HO! (Hardcover)
The vast majority of Brunetti's morally questionable, aesthetically confused—and absolutely gut-busting—“gag” cartoons, discreetly presented in an uninviting, funereal package of unglamorous black and white.
Hoping to further increase his irrelevance to the esteemed world of graphic novels and thus cement his status as “former cartoonist,” the saturnine Ivan Brunetti (author of the acclaimed Misery Loves Comedy and editor of Yale Press’s two essential Anthologies of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons and True Stories) has compiled HO!, which collects the vast majority of his morally questionable, aesthetically confused—and absolutely gut-busting—“gag” cartoons.
Culled mostly from out-of-print work (Hee! and Haw!) and other anthologies, the contents are discreetly presented in an uninviting, funereal package of unglamorous black and white. Hopefully, this will keep the impressionable, young, and faint-of-heart unintrigued and at a distance, while those who appreciate a touch of the gallows in their humor can enjoy an uncomfortable chuckle or two before the merciless thumb of oblivion grinds us all into less than dust.
HO! further cements Brunetti’s reputation as the contemporary king of the gag cartoon, a sentiment echoed by noted comedian Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens, Comedians of Comedy) in his introduction.
Ivan Brunetti was born in Italy in 1967 and lives in Chicago, IL, where he teaches at Columbia College Chicago.
Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and screenwriter.
Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and screenwriter.
Brunetti [knows] that for shock art to have any value behind it at all, you have to have some degree of conscience as the engine. As readers we’re required to know and agree that this sort of thing is untenable, in order for us to constantly re-evaluate and come to terms with our own morals. Which would make the title of this book rather appropriate. So you should read this book and make your mind up. But be warned, it will play with your disgust and your chuckle muscle in ways you might not have imagined beforehand.
— Will Fitzpatrick - Bookmunch
Filled with single-panel efforts with punch lines based around murder, rape, pederasty, bestiality, AIDS, racism, excrement and urination, bizarre sexual fetishes…nothing in HO! is for the faint of heart or easily offended.
— Marc Mason - Comics Waiting Room
No other artist in the history of comics has worked out their misanthropy and self-loathing on the page quite like Ivan Brunetti.
— Rob Clough - High-Low
HO!, the best of Haw! and Hee!, promises the most degenerate and juvenile one-panel gag comics ever penned…his down-and-dirty specialty is the nasty bon mot…Newcomers will enjoy Brunetti’s cute drawing style, with its big round heads and tiny black dots for eyes, as the cuteness is co-opted for the sickest ends to which pen and paper can be used.
— Byron Kerman - PLAYBACK:stl
[A] festival of self-loathing, sexual depravity, and brutal cynicism.
— Publishers Weekly
A sense of humor as black as ink...a darkly funny, intensely personal, uncompromisingly nihilistic comic book.
— The Chicago Reader
It’s fascinating to see the two directions Brunetti was headed in with regard to these gags. First, his gags became ever-more boundary pushing, but always in service to the punchline. Second, his line became more and more simplified to the point of nearly geometric simplicity.
— Rob Clough - The Comics Journal
[A]s unconscionable, uninhibited and unimpeded as can be imagined and the fact that you couldn’t have imagined them unaided only adds to their stature (and yours).
— Rich Kreiner - The Comics Journal
— Will Fitzpatrick - Bookmunch
Filled with single-panel efforts with punch lines based around murder, rape, pederasty, bestiality, AIDS, racism, excrement and urination, bizarre sexual fetishes…nothing in HO! is for the faint of heart or easily offended.
— Marc Mason - Comics Waiting Room
No other artist in the history of comics has worked out their misanthropy and self-loathing on the page quite like Ivan Brunetti.
— Rob Clough - High-Low
HO!, the best of Haw! and Hee!, promises the most degenerate and juvenile one-panel gag comics ever penned…his down-and-dirty specialty is the nasty bon mot…Newcomers will enjoy Brunetti’s cute drawing style, with its big round heads and tiny black dots for eyes, as the cuteness is co-opted for the sickest ends to which pen and paper can be used.
— Byron Kerman - PLAYBACK:stl
[A] festival of self-loathing, sexual depravity, and brutal cynicism.
— Publishers Weekly
A sense of humor as black as ink...a darkly funny, intensely personal, uncompromisingly nihilistic comic book.
— The Chicago Reader
It’s fascinating to see the two directions Brunetti was headed in with regard to these gags. First, his gags became ever-more boundary pushing, but always in service to the punchline. Second, his line became more and more simplified to the point of nearly geometric simplicity.
— Rob Clough - The Comics Journal
[A]s unconscionable, uninhibited and unimpeded as can be imagined and the fact that you couldn’t have imagined them unaided only adds to their stature (and yours).
— Rich Kreiner - The Comics Journal