When he was a child, Darby Conley used to wonder what his beloved pooch was thinking. That curiosity led to his creation of the hilarious strip Get Fuzzy in 1999, which has rapidly become one of the most popular cartoons in newspaper syndication. Showcasing the relationship between Bucky, a temperamental cat with an attitude; the sweet and sensitive dog Satchel; and their mild-mannered human companion, Rob Wilco, Get Fuzzy has cornered the market on anthropomorphic antics.Anyone who finds animals both amazing and amusing will find this new Get Fuzzy collection one of the most bitingly funny books ever printed.
Darby Conley is an American cartoonist best known for the popular comic strip Get Fuzzy.
Conley was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1970, and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee.
While in high school in 1986, he won a student cartooning competition. During his Senior Year at Doyle High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, Conley was voted 'Most Talented' by his graduating class. He attended Amherst College, where he studied Fine Arts, drew cartoons for the student newspaper, played rugby, and was a member of an all-male, jazz-influenced a cappella group, the Zumbyes. (Fellow cartoonist alumni of Amherst include FoxTrot creator Bill Amend and the late John Cullen Murphy of Prince Valiant fame.)
Like Rob Wilco, the human protagonist in Get Fuzzy, Conley is an enthusiastic rugby union fan, playing during college and sustaining several injuries that failed to diminish his passion for the sport.
Before becoming a cartoonist, Conley held a wide array of jobs: elementary school teacher, art director for a science museum, lifeguard, and bicycle repairman. This eclectic collection of professions is reminiscent of those held by Douglas Adams, whom Conley has mentioned as a comedic influence.
Conley, an animal rights activist and vegetarian, lives in Boston.
Sometimes you just need some easy laughter in life, and what better than comics to fit the bill? I've enjoyed the Get Fuzzy comic strip for a while, so I've been working my way through the back catalog. Get Fuzzy is about an advertising guy, Rob, and his two pets, an overconfident, opinionated cat, and a somewhat clueless but loving dog.
The jokes usually have to do with the cat being a jerk, the dog misinterpreting the situation and Rob trying to keep the peace.
Occasionally, there's some funny or sentimental social commentary:
Or just funny pet humor:
Overall, often cute but there's a lot of joke repetition, making it generally forgettable.
A couple of weeks ago while watering the yard late at night I read Groovitude by the same author. This is the next book in the comic series, and last night I was watering again so here we are.
Same bunch of lovable weirdos, but this one was not as thoroughly satisfying as Groovitude. There was a different feel to the characters here. Satchel seemed more dense than he had been, Rob was less engaged in what was going on, and Bucky was 'buckier' than before (well, that couldn't be helped, could it. lol)
And the corny puns began in earnest. It felt almost like Conley was relying on such things to keep the strip moving. I can only imagine how hard it must be to write a daily comic strip and keep it fresh. But I hope this book was sort of a growing pain and that the next ones will have more of the fuzzy experience I remember from the funny papers.
This strip cracks me up. I usually find comics amusing or clever or just really well done. This one is all of those things and makes me laugh out loud... much to my wife's amusement.
Darby Conley is a great comic artist but this book is not his best work. The laughs seem to me to be more mean-spirited then his other work. He's still a genius when it comes to the chaos that life-with-pets brings everyday.
I first found "Get Fuzzy" through Yahoo's Comics page. This is a good introduction to the cast of characters and while I enjoyed it overall, I think I prefer Conley's newer work.
Son tiras sobre un hombre, su gato y su perro. No, no es Garfield. El perro es bobalicón y bienintencionado, el humano es un adorno despersonalizado y el gato es cínico y olvidadizo. No es muy cliché, pero tampoco es muy original.
El apartado gráfico es correcto. Son tiras, dibujo rápido y de fórmulas simples. Cuando tiene que dibujar alguna figura humana un poco difícil (niños, por ejemplo) no lo hace muy bien, pero son tiras, no pasa nada.
La narrativa visual es bastante mala. Muchas veces te rompe el chiste la falta de continuidad visual de la misma tira. Los guiones tampoco son muy allá, los chistes son flojos cuando son buenos e inexistentes cuando son malos.
Me imagino que tiene su público y que habrá quién le encuentre la gracia. Se lee fácil, son tiras, las tiras siempre se leen fácil. Pero me han dado ganas de saltarme las páginas de 20 en 20.
It's not the strongest collection of comic strips out there, but there are some great moments in here. Conley's artwork is as strong as always, balancing cartoon exaggeration with a hefty amount of detail that sets it apart from most other newspaper strips.
Having no previous experience with Get Fuzzy, I was impressed with the little world Conley created. The cat, the wordplay, The Jimi Hendrix Experience... Top notch.