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The Complete Cul de Sac
If you haven't discovered Richard Thompson's wonderful Cul de Saccomic strip, you are in for a real treat. Cul de Sacis noted not only for its humour and intelligence, but also for creator Richard Thompson's fun, imaginative watercolour artwork.
Cul de Sacis brought to life through manhole-dancing Alice Otterloop, a curious four-year-old who discovers life's ups and downs in suburbia. Along with her Blisshaven Preschool classmates, Alice charms fans of all ages with her escapades. From crafting projects in a cloud of glitter and glue or just trying to comprehend a completely incomprehensible world, Alice is a creature of pure and indomitable will, an irresistible force. Alice describes her father's car as a "Honda-Tonka Cuisinart" and talks to the class guinea pig, Mr. Danders. Alice is joined by her family: her older brother Petey who is intent on being the King of the Picky Eaters; her dad, who's the Assistant Director of Pamphlets at the U.S. Department of Consumption, Office of Consumer Complaints; and her mom, who is capable of doing a million things simultaneously, about five of them well.
This library of cartoons and art will both delight long-time fans and provide a fantastic introduction to new readers.
Cul de Sacis brought to life through manhole-dancing Alice Otterloop, a curious four-year-old who discovers life's ups and downs in suburbia. Along with her Blisshaven Preschool classmates, Alice charms fans of all ages with her escapades. From crafting projects in a cloud of glitter and glue or just trying to comprehend a completely incomprehensible world, Alice is a creature of pure and indomitable will, an irresistible force. Alice describes her father's car as a "Honda-Tonka Cuisinart" and talks to the class guinea pig, Mr. Danders. Alice is joined by her family: her older brother Petey who is intent on being the King of the Picky Eaters; her dad, who's the Assistant Director of Pamphlets at the U.S. Department of Consumption, Office of Consumer Complaints; and her mom, who is capable of doing a million things simultaneously, about five of them well.
This library of cartoons and art will both delight long-time fans and provide a fantastic introduction to new readers.
648 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2013
15 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Richard Thompson
21 books43 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 26, 2025
This is an extraordinary body of work on so many levels. In his all-to-short career as a newspaper cartoonist, Richard Thompson produced a comic strip worthy of comparison to the all time greats—Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes—yes, it really is that good. And of course very, very funny.
I turned to Cul de Sac this winter because I needed an escape. And Cul de Sac, which is somehow both so much of our time and so clearly outside of it, was perfect. Easy to pick up and put down, and yet so endlessly rewarding, whether I raced through thirty pages or lingered over a single comic. Petey and Alice Otterloop are really kids, and really people, and really funny. Their parents are far more lovingly and precisely drawn than maybe any cartoon parents in a kids’ strip have ever been before. Their friends are a riot.
Richard Thompson was diagnosed with Parkinsons at the absolute peak of his career, at almost the precise moment when Cul de Sac truly found its footing and went from very good to one of the greatest comics of all time. Like Charles Schulz before him, Thompson was forced to adapt his drawing style to an ever shakier hand—and succeeded with aplomb. Only in the very last weeks that he drew Cul de Sac do we see him finally losing control over his line. It’s heartbreaking, but also inspiring. In his art, Thompson never seemed to accept that his strip would have to end. There is no final flourish, no toboggan ride into the magical white of a blank page. Only the ordinary, daily goings-on of kids who’ve come to feel, in the last couple of months, like my friends—and then they’re gone.
The newspaper comic is dying its long, slow, inevitable death. Webcomics are amazing; the comic form has perhaps never been so alive as now. But the newspaper comic is something special and all its own. Day after day, gag after gag. Meant to be read in a moment and thrown out with the trash. That repetition creates space for a kind of story telling that no other medium quite allows. Lucy van Pelt pulling away the football. Ignatz beaning Krazy Kat with a brick. Hobbes tackling Calvin on his way in the door. Even Dilbert fending off the pointy haired boss, or Jason Fox tormenting his sister with Quincy the iguana. Add to the list Petey and his beloved Little Neuro comics, Alice and her manhole cover, their dad and his tiny car, Dill and his brothers and their trebuchets, Miss Bliss’s bun and the Banjo Man she’ll never be able to hold down.
Only in newspaper comics do characters have daily lives, just like us. Day in and day out. It’s a magic all its own.
I turned to Cul de Sac this winter because I needed an escape. And Cul de Sac, which is somehow both so much of our time and so clearly outside of it, was perfect. Easy to pick up and put down, and yet so endlessly rewarding, whether I raced through thirty pages or lingered over a single comic. Petey and Alice Otterloop are really kids, and really people, and really funny. Their parents are far more lovingly and precisely drawn than maybe any cartoon parents in a kids’ strip have ever been before. Their friends are a riot.
Richard Thompson was diagnosed with Parkinsons at the absolute peak of his career, at almost the precise moment when Cul de Sac truly found its footing and went from very good to one of the greatest comics of all time. Like Charles Schulz before him, Thompson was forced to adapt his drawing style to an ever shakier hand—and succeeded with aplomb. Only in the very last weeks that he drew Cul de Sac do we see him finally losing control over his line. It’s heartbreaking, but also inspiring. In his art, Thompson never seemed to accept that his strip would have to end. There is no final flourish, no toboggan ride into the magical white of a blank page. Only the ordinary, daily goings-on of kids who’ve come to feel, in the last couple of months, like my friends—and then they’re gone.
The newspaper comic is dying its long, slow, inevitable death. Webcomics are amazing; the comic form has perhaps never been so alive as now. But the newspaper comic is something special and all its own. Day after day, gag after gag. Meant to be read in a moment and thrown out with the trash. That repetition creates space for a kind of story telling that no other medium quite allows. Lucy van Pelt pulling away the football. Ignatz beaning Krazy Kat with a brick. Hobbes tackling Calvin on his way in the door. Even Dilbert fending off the pointy haired boss, or Jason Fox tormenting his sister with Quincy the iguana. Add to the list Petey and his beloved Little Neuro comics, Alice and her manhole cover, their dad and his tiny car, Dill and his brothers and their trebuchets, Miss Bliss’s bun and the Banjo Man she’ll never be able to hold down.
Only in newspaper comics do characters have daily lives, just like us. Day in and day out. It’s a magic all its own.
May 20, 2014
This was bittersweet. Sweet because it contains the full run of Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson, the best newspaper comic strip since Calvin & Hobbes -- heck, ask me at the right time of day and I might say it's better than Calvin & Hobbes. Bitter because of the reason for the strip's end -- Thompson had to stop drawing the strip for health reasons.
A sample of what you're in for.
A sample of what you're in for.
July 2, 2014
If you're not familiar with this strip, you should be. If you are, you should own this. Nothing more needs to be said.
December 5, 2017
The sheer amount of humanity on display in these two volumes is almost too much to bear. I already think of the daily comic strip as one of the most personal forms of comics - where you really get to know the cartoonist. But having Thompson's commentary on every page, pointing out which strips were based on his own life, or some of the things he was struggling with while creating the strip, takes it to a new level.
I only met Richard twice, both times at comic conventions, and I found him to be witty, encouraging and generous. He left us too soon, and I wish The Complete Cul de Sac could have been ten volumes at least, instead of just these two. Even still, I will cherish them.
I only met Richard twice, both times at comic conventions, and I found him to be witty, encouraging and generous. He left us too soon, and I wish The Complete Cul de Sac could have been ten volumes at least, instead of just these two. Even still, I will cherish them.
January 29, 2020
An underrated comic series that sadly never got the recognition it deserved. Amazing! What a modern peer to comics like Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts. What can I do to get more people to check this strip out?
January 21, 2019
Richard Thompson was, without a doubt, among the best cartoonists ever, with Cul de Sac ranking right beside Calvin and Hobbes in the strip pantheon. If Thompson had lived and drawn longer, Cul de Sac would have received much wider circulation and be far better known than it is today.
September 9, 2014
There's Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes and Cul de Sac. Read them all.
February 3, 2018
I loved the continuity found here--got to understand his characters so much more. What insight!
February 9, 2017
On the one hand, a book of cartoon strips. On the other hand, a look into suburban Washington (maybe suburban everywhere U.S.A.) life in the early twenty-first century largely through the eyes of observers of the two strange and funny, yet somehow typical, Otterloop kids.
I loved this strip in its early days in the Sunday Washington Post Magazine and I love it still though its creator has since gone to a far-to-early demise. It's the kind of thing you either do love or you don't. But I'll put this up next to Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County. Snarky but very observational and great fun.
This book is actually two large-sized paperback volumes but it does come in a sturdy-looking, heavy cardboard case.
I loved this strip in its early days in the Sunday Washington Post Magazine and I love it still though its creator has since gone to a far-to-early demise. It's the kind of thing you either do love or you don't. But I'll put this up next to Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County. Snarky but very observational and great fun.
This book is actually two large-sized paperback volumes but it does come in a sturdy-looking, heavy cardboard case.
November 3, 2014
Richard Thompson's comic strip, Cul de Sac, is an eclectic collection of preschoolers, family members, and minor supporting characters. The strip focuses primarily on 3 or 4 year old Alice Otterloop who is, depending on the day and her mood, a free spirit, an angry tyrant, an impassioned champion for the oppressed, and/or a bully. These facets all make sense to Alice and through Thompson's writing, to us as well.
Thompson's artwork will never be mistaken for the clean lines and details of Winsor McKay's Little Nemo, but that is part of the charm of Cul de Sac. The almost sketch-like drawings help to represent the still-forming world in Alice's head.
Alice's friends in her neighborhood and at her preschool make up most of the strip, along with her interactions with her ultraphobic brother, Petey. There's just the right amount of surrealism in the strip (Dill's brothers' trebuchet, Petey's is-he-or-isn't-he imaginary friend, the wonderful, ever-growing and changing playground slide) to keep the strip from settling into a predictable routine.
Thompson provides a commentary with this collection and his thoughts on the strips and his characters, process, and storytelling are great.
My only problem with this collection is that it ended. Thompson had to give up making Cul de Sac due to the advancement of his Parkinson's disease. And that is a tragedy.
Thompson's artwork will never be mistaken for the clean lines and details of Winsor McKay's Little Nemo, but that is part of the charm of Cul de Sac. The almost sketch-like drawings help to represent the still-forming world in Alice's head.
Alice's friends in her neighborhood and at her preschool make up most of the strip, along with her interactions with her ultraphobic brother, Petey. There's just the right amount of surrealism in the strip (Dill's brothers' trebuchet, Petey's is-he-or-isn't-he imaginary friend, the wonderful, ever-growing and changing playground slide) to keep the strip from settling into a predictable routine.
Thompson provides a commentary with this collection and his thoughts on the strips and his characters, process, and storytelling are great.
My only problem with this collection is that it ended. Thompson had to give up making Cul de Sac due to the advancement of his Parkinson's disease. And that is a tragedy.
August 23, 2017
So many of the most famous comic strips have been "kid strips," that is, strips in which the main characters are children. Going all the way back to Little Nemo and The Katzenjammer Kids and continuing through Nancy, Big Nate and literally hundreds of others, kid strips have given great pleasure through the years. Some of them are truly memorable; Barnaby, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes are among these.
Cul de Sac was never as famous as those strips but it was as good as they were. Richard Thompson was a brilliant comic strip writer and artist. Cul de Sac ended in 2012 but Alice Otterloop and her family and friends deserve to live on and in this fine two-volume boxed set they have a good chance to do so.
Cul de Sac was never as famous as those strips but it was as good as they were. Richard Thompson was a brilliant comic strip writer and artist. Cul de Sac ended in 2012 but Alice Otterloop and her family and friends deserve to live on and in this fine two-volume boxed set they have a good chance to do so.
July 18, 2014
This strip is brilliant, poetic and existentialist, while at the same time being hilarious. It is unbelievable that Cul de Sac is not as well known as Calvin & Hobbes, because it is the only strip that stands alongside it. I only wish Richard was able to continue creating these tiny frustrations full of fury and wonder.
February 20, 2023
Magnificent strip. It really holds up throughout the whole run. Such great characters, but it's Alice who shines the most. Such a lovely little menace. RIP Richard, definitely gone too soon.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews