a couple jokes like the scientists who’d invented the solution to the worst menstrual symptoms: ear plugs for men (though I’m certain I’ve heard that one before)! And the urn of Grandma’s ashes with the smoking Granny tapping off her cigarette into the urn with “I’m cutting down, you little shits!”.

However the majority of the jokes though just left me thinking, eh, whatever. Raccoon bank workers holding their hands up to the Raccoon customers while their exasperated manager says “For the hundredth time, it’s not a robbery!” or God getting creeped out by the obsessives who do everything in his name. Har. Har. They’re mostly forgettable newspaper gag comics that you’ll breeze through, getting the joke but not laughing.

Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears is a decent loo read (Loo Read and the Velvety Soft Toilet Paper for Your Underground - I should get into this bad joke writing business!) but nothing special.

[Scarlet Cameo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spanish review at the bottom

I had hopes for this comic strip, the cover made me think it would be a simple and understandable humor that would give me a bit of fun but, instead, I felt like the author knew that this could not like to lot of people and create the next picture in our honor:



There were some jokes that I really enjoy, especially two references to God (that you will found at the end of this review) but, apart of these, wasn’t much to rescue, almost all passed through my eyes without creating any reaction in me. It isn’t a book that will add something to your life but in many cases has very original ideas.

The art isn’t exceptional but doesn’t need to be, this is a comic strip of the type that for years you can found at newspapers (as Mafalda, Peanuts, Garfield or Flash Gordon) was expressive, short and simple.

This is probably a collection for those diehard fans of the author because as a casual follower think you'll be extremely disappointed.








A digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley
____________________________________________________

Tenia esperanzas en esta tira cómica, la portada me hizo pensar que tendría un humor sencillo y entendible que me daría un rato de diversión pero, en lugar de eso, me sentí como que el autor sabía queesto podía no gustarle a muchos y creo el siguiente cuadro en nuestro honor:



Hubo algunos chistes que realmente disfrute, especialmente dos referentes a Dios (los cuales encontraran al final de la reseña) pero de ahí en fuera no hay mucho que rescatar, casi todos pasaban por mis ojos sin llegar a crear ninguna reacción en mi. No es un libro que vaya a aportar algo a tu vida pero en muchos casos presenta ideas muy originales.

El arte no es excepcional ni necesita serlo, esto es una tira cómica del tipo que hace años encontrabas en los periodicos (como Mafalda, Peanuts, Garfield o Flash Gordon) que era expresivo, corto y simple.

Probablemente esta sea una colección solo para aquellos fans acerrimos del autor porque como seguidor ocasional creo que vas a quedar tremendamente decepcionado.







A digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley

[Taryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

An amusing cartoon collection from Jim Benton. It covers a wide variety of topics such as relationships, pet ownership, and modern life. Some of the cartoons were more depressing than I expected. If you appreciate sitcom-style humor and don't mind the occasional butt/fart joke, you might want to check out this collection!

I received this book for free from Andrews McMeel Publishing & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This title will be released on October 18, 2016.

[Anusha Narasimhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the cartoons were funny. I found a few of them to be boring. Overall, a good one time read.

Note: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. This review is my personal opinion and has not been influenced in any way.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had seen some of these cartoons--most notably the one on the cover--on Facebook previously. But it was only when I started reading the book, and saw the list of other books that Benton has done, that I realized: he’s the creator of Happy Bunny. I love the Happy Bunny cartoons, and was pleased to see more of that same sense of humor at work.

So this is a collection of one page cartoons, a mixture of strips and single panels. It's short, but fun. Some of these made me laugh out loud; others were kind of meh. Your mileage may vary. Benton combines a simple, cute, greeting card style with a dark, twisted sense of humor and a penchant for hilariously blunt remarks. His sense of timing is part of what makes it work for me.

Some of the gags, considered in isolation, are more troubling than humorous--pages 41 and 61, for instance, seem more misogynistic than funny to me. In context of the rest of the book, though, they seem more likely to be misfires, just cases where the gag he was going for just wasn't there, or at least our senses of humor weren't in synch for them. They don't seem to be part of a pattern, just outlying data points.

All things considered, this was quite a funny book, though probably not for the easily offended.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good effort but not funny. Surprised to find out this dude is a professional. Who knew? Mediocrity finds it's level and audience, not hard when there are 7 billion people on this rock.

[Monika Sadowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

hm.. I've never done a comic sketch review before but this one actually wasn't bed. The humor was pretty dark but in hilarious way. Some of them were funny, some ok, some not funny at all and some I just didn't get it. I had few out loud laughing. Overall it was very entertaining reading and I actually enjoy it.

[Megalion · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of funny cartoons ranging from quick sketches to detailed ones for print.

Wonderful sense of humor. Easy recommend.

Thanks to the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny collection of short comics. I enjoyed it more than I thought I might, being pretty unfamiliar with Jim Benton.

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Browsing Netgalley's humor section, and paused at this cover. I literally LOL'ed, and decided to give it a shot. It wasn't until after I'd gotten my hands on it that I spied something, and quickly googled to confirm it.

Jim Benton is the inventor of Happy Bunny.

DEAR GOD.

Okay, so he's already starting out with 3 stars just for that. Screw unbiased reviewing, this is the Happy Bunny guy.

I am very pleased to report that he earned those stars. I've seen a lot of the comics featured in this book before, including Death showing up on Halloween and being excited for full-sized Snickers bars. I feel like Benton is one of those comic artists that you see all the time without bothering to glance down at the name attached.

While not every comic in this collection is a home run, they are amusing. Ones that won't appeal to you will find a home with someone else, and vice versa. And the ones that hit REALLY WORK.

The style is simple, and fun, and telling. "I invented a button that, when pressed, makes the person in front of you want to punch you in the face!" What is it? A car horn.

How do you not love that?

I am very pleased with this collection, and when the book is published come October, I need my own copy, stat.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Man, I Hate Cursive' by Jim Benton is a collection of cartoons that I'm almost embarassed to have found funny. They definitely have a dark side, but along with that, there is occasionally a sentimental side as well.

From the title cartoon, where a wizard summons a lemon instead of a demon thanks to cursive writing, to a man and a woman getting ready for a night out. She transforms into a beauty, he into a chimpanzee. There are comics about art and animals and parenting. There are jokes about God and medical humor.

Some of it is irreverent and a bit gross at times. Some of it is touching and feels like how the world is. I laughed or smiled at all of it. I'm glad I got introduced to this artist through this collection.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

[Jennifer Y. · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a variety of styles and topics, Jim Benton's latest collection of comics is sure to offer a little something for everyone. If you're familiar with his work or have browsed the Internet, you might have seen a few of these comics before, as I have. Some made me laugh, some made me think, and some just weren't for me. Pretty much like any form of art or humor, it's all subjective.

*I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

[Jody McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review *
Okay, so I am not really sure how to review a book of comic sketches. I do know that this was laugh out loud funny. It was pretty dark in an hilarious morbid way. I guess I really like that. There were a few I didn't quite get, but that is probably my own ignorance. This book was a riot though. Just don't give it to anyone who is too uptight. Or maybe do, and laugh at them get all offended! Lol!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun collection of comics with themes around art/artists, funny animal thoughts, bizarre musings, and deep thoughts.

[Ari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Some of these were amusing, some were okay, and some were meh. It’s to be expected in a collection like this.

[Deysha Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed and enjoyed this so much! Definitely not everyone's type of humor, but who cares, right? It is what it is and it was so fun.

[Ghoul Von Horror · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was meh. A few chuckle moments but none that made me laugh hard. Some of the jokes seemed random and confusing .

[Felicite Reads]

Apparently I've read some of Jim Benton's comics before but didn't know it. I LOVED Happy Bunny as a teen. This was pretty funny, too.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damned good. And incredibly varied in styles that all absolutely work. I follow his Instagram so some weren’t new to me. Need to get his other book, ‘Dog Butts’.

[Brookie the Cookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of cursing, and a lot of dirty jokes.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

No comic made me actually laugh out loud.😓

[M F]

I requested this from NetGalley for one reason only: because I've seen the cover picture on Tumblr, and not only is the joke funny, but the lemon is way more adorable than a lemon has any right to be. It's one of my favourite comics, that lemon. So I figured if that one picture could make me laugh that hard (and yet also be weirdly protective of a lemon with a pleased expression on its face), a whole book would be even better.

Sadly, I think the lemon remains my favourite comic in this collection, although there were a few good ones in there -- I liked the one with the squirrels and the snowman, and actually most of the other animal ones. There were a couple of others I've seen online, including the one with Death knocking on a woman's door at Hallowe'en and sparing her because of full-size Snickers bars, but the majority of them were new to me.

The reason I didn't like all of them was that there were a number that seemed kind of misogynistic, playing on stereotypes about women as nagging wives who made their husbands miserable. It was just a few of them, but it seemed like a pretty outdated, crappy and heteronormative idea to rely upon, and it soured my feelings towards the collection as a whole.

Still. The lemon is adorable.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. That fact has not altered my opinion of it one way or the other. If I could give half stars, it would get a 4.5

Every page of this book contains a little nugget of truth bent to Benton's view of reality. Not all the nuggets are deep, although some are ponderously so. Not all the nuggets are laugh out loud funny, although several pages caused just that reaction. There is, however, something of value on every page, so long as you value thinking, smiling, wondering, puzzling, and asking why, asking what, asking how someone came up with such an odd point of view.

My real complaint, why I didn't round up to 5 stars, is as much praise as it is condemnation, I wanted more. I wanted a book that I couldn't easily read in one sitting.

[Paul Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is subtitled, “Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears.” As a UCLA grad, I don’t know which category I fall in.
Starts right off on the cover with a wizard trying to summon a demon and gets a lemon instead, which by its little smile seems happy to be there. Remember what they say about making lemonade. . .
But that’s really the only joke about cursive, as everything else is non-connected to everything else. There’s no long continuing stories, simply self-contained jokes like “the Far Side” and such. The closest it comes to that is sections on art, dogs, god, and so on.
“Think of math as a beautiful woman with a secret you must seduce from her.” I would have gotten much better grades had someone told me that. And I can’t wait for the opportunity to call someone a huge sillypants. But most of all, I can totally relate to the guy who has the soap slip out of his hand but catches it with the other; it’s an amazing feeling.
At times corny, but so much fun. . .
4.5 pushed up to 5/5

[Kristina Aziz · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, Jim Benton has created some great stuff. I don't know a single kid in Middle School who didn't like his work:

But this particular collection of images is way too short and not nearly good enough to justify charging fourteen dollars for it. If I saw this book in the impulse section of a grocery store for five dollars, I'd probably get it as a gift for someone who I have to pretend to like but don't really like at all. The few that I did think were funny, I can reblog off of tumblr for free.
Benton had a good run for a while there. But I feel like he might be starting to fizzle out.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I Hate Cursive by Jim Benton is a solid collection of his comics. The humor runs from a bit morbid to everyday truisms.

Because Benton does not rely on one primary character or group of characters there is more room to experiment but also more hit or miss opportunities. There were some that did not resonate with me but by far there were more hits than misses. I probably liked the ones that might fall into the category of 'interesting twists on life', assuming that is even a category.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes many of the standalone comics you find scattered through many magazines (they do still do that, right?). There are not plots and no character subplots, just a collection of very good comics.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Kumar K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not an avid funny-comics reader. I've dabbled in SMBC and Sarah's Scribbles, but this was more of the typical, story-in-4-panels type of deal, and this is the first time I loved it! Half the jokes in this comic are gold, despite the other half being bland, which is more than what I can say about other funny comic artists. His relatability is high because he has a lot of observational humour. Despite this, there are a bunch of hickups. For example, the comic where the man's wish form a jeenie ends up being that she turns into a hot wife and births 2 children for him; since the jeenie doesn't seem to like it, I found this of very poor taste, offensive. But despite it, there are a lot of hilarious ones, so I urge you to read it.

[Karmen]

/A free arc of the book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/

"Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears" or in short," Man, I hate cursive" is a funny little book. It's filled with short comics sure to make you chuckle.

As it is expected, not everyone has the same sense of humor, so you might not like every one of them - Me, personally didn't get a few, but I just shrug those off and enjoyed the ones I did like. I really liked the diversity in the book - There weren't just jokes about one topic, on and on again - There were some butt ones, some animal ones and even some human ones.

[curiouskat_books · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I did not even know who Jim Benton was before picking up this book. Despite the fact that I have seen his work being shared on social media a lot recently. I can honestly say I am now a fan. I thought it was going to be another average artist with poorly done jokes. That was not the case, however, and I am glad I was proven otherwise. While the illustrations were not the best, I still found them to be enjoyable. The jokes, situations, and humor was the real winner of the show, making it the best graphic novel I have read all year.


5/5 Stars
I just absolutely loved the humor.


Received by NetGalley for an honest review.