Here We Go Again

Sherman's Lagoon #18

by Jim Toomey

Sherman’s Lagoon is an imaginary lagoon somewhere in the tropics, inhabited by a cast of sea creatures whose lives are curiously similar to our own. Through his comic strip, cartoonist Jim Toomey explores many of the issues that we face daily in our world on dry land. By putting them in a different context, he helps us laugh at ourselves. His characters attempt new business ventures, go on disastrous dates, try fad diets and read the latest best-selling books. But, they also have problems that are unique to fish. Should you bring shrimp to the holiday party? Will shrimp be there?

Sherman, the main character, is a great white shark who is completely unaware of how intimidating his species can be. He gets pushed around by the other characters, Hawthorne the hermit crab, Fillmore the sea turtle, and his wife, Megan, who is another great white shark, of course.

Genres: Humor, Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2013

About the author

Jim Toomey is an internationally published humor writer and syndicated cartoonist best known as the creator of the popular comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon, published daily in over 150 newspapers including The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. Jim has produced 28 Sherman’s Lagoon books, published by Andrews McMeel, and most recently a travel memoir, entitled Family Afloat, about his two years sailing the world’s oceans with his wife and family.

Sherman's Lagoon combines two of his lifelong interests: art and the sea. In addition to drawing his comic strip, Jim is active in ocean conservation and serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Jim has given talks at a variety of venues, including the Royal Society in London, Harvard University and twice at TED. The conservation message in his comic strip earned him the Environmental Hero Award in 2000, presented by NOAA “for using art and humor to conserve and protect our marine heritage.” Jim won the award again in 2010.

Jim holds degrees from Duke and Stanford. He currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife and two children, where he tries to get his family back on a sailboat as frequently as possible but can rarely make it happen.

Reviews

[Christine (KizzieReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was funny, to a point. Some, not so much.

[Anubhav Jalan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise find at the book fair at Sunderbhai hall. It has been her first full comic strip book and she has loved it very much.

Characters of Sherman, Hawthorne, Fillimore etc are distinctly etched and the stories are funny while using current narratives in few of them. The book makes for a good bed night reading as each story strips are of max 3-4 pages peppered with single pages of short panels.

Funny and irritating is that they don’t inform you where a strip ends and second story starts. So have to be alert and figure it out even at midnight reading sessions.

[Tom Varner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sherman and his family and friends are back at it again in HERE WE GO AGAIN, the 18th “Sherman’s Lagoon” collection. Some of the storylines featured in this collection include a chunk of ice that finds its way into the lagoon, Hawthorne opening a convenience store, Fillmore’s annual visit to the Swinging Single Sea Turtle Jamboree, an invasion of the lagoon by a vampire squid, and Sherman and Megan’s visit to San Francisco. Most of the storylines are funny, but I did find the storyline where Ernest and Sherman go to Washington, D.C. to be a bit overkill. It’s a descent “Sherman’s Lagoon” collection, but isn’t quite as humorous as some of the previous collections.

[Popzara Press · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is exactly that; the latest in one of the longest-running comic strips out there, and makes a fine addition to any fan’s catalog of funnies. Toomey’s personal passions and workmanlike effort have kept it one of the funniest and most inventive strips in syndication, and certainly the most ecologically aware. There’s no real surprises, of course, but why fiddle too much when you’ve got such a good thing going?

Here We Go Again: The Eighteenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection Review on Popzara

[Michelle (FabBookReviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a bananas fan of Sherman's Lagoon I will say that this is not my favourite of the Sherman collections. It didn't feel as sharp or the material as fresh, but it is still a kick to read.