Title: Cliff Merritt's Man on the Move!
Author: Cliff Merritt, I presume
Cover artist: Let me guess - Cliff Merritt?
Yours for: $8
Best things about this cover:
- "Cliff Merritt is ... Cliff Merritt, in ... Cliff Merritt's ... Man on the Move!"
- I remember looking at this book for So Long wondering ".... ?"
- "The different modes of transportation are not enough - we need an inset ... maybe a railroad conductor, or ... I know! An old dude doing the white man's overbite while rocking out to Huey Lewis on his weekly trip to the cardigan sweater store in Utica! That's it!"
- Cliff Merritt is Chris Ware's great-grandfather, I'm convinced.
- This book has "looming gas crisis" written All over it.
- Least appealing color palette ever.
Best things about this back cover:
- "It's hip to be square!"
- "Between book covers," HA ha. Now if we're talking "between stone tablets," "between blades of grass," or "between your buttcheeks," well, mister, that's a whole 'nother story.
- "It gets more interesting with every page you turn" - "Damn it, how do you work these book thingies again, Mildred? Oh, right, you turn the pages. Stupid modern technology."
And it does get "more interesting" (Chinese folks might want to look away now):
Cliff Merritt is basically that random older guy everyone knows who likes to show you all the trivia he knows because he imagines it makes him seem wise. That little symbol, like a "T" having its way with a "W" ... it's on Every Single Drawing. So it's a ... signature? The opening blurb in the book says that Cliff Merritt cartoons are "well-loved." I would say "well tolerated," at best. Like the drugs you see ads for on TV.
Page 123~
~RP
2 comments:
Tragically, I find that format kind of compelling...
Wow, trip down memory lane. I remember books like this -- full of useless, but fascinating facts. These days, we have access too much information. Trivia just isn't fun anymore.
What the heck is a "ride-on-air train"? Is that what they called planes back then?
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