Review: Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

From Goodreads:

Hark! A Vagrant takes readers on a romp through history and literature—with dignity for few and cookies for all—with comic strips about famous authors, their characters, and political and historical figures, all drawn in Kate Beaton’s pared-down, excitable style. This collection features favorite stories as well as new, previously unpublished content. Whether she’s writing about Nikola Tesla, Napoleon, or Nancy Drew, Beaton brings a refined sense of the absurd to every situation.

In just four years, Beaton has taken the comics world by storm with her non sequiturs, cheeky comebacks, and irreverent punch lines. With 1.2 million monthly hits on her site—500,000 of them unique—and comics appearing in Harper’s Magazine, the National Post, and The New Yorker, her caricatures of historical and fictional figures filtered through a contemporary lens display a sharp, quick wit that knows no bounds.

If I said that comic books were my guilty pleasure, I would be lying; I don't feel guilty at all for loving them! I had been reading Kate's comics for at least a year before picking her book up, but even then most of them I hadn't seen before or they gave me a laugh the second time around.

I love English, sure, but I'm still a history buff through and through. Luckily for me, Kate's comics center around both of these things! Some of the most fun I've had while reading this book is looking up new people from history that I haven't heard of before and finding out even more about how cool/ bad-ass they were. For example, the most recent comic? Josephine Baker saves the day. Even if you know little about history, Kate explains some of her comics at the bottom of the page, but even if history comics aren't your style she has plenty poking fun at classic novels and superheroes.

If you're even the littlest bit curious about Kate's comics, you can check out her LiveJournal of the same name to see some samples of her work, or spend hours upon hours reading one right after another. Because, you know, it's not like I have or anything...

I'm loving this string of awesome books I've gotten to review!

Goodreads, Her Store, her Tumblr
Title: Hark! A Vagrant
Author/ Artist: Kate Beaton
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Publication Year: 2011
Page #: 166
ISBN: 978-1-77046-060-7

Her book is available for sale at her store, along with other things with her drawings printed on them, so you can look extra-cool while you read it.