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My Dirty Dumb Eyes

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My Dirty Dumb Eyes introduces Lisa Hanawalt as a first-rank cartoonist/humorist/stalker for an audience that likes its humor idiosyncratic, at times anthropomorphic or scatological, often uncomfortable, and always sharp witted. Her world vision is intricately rendered in a full spectrum of color, unapologetically gorgeous and intensely bizarre.  With movie reviews, tips for her readers, laugh-out-loud lists and short pieces such as “Rumors I’ve Heard About Anna Wintour,” and “The Secret Lives of Chefs,”  Hanawalt’s comedy shines, making the quotidian silly and surreal, flatulent and facetious.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 2013

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Lisa Hanawalt

12 books379 followers

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5 stars
961 (38%)
4 stars
862 (34%)
3 stars
460 (18%)
2 stars
125 (5%)
1 star
60 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 316 reviews
Profile Image for Kate.
217 reviews9 followers
August 8, 2013
I don't think you should read this book. You're very mature and you wouldn't like it. Some of the drawings are crude, crudely-done, and plain silly. There are too many lizards in human clothes. And there are way too many penises, poop jokes, and other explicit and bawdy humor. I loved pretty much every page, though, and laughed maniacally several times. I was so very sad when it was over.
Profile Image for Steph.
878 reviews481 followers
February 9, 2023
dirty, absurd, extremely entertaining. and as a big fan of bojack horseman and tuca and bertie i just love the art. hanawalt's animals have so much personality! (and the book provides interesting insight into hanawalt's life... i should have known she grew up as a horse girl!)

the graphic novel consists of bizarre vignettes, illustrated movie reviews, and other oddities. these are accompanied by double page art scenes of super busy animal-populated worlds. these scenes are delicious to the eyeballs... very colorful, and they work well as palate cleansers between the short stories.

my two favorites are "moosefingers," a weird one about an angsty moose girl who copes with her unsatisfying life by crafting weird lil fingers, and "the toy fair," which is about hanawalt's experience of crashing a toy convention and checking out all the fun.

life is short. fill it with wonderful weirdness.
Profile Image for Allie.
1,426 reviews38 followers
May 14, 2017
Great! Great! Great!

Lisa Hannawalt is a huge weirdo and I love her. Her very colorful drawings are a hysterical, surreal, and sometimes very dirty. I read some of her fantastic illustrated movie reviews on the Hairpin, all of which are collected here alongside some truly bizarre comics about mooses, movies, finger sculptures, sex fantasies, and lots of horses. I read it on the bus and I was laughing uncontrollably while trying to conceal the content (nudity alert) from the prying eyes of a packed rush hour bus. The book is also easier and more fun to read because it's hand-written (IN ALL CAPS) with text and image working together like you're reading her weird journal.
Profile Image for Dov Zeller.
Author 2 books126 followers
July 13, 2015
I am considering making a shelf just for this book, but not sure what to call it: fashion animals kitchen appliances explicit sexual comedy weirdo (hats and movie reviews) and you may never feel the same about a whisk?

This book is a bit like a ping pong match between the unpleasant and the hilarious; the absurd and the primly uncanny; a moose's ass and a dog's never mind.

I wonder in moments if she is gleeful about the probability of people reading this book in public places and feeling suddenly inappropriate and exposed. I imagine she must be, but maybe I'm altogether wrong.

I wonder if she is eccentric, brooding and scatological in every day life or somehow funnels it largely into her art.

Do I recommend this book? It's not for the faint of heart. It has fun with gender at the expense of anyone who has ideas about it. It's interesting, funny and smart, at times existentially plaintive and emotionally compelling, and generally scoffs at classifications. I think at its best it's a work that opens up space for different kinds of narratives loosely woven together by a sort of experiential insistence.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.2k followers
November 1, 2013
Pretty fun, I guess! Maybe I just need to let loose and let her goofy ways knock me over…. but they kind of didn't, and I wonder why. She does do some goofy dirty visual jokes that are fun, sort of scatological humor I smiled at (especially racy since she dedicates the book to her Mom and Dad and sibs in addition to a guy named Adam…) and just some silly stuff… okay! Kooky! Weirdo! Good, I guess. :) I'm just not sure what all of it adds up to… maybe because I am reading it while also reading Adam Hines' Duncan the Wonderdog, to take a silly break from its serious Great American Novel eco-terrorist genius, so of course I am affected by that context, but I kinda felt "eh". Maybe on a Friday when I am having mixed drinks or something...
Profile Image for Kim Lockhart.
1,235 reviews195 followers
April 7, 2024
This graphic novel is for those of us weirdos with a warped sense of humor. Did your ears just perk up at that? Do you need an insulated bubble in which to laugh? This book is for you. It's just pure fun for its own sake, or for our sake. Whatever. It's more creative and less sardonic than similar work I've seen. The style is unmistakably one of a kind.

Hanawalt's illustrated animal/human hybrids are majorly bizarre, without ever being too whimsical or grotesque. I mean, creepy, yeah, but still, that's a fine line to walk. Through these captivating drawings, the author/artist answers questions no has thought to ask, such as: What kind of visual-statement art would a horse-headed woman make? 

It does get a little more adult in style and concept as it goes along. I mean, it's titled My 𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 Dumb Eyes for a reason. Mostly, though, it's a peek into the random musings of an imaginative mind.

The whole thing is darn near perfect, funny-wise. I loved it all. The only thing I would change is the Red Fox's hat adornment. But am I an author? No. Or an artist? Double No. So, she can draw whatever she wants: even flatulence disturbing the time-space continuum. 

In the acknowledgments at the end of the book, the author lists the rejected working titles of the book. And of course, they're hilarious.

She also states "No part of this book (except small portions for glowing review purposes) may be reproduced in any form without written permission." Ha! Take that, Drawn & Quarterly. I just inceptioned your warning by quoting it

Also, Ms. Hanawalt, you owe us an illustration of the four out of five horseshoes, perhaps in a subsequent print run? And if it were not clear before, I adore your work. Keep cranking out the weird. We need it now more than ever.
Profile Image for Raina.
1,718 reviews162 followers
August 28, 2015
Prepare yourself for this one. Scattered ramblings from a unique mind.

I was charmed, and yet nonplussed, by the North American Wildlife and Hats. I was occasionally grossed out by her sense of humor. Her comic strip about romance movies made me laugh out loud. And her illustrated movie reviews completely won me over.

More of a personal sketchbook/slice of brain/stream of psyche than formal graphic novel, Hanawalt's book is in turns alienating and endearing.

Prepare for crass, offensive, and sweet.
Profile Image for Hannah Garden.
1,053 reviews185 followers
November 25, 2018
I was feeling a little stiff the other night and needed the book equivalent of a delicious mojito—took this into the bathtub with me and came out a brighter lighter wetter better person. Lisa Hanawalt has a big happy horsey laugh that will remind you that you like to have fun, and which translates really beautifully into her drawings. I love art that shakes the veil a little bit, you know? I hear the bells a-jingle and it reminds we are all here together, but only for a second, so oh man CHERISH it.
Profile Image for Frank.
992 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2016
One of my favorite things about working in a library (there are 4) is coming across the random, unknown book. I had no idea who Lisa Hanawalt but this collection of comic sketches just connects with my sense of humor (so, factor that in to your judgement).

Plus, this book is filthy. Not to be read at a public reference desk.
Profile Image for Laura.
452 reviews5 followers
February 8, 2014
**WARNING** this book has nudity and I'm not just talking boobies, I'm talking electric-mixer-in-the-vagina nudity. Just letting you know because nobody told me and so I ordered it for the library and def cannot put it out on the shelf. That being said, you should find a good quirky library (and get me a job there) or bookstore so you can read this masterpiece. It's irreverent and made both me and my boyfriend laugh out loud. I really like the artwork, she's very talented, and I also like how absolutely insane she is and how much she likes drawing nudity and sex, it's perfection. By the by: all of my coworkers think I'm a sexual deviant bc I keep buying perverted graphic novels like this and trying to defend their merit.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,397 reviews284 followers
August 21, 2019
I loved Hanawalt's Coyote Doggirl but hated Hot Dog Taste Test. Time for a tie breaker.

Oops. The nays have it.

Like Hot Dog Taste Test this is mostly a collection of short humor pieces obsessed with the absurd, genitals and poop. And there are reviews of some real middling movies, a toy fair, and "The Bachelor" season 16. The reviews aren't particularly good, but at least they mean less room for the nonsensical junk. Bonus star!
Profile Image for Suzie.
443 reviews12 followers
June 30, 2013
I love the coloring and overall style. Some of the work is almost pre-Columbian looking. My favorite part was the movie review/responses and illustrated article on the toy fair. About 50% of the sexual/nudity related material was pretty uncomfortable to look at, and the other half was either funny or fine.
Profile Image for Hilary "Fox".
2,154 reviews68 followers
March 13, 2019
My Dirty Dumb Eyes was, for me, a more enjoyable read that Coyote Doggirl. While the later has a distinct plot and tells a rather linear story in 3 acts, My Dirty Dumb Eyes is simply a collection of comics, essays, and movie reviews. The more casual style allows for Lisa Hanawalt to shine. Her ramblings are hilarious, thoughtful, and the sort of conversationally amusing observations that I love best. Reminiscent of Jenny Lawson, Hanawalt proves herself a fine comedienne - although her art places her on a different sort of scale entirely.

While her artwork would appeal to any Bojack Horseman fan, I'm not so certain her humor and writing would. She's more irreverent, a bit more erratic, and less existential than the show ends up being. While there are snippets here and there of the vulnerability that makes Bojack a truly wonderful show, such reflective moments aren't the true meat of this book. Nevertheless, I found them insightful and all too easy to relate to.

In short - pick this up if you love her artwork and want a read that will likely generate a few laughs. Avoid it if you're likely to be easily offended or are searching for something more soul-searching than humorous. Or if you really like chimpanzees. You might be offended by her Planet of the Apes review if you're too into those.
Profile Image for AC.
342 reviews10 followers
March 27, 2017
After really enjoying her latest book, "Hot Dog Taste Test," I was excited to go back to her first, "My Dirty Dumb Eyes." The humor is just as great in this graphic novel and has a totally different focus than the other. This one is more focused on pop culture and I was totally into it. I especially liked the section on The Bachelor. Though she was talking about a season I hadn't watched, her description of that season's Bachelor was perfect, "Ben looks like someone boiled all of the flavor out of Jason Schwartzman." Her observations and love of horses will leave you with hearts in your eyes for sure.
Profile Image for Cathy.
124 reviews
August 11, 2015
My friend Dov describes Hanawalt's process as less thinking out loud and more like Hanawalt is having thoughts that the reader is allowed to peek in at. These vignettes do have a floaty, inchoate kind of feel to them. They are weird and obscene and funny, although, for me, the weird and the obscene sometimes got in the way of the funny. My favorite bit was Hanawalt's account of her visit to a toy-industry convention at the Jacob Javits Center and the weird disconnect she observed between the purpose of the fair and the joyless desperation of the exhibitors.
Profile Image for Kevin.
Author 36 books35.4k followers
February 2, 2014
There's some really funny, crazy, shake your head in disbelief stuff in this book. A lot of people really love her movie review comics but I found her little one-offs to be especially hilarious, jarring, and dreamy. I wish that Moosefingers comic (about a horse that wears heels and makes clay fingers all day and then gets maudlin at night while he lays in bed with his cat dude lover) was a novel or a full-length movie directed by Terry Zwigoff.
Profile Image for elissa.
2,170 reviews142 followers
June 11, 2017
Before I read it: Anthropomorphic humor sounds particularly good. This is 3 years old, but I've never heard of it before...

After I read it: A little much for me. I thought some of it was very funny, and some of it not quite as much. The movie "reviews" are amusing. Maybe 3 1/2. It's quick, and I read it in 2 sittings, in a public place, where I felt kind of embarrassed, in case anybody might see some of the racier pages.
Profile Image for Joey Alison Sayers.
Author 12 books29 followers
November 23, 2014
I literally had no reason to not read this book, but I for some reason had this weird feeling I wouldn't like it. Thankfully I stopped being a gigantic idiot and read it. It's so good. I loved every beautiful, hilarious page of this book. Eighty stars!
Profile Image for Erin.
2,454 reviews40 followers
April 25, 2017
Okay, I don't think anyone can take the place of my favorite comic artist, Michael Kupperman, but Lisa Hanawalt is a CLOSE second. (Plus, Kupperman did a blurb for the back of her book!)
Profile Image for Constance.
723 reviews6 followers
September 27, 2018
Beautifully drawn and hilarious.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Tatjana.
335 reviews14 followers
June 30, 2013
Hm.
I picked this up because I was cross-referencing Summer Book Recommendations. This one was on the LA Times list, I think. I checked it out of one of our libraries.

This reminds me a lot of the surreal/true-to-life/interior monologue comics and 'zines of the 90s. I didn't care much for them because, while they did lift the veil on some irrelevant life ironies, they were boring. Even the sexy bits were boring. I was young, and everything was about me, after all.

This book has kind of the same look and feel.

It had great moments of hilarity (like the drunken Martha Stewart) and some interesting surreal drawings. The book also reveled in the filter-free stream-of-consciousness manner in which most young people produce hip art. Don't get me wrong: this is how it should be! It's always been that way!

It's just boring to me... I was going to say it's lazy because we are surrounded by it: the talking heads on 24-hour"news" channels, political speeches, Facebook, book critiques (ahem). It would be lazy (and creepy) if I did it.

Now, that being said: this book was recommended as a young adult read. By young adult, I think "collegiate" or incredibly mature teen was intended. My librarian experience has proven that when parents see something like this in the young adult (from their perspective: tween/teen) section, they get bent out of shape. That's a different conversation, but in short I would say it's probably not a good YA fit for most libraries.

If you enjoyed things from the Fantagraphics files, you may enjoy this. A generous dash of Mad or Cracked magazine would help.

Profile Image for Troy.
300 reviews191 followers
January 21, 2016
I never bothered reading this book because I bought all of Hanawalt's minis throughout the years and I figured this book was just those minis collected. But it isn't and I'm dumb. It's almost all new material. Or at least material I've never seen. And it's fuuunnny!!

Hanawalt was always funny. She was part of a group of comic book girls called Cookie Monster Island, or Pizza Monster Island, or something like that. They were all amazing and it seems like most of them moved to LA to work with Hollywood or Adult Swim or whatever. Bad for comics; good for the world. I guess.

Hanawalt is part of the gloopy deliberately "off" comics crews of the last few decades that are basically

60s underground penchant for sex-filled gloopy madness
-
60s misogynist machismo
+
90s smart ass cynicisms
-
90s creepy-loner-dejected-serial-killer vibe
*
80s dumb pop culture aesthetics
+
smutty jokes
=
AWESOME

So Hanawalt perfected her childhood obsession of drawing realistic and beautifully rendered ponies, birds, dogs, and whatever, but then had them walk upright—without being cartoonified, which is a damn weird effect. (At first it just looks wrong. Awesome and hilarious. But creepy and off-putting. In a good way. Even though now everyone is used to her style because of Bojack Horseman.) And then she adds sex but again she adds the weird and funny, and without the creepy hate sex of Crumb and his followers, but is still creepy and wrong. And did I say funny? Oh.
Well. It is.
Funny.
Profile Image for Marcus Gasques.
Author 9 books15 followers
January 20, 2019
Esqueça os animais fofinhos. Muito da obra da cartunista e escritora Lisa Hanawalt é baseada em animais antropoformizados: cabeças de gatos, corujas, lagartos, aves, cães e cavalos em corpos humanos. Muitos cavalos e cachorros! Não por acaso, a artista é produtora de "BoJack Horseman", a série de animação que mostra uma cáustica visão do mundo das celebridades.
E sátira e crítica social estão presentes em todas as páginas de "My dirty duma eyes", livro que reúne cartoons, quadrinhos, ilustrações e textos de Lisa. Nada escapa à sua visão crítica, de artistas da cultura pop, a moda, chefs de cozinha, reality shows, a cultura ao automóvel e até uma feira comercial de brinquedos.
Lisa também coloca seu traço colorido, irreverente e muitas vezes surrealista em críticas em texto e ilustrações que faz de filmes como "Planeta dos macacos", "Drive" ou "Cavalo de guerra". Há muito da vida da própria artista na obra, que não esconde do leitor várias passagens autobiográficas, algumas bastante íntimas.
A autora gosta muito de animais e chegou a declarar em uma entrevista que "eles já estão no nosso status", e que quando está com o olhar perdido "provavelmente estou pensando em cavalos ou cachorros". Eles são muito presentes, em meio a pessoas e situações corriqueiras, tudo temperado com humor ácido, irreverência, sexo e alguma porcaria.
Profile Image for Lily.
1,163 reviews43 followers
September 23, 2014
My Dirty Dumb Eyes is dementedly funny and illustrated excellently. Vivid depictions of Hanawalt's strange mind left me laughing so hard I was in tears. She analyzes the television show the Bachelor, Planet of the Apes, and other worthy pop culture phenomena by questioning them inscrutably and poking fun at their premises. Hanawalt shines a bizarre and beautifully illustrated lens on the world that only a strange sense of humor can appreciate.

Review posted on the Denver Library website
537 reviews
February 8, 2017
This graphic novel is all over the place, but it's so much fun to read I read it in one sitting. I really love the movie reviews. Would love to see a book packed with Lisa Hanawalt's movie reviews! What a hoot that would be. If you know any magpies who are all over the place, on to the next subject when they spy something shiny, then you would be very familiar with the content of this book. Just a bunch of observations and off-the-wall drawings that you should just let wash over you instead of making sense out of them.
Profile Image for Taylor.
131 reviews11 followers
September 4, 2017
Lisa Hanawalt, ya beautiful disgusting cartoon goddess. Please never stop drawing boobs on everything. My mom ordered this for me as per my request for my birthday and when I opened it she responded by saying "I thought that was a children's book until it came." I read it in one sitting on the evening of my birthday. Perfect if you love Hot Dog Taste Test and need something to tie you over until the release of Hanawalt's graphic novel.
Profile Image for Nancy.
1,378 reviews23 followers
October 18, 2013
Fashion Week Animals (and North American Wildlife) in Hats is pure Genius. You can't even imagine any other hats on any other animals. And yet, you never would have. Beyond this, there is just the right amount of sadness, weirdness, sexiness, and authorial presence/distance. The only thing wrong with this book is that blurbs on the back of the book don't really get how good this is.
Profile Image for Lisa.
344 reviews14 followers
December 5, 2013
this woman is hilarious. and her drawings are pretty out there -- like sexy animal/people hybrids and badgers with NASCAR hats and people using hand mixers as sex toys out there. i totally loved it.

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