If there’s one part of American history that every American school kid learns right away is the American Revolution. One thing that some American students wanted was perhaps make this time period a bit more entertaining. Peter Bagge thought just that and created a series of comics called “Founding Fathers Funnies.†Dark Horse has compiled these comics into a collection that will delight history buffs.
As expected, these comics are about different American founding fathers and what they did in life. The only difference is Bagge made what they did funny. The usual suspects include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and Benjamin Franklin.
These comics succeed on two fronts: they give you basic information on what these individuals did in life and have a lot of fun with it. In fact, some of the titles are funny, such as “Tom Paine in the Ass,†“Nancy Hart, War Woman†and “John Paul…Jones.†Some of the funniest moments include Washington reading being more worried about the size of his butt in “Sticks and Stones,†Franklin in a wheelchair, deaf and yelling things that make no sense and Franklin in general.
The only real problem with these comics is that some people may not get the humor. Some of the humor have some inside jokes that only those who really know about the Revolution would get. It also doesn’t help that most people don’t know who John Paul, John Singleton Copley and others are.
Since these comics are meant to be funnies, the art must reflect that fact. It does an excellent job of it. It is similar to what to you’d see in “Mad Magazine†in that the characters all have this ultra cartoony and exaggerated look to them. Some of the facial expressions alone are enough to get a laugh out of the reader.
“Founding Fathers Funnies†has both great humor and a cheat sheet for the American Revolution that it’ll be sure to appeal to comic and history buffs. Top that with art that fits perfectly with this kind of humor and there are fun times to be had.
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