Booknote: Life in the Stupidverse

Tom Tomorrow, Life in the Stupidverse. San Diego, CA: IDW Publishing, 2020.  ISBN: 9781684056972. Publication date for book was 8/18/2020.

Genre: comics and graphic novels
Subgenre: humor, political humor, current events
Format: e-book galley
Source: NetGalley

This is a chronicle of life under the Trump presidency by Tom Tomorrow. The comics in the book cover from the 2016 election to a bit past the 2020 impeachment hearings. From the book's description:

"Relive all the trauma of the first several years of the Trump presidency through the Pulitzer-prize nominated cartoons of Tom Tomorrow!" 

And it has been a traumatic time made worse now by the coronavirus pandemic. Readers may want to think this is satire. The author, I think, is basically presenting current reality, which gets so ridiculous and painful that the dark humor practically writes itself. No matter how outrageous in his humor the author tries to be, he is not far from reality. To be honest, these comics really hit close to home. This book may well be a way to preserve the messed up world we currently live in the U.S.

The humor does vary in quality. Overall, this is very dark humor. You may chuckle or laugh nervously a bit, but you might also get seriously depressed. For some readers, you may not want to read this book cover to cover. Read a few strips, take a break, then read some more to keep the sanity.

Some strips that caught my eye:

• "A look back at Candidate Trump." 
• The one featuring a Trump voted who would lose health insurance if the ACA, a.k.a. as Obamacare, was repealed. I'd laugh, but in Kentucky, administrators had to avoid the "O" word to get the retrograde hicks to sign up for it. You explained ACA, what it did, and they all thought it was pretty cool. Gave the same explanation but used the "O" word, and they would rather did than take anything from the "N-word" guy. 
• Where you almost felt sorry for Putin having to deal with the man-baby president. 
• The parody of Trump Bear. 
• By the way, the Republican Lite are not off the hook with this author. 

Overall, I liked the book. Humor can be variable; some strips are better than others. All strips overall catch the reality of the Hard Times we are currently living. I can only imagine the horrors the author would get when he does things during the pandemic. I'd say this is a book to borrow, especially for casual readers.

For libraries, I'd say do keep in mind your community. Let's be honest, a very red community may not appreciate this book, so select carefully. Other places will probably enjoy it more. This is also a book more for public libraries.

3 out of 5 stars.

Qualifies for these 2020 Reading Challenges:

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