Dilbert 2.0: The Early Years, 1989-1993

by Scott Adams

Whether avoiding pointless meetings with the clueless pointy-haired boss or angsting over insanely impossible sales goals, meaningless performance objectives, and a mind-numbing cubicle environment, Dilbert and his fellow corporate victims soldier on, providing a humorous release for the great brotherhood of office drones. For 20 years, Dilbert has connected with the unappreciated, making one and all wonder, "Has Scott Adams bugged our offices?" In Dilbert 2.0, a collection of the strip's first 20 years, Scott clearly demonstrates that through the dot-com and real estate bubbles to the new normal, Dilbert knows that the stuff of work is really funny business! Now presented for the first time in a four-volume electronic edition! This first volume of Dilbert 2.0 covers the early years from 1989 to 1993 for the celebrated cartoon strip.

Genres: Comics, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Fiction

144 pages, Nook

First published May 29, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Scott Adams was a defining voice of the American white-collar experience who transitioned from a prominent cartoonist into a polarizing political commentator. After earning an MBA from UC Berkeley and spending years in management at Pacific Bell, Adams launched the comic strip Dilbert in 1989. The strip’s sharp satire of corporate bureaucracy and the "Dilbert Principle"—the idea that incompetent employees are promoted to management to minimize their damage—resonated globally, eventually appearing in 2,000 newspapers and winning the prestigious Reuben Award. Beyond the funny pages, Adams explored philosophy and persuasion in works like God's Debris and Win Bigly, the latter of which analyzed Donald Trump’s rhetorical strategies during the 2016 election. His career took a dramatic turn during the mid-2010s as he shifted focus to his daily "Real Coffee" livestream, where he combined his background in hypnosis and corporate strategy to comment on the "culture wars." This period of independent commentary culminated in 2023 when he reacted to a poll regarding racial tensions with a series of inflammatory remarks. Labeling Black Americans a "hate group" and advocating for racial segregation, Adams faced immediate and widespread repercussions; hundreds of newspapers dropped his strip, and his publisher canceled his upcoming projects. Undeterred, he moved his work to the subscription-based platform Locals, rebranding his comic as Dilbert Reborn. In his final years, he faced severe health challenges, including stage IV prostate cancer and vocal cord issues, yet he remained a prolific presence on social media. He eventually announced the end of his hand-drawn work due to focal dystonia but continued to direct the strip's vision. Adams’s legacy remains a complex study in the power of branding, the evolution of digital influence, and the volatile intersection of creative genius and political provocation in the modern era.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I grew up on comic strips, Dilbert features humor that has always been a bit hard for me to appreciate; both as a kid not yet old enough to enter the workforce, and currently as someone whose job is not in an office. Still, the funny pages were a big part of my childhood, and, as long as they're humorous and neither political nor obscene, I can appreciate such media.

However, the e-book version I read of this compilation had serious issues. Not only was the lettering in the strips rather hard to read--especially in the Sunday color ones--but the pages repeated, and Adams' commentary at the beginning, though interesting, ran on for a bit too long. Plus, a few strips made fun of the Christian faith, and one even was a slam against former First Lady Barbara Bush; I can see why Adams got a complaint about the former, and censored the latter. So, like many comic compilations, this was a mixed bag.

[Terry L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable insight into the early years of Dilbert

I liked reading about the creation of Dilbert and the evolution of the strip into the favorite of cubicle dwellers everywhere. I have often wondered whether Scott Adams was working in disguise somewhere in the company where I worked.

[Kristal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad; some comics were better than others. Many strips were repeated in the book which should have been caught by an editor

[Georges Tormen · Rating 4 out of 5]

the birth of an artist and two comic book characters

Late, very late but now I know and I can appreciate Scott Adams, Dilbert & Dogbert. It is a pleasure to discover their universe!

[Henry Wortmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Comic strip History

It is an interesting read as how Scott Adams developed his strip, and cast of characters, recording the good along with the bad, to a successful outcome.

[Peter M.]

Made me smile

There were only a few comics I didn't get. Dilbert is hilarious, I just started watching the animated series too

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly chuckle-licious

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am reading this series out of order and as ebooks. I'm not sure if the real series repeats the introduction on how Dilbert began but the ebook volumes do, so you may want to skip that in subsequent books. As with the other ebook I reviewed in this series, the comics in this volume can be hard to read because Adams' style hasn't solidified yet, so expect a lot of zooming in, provided your software can do so. (Hopefully, if you're reading the paper version, you won't go blind as Adobe Digital Editions doesn't allow for enlarging of images in EPUB files.) Many comics reappear across the two volumes I've already read, which is kind of disappointing if you consider them as a set, but if you read each separately they do fit with the rest on the page. Overall, a good book if you want to know the history behind Dilbert and the many popular characters therein.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun and a great way to spend a few hours .

This collection was a great way to get introduced to Dilbert. I have to admit I never read the comic in the paper. I was an art snob when I was still getting the paper . For some reason now that I don't get the paper I'm not as picky. But I have to say the cartoons in the yard really go with the humor. Great value.