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Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of Your Loved One
Charles Addams was renowned for his depictions of love (or lack thereof) in his cartoons. The passion of Morticia and Gomez Addams, the lonely desires of Fester, the numerous grim and ghastly fights between husband and wife -- all found their way into Addams's signature drawings.
Addams's concept of love was quite a bit different from the traditional idea of romance. Forget roses and chocolate, Addams will show you how to woo a mermaid or celebrate an anniversary on a desert island. Or how to keep your husband on a leash -- literally. Learn what to do when your prince stays a frog, even after you've kissed him.
Compiled from Addams's personal archive, many of these cartoons are previously unpublished gems, while others are Addams classics. The cartoons in Chas Addams Happily Ever After run the gamut from ecstatic love to disappointed affection to murderous obsession and demonstrate that love really does hurt.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2006
24 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Charles Addams
58 books228 followersThe macabre humor and Gothic settings characterized many cartoons, first apparent in the New Yorker, of known American cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams.
Chas Addams best created "The Addams Family" comic characters, adapted for a variety of media. His signature style involved single panels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
Chas Addams best created "The Addams Family" comic characters, adapted for a variety of media. His signature style involved single panels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
December 16, 2022
Twisted and dark, just what you’d expect.
I was actually surprised to learn that many of these were published as far back as the 30s. I guess I’ve never looked Addams up but I did not expect that he was publishing his cartoons that early. He continued to publish work for over 50 years, quite impressive.
Addams, of course, was the inspiration for the 1960s television show and a couple films in the 90s. All very funny, I like The Addams Family and the new Netflix Wednesday series was also very good.
I actually recognized a couple of these cartoons as they would later be revived in the 90s films. Many are of Morticia and Gomez but most are of random characters who are doing bad things, but most just dream of doing something wrong.
The theme of husbands and wives who secretly want to do each other in is a ubiquitous element in many of these and Addams had a deliciously dark humor.
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I was actually surprised to learn that many of these were published as far back as the 30s. I guess I’ve never looked Addams up but I did not expect that he was publishing his cartoons that early. He continued to publish work for over 50 years, quite impressive.
Addams, of course, was the inspiration for the 1960s television show and a couple films in the 90s. All very funny, I like The Addams Family and the new Netflix Wednesday series was also very good.
I actually recognized a couple of these cartoons as they would later be revived in the 90s films. Many are of Morticia and Gomez but most are of random characters who are doing bad things, but most just dream of doing something wrong.
The theme of husbands and wives who secretly want to do each other in is a ubiquitous element in many of these and Addams had a deliciously dark humor.
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June 17, 2022
If the name Chas Addams doesn’t immediately ring a bell, it most likely will with the following .gif . . . .
What you may not know is the creator of one of America’s most famous families was also known for his cartoons which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s all the way to the late 1980s. Happily Ever After is Addams’ macabre take on wedded bliss and it is a collection that I will be purchasing a hard copy of – perhaps to sit next to my own wedding photo ; ) The entire book is chock full of selections that bring a chuckle – a couple of my favorites are featured below . . . .
(The caption reads “For heaven’s sake, can’t you do anything right?”)
(Here the husband is trying to be helpful by planting some “gladiolas”)
Ahhhhh, there’s nothing like a little gallows humor to add some color to my dead, black heart.
What you may not know is the creator of one of America’s most famous families was also known for his cartoons which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s all the way to the late 1980s. Happily Ever After is Addams’ macabre take on wedded bliss and it is a collection that I will be purchasing a hard copy of – perhaps to sit next to my own wedding photo ; ) The entire book is chock full of selections that bring a chuckle – a couple of my favorites are featured below . . . .
(The caption reads “For heaven’s sake, can’t you do anything right?”)
(Here the husband is trying to be helpful by planting some “gladiolas”)
Ahhhhh, there’s nothing like a little gallows humor to add some color to my dead, black heart.
December 7, 2022
I usually don't mind dark humor. But this... It wasn't my cup of tea.
February 28, 2021
Erst durch eine Biographie über Maeve Brennan stieß ich auf Charles Addams und erfuhr, dass er der Erschaffer der Addams Family ist. Dadurch neugierig geworden, wollte ich unbedingt mehr von seinen Zeichnungen kennenlernen.
Abgesehen von der katastrophalen Qualität dieses vorliegenden Druckes, bin ich von Addams Cartoons begeistert. Die süß-makabre Weise, wie er Szenen einer Ehe darstellt, scheint zeitlos. Intelligent führt er uns die erlebte Perspektive von Ehemann und Ehefrau vor Augen und bietet letztlich sogar Alternativen an, sich mit der Ehe zu arrangieren. Diese "Resolves" mögen auf dem ersten Blick sehr makaber wirken. Doch empfinde ich sie eher als ausgesprochen menschlich. Manches sollte man einfach mit einem Augenzwinkern und schmunzelnd betrachten. Vielleicht findet sich der eine Gatte oder die andere Gattin darin wieder. Und möglicherweise gelingt ihnen ein Perspektivwechsel.
Mich faszinieren diese pointierten Zeichnungen, vor allem die eine, in der ein älteres Ehepaar in einem Boot sitzt. Sie vorn, er hinter ihr. Auf dem ersten Blick harmlos und friedlich. Doch betrachtet man das Spiegelbild im Wasser, schwindet prompt der Eindruck und durch eine einzige Änderung, nämlich seiner Ruderhaltung, erfahren wir seine Gedanken. Brillant!
Was stattdessen eine wahre Schande darstellt, ist der Druck. Die Bilder sind durch die Vergrößerung häufig unscharf. Mancherorts derart stark, dass Schriftzüge unkenntlich geworden sind und dadurch der Sinn der Szene und somit die Pointe nicht erfassbar ist.
Abgesehen von der katastrophalen Qualität dieses vorliegenden Druckes, bin ich von Addams Cartoons begeistert. Die süß-makabre Weise, wie er Szenen einer Ehe darstellt, scheint zeitlos. Intelligent führt er uns die erlebte Perspektive von Ehemann und Ehefrau vor Augen und bietet letztlich sogar Alternativen an, sich mit der Ehe zu arrangieren. Diese "Resolves" mögen auf dem ersten Blick sehr makaber wirken. Doch empfinde ich sie eher als ausgesprochen menschlich. Manches sollte man einfach mit einem Augenzwinkern und schmunzelnd betrachten. Vielleicht findet sich der eine Gatte oder die andere Gattin darin wieder. Und möglicherweise gelingt ihnen ein Perspektivwechsel.
Mich faszinieren diese pointierten Zeichnungen, vor allem die eine, in der ein älteres Ehepaar in einem Boot sitzt. Sie vorn, er hinter ihr. Auf dem ersten Blick harmlos und friedlich. Doch betrachtet man das Spiegelbild im Wasser, schwindet prompt der Eindruck und durch eine einzige Änderung, nämlich seiner Ruderhaltung, erfahren wir seine Gedanken. Brillant!
Was stattdessen eine wahre Schande darstellt, ist der Druck. Die Bilder sind durch die Vergrößerung häufig unscharf. Mancherorts derart stark, dass Schriftzüge unkenntlich geworden sind und dadurch der Sinn der Szene und somit die Pointe nicht erfassbar ist.
July 4, 2021
I just previously learned that the Addam's where named after their creator and I learned today it was originally a comic. I had hoped this short ebook of Charles Addam's comics would contain a few of them but I don't think they did, if so, I missed it. The comics was quite comical written but not my cup of tea. Have read similar style of comics and enjoyed them a lot more. It wasn't bad but not my humour. Cute style of drawing though
March 28, 2015
This compilation of Charles Addams' cartoons contains many that were previously published in the New Yorker and some that were never published at all. They span several decades - the 1930s through the 1980s.
Most of them are darkly humorous. There were a couple that were laugh out loud funny to me. Mainly I was entranced by the fact that the majority of the cartoons cover ways for wives to kill their husbands and husbands to kill their wives. That made me wonder - was Chas Addams unhappily married? Looking at the bio in the book, his first two marriages seem as though they were beds of thorns, not beds of roses. (Now I'm thinking about Morticia, but this book of cartoons only has one "Addams Family" cartoon in it.)
I loved the fact they were written so long ago. I looked at the illustrations of rooms and houses and cars and clothes, once so commonplace but now distracting enough that they took preeminence over the jokes. For example, in one cartoon, a wife is rigging up wires to electrocute her husband at breakfast. What I find fascinating, though, is the fact that the toaster, the coffee maker, and the waffle iron are all plugged into the light fixture overhead. I've heard this is what they did in old houses prior to outlets being required on every wall. Very interesting to see pictured. And the fur coats and hats the ladies wore to go out! The old cars, the old stoves, the social tea parties, the apartments that look like The Honeymooners. . . .
I'll be checking out more of his work. I'm reading a Ray Bradbury novel for Halloween - From the Dust Returned. I seem to recall when I listened to this book many years ago, he mentioned Chas Addams. I felt I needed to go and look at Addams' pictures. Just getting in the mood for October. . . .
Most of them are darkly humorous. There were a couple that were laugh out loud funny to me. Mainly I was entranced by the fact that the majority of the cartoons cover ways for wives to kill their husbands and husbands to kill their wives. That made me wonder - was Chas Addams unhappily married? Looking at the bio in the book, his first two marriages seem as though they were beds of thorns, not beds of roses. (Now I'm thinking about Morticia, but this book of cartoons only has one "Addams Family" cartoon in it.)
I loved the fact they were written so long ago. I looked at the illustrations of rooms and houses and cars and clothes, once so commonplace but now distracting enough that they took preeminence over the jokes. For example, in one cartoon, a wife is rigging up wires to electrocute her husband at breakfast. What I find fascinating, though, is the fact that the toaster, the coffee maker, and the waffle iron are all plugged into the light fixture overhead. I've heard this is what they did in old houses prior to outlets being required on every wall. Very interesting to see pictured. And the fur coats and hats the ladies wore to go out! The old cars, the old stoves, the social tea parties, the apartments that look like The Honeymooners. . . .
I'll be checking out more of his work. I'm reading a Ray Bradbury novel for Halloween - From the Dust Returned. I seem to recall when I listened to this book many years ago, he mentioned Chas Addams. I felt I needed to go and look at Addams' pictures. Just getting in the mood for October. . . .
December 23, 2022
Guys, I only found out about the origin of the Addams Family a couple of weeks ago! I assumed the 90s film was their first appearance, little did I know that they already had reached a cult status through comic inserts in the New Yorker decades before that. This is a great and macabre taster of Charles Addams' humour.
Happily Ever After is a collection of cartoons mostly published between the 40s and the 80s that all deal with relationships and men-women-interactions in the constellation of marriages and partnership. As a spoiler upfront: most of these could only have been drawn by someone who has tried marrying three times with varying success.
It's a very out-there and specific kind of dark humour that doesn't hold back. Not all directions Addams went was quite my kind of humour, but I did find a lot of them at least intriguing, particularly considering the times they were put out in, which was so far from today's meme and internet culture.
The quality of the print was actually horrible. This isn't Addams fault, but a lot of these cartoons have been enlarged and are now presented in a tragically blurry and unsatisfying way that doesn't do his skill of telling an entire story in a single image justice. Even after checking this out I'm not entirely certain if it's my cup of tea, but I'll certainly will be keeping an eye out for more in the future. One last little joke to leave you with:
Happily Ever After is a collection of cartoons mostly published between the 40s and the 80s that all deal with relationships and men-women-interactions in the constellation of marriages and partnership. As a spoiler upfront: most of these could only have been drawn by someone who has tried marrying three times with varying success.
It's a very out-there and specific kind of dark humour that doesn't hold back. Not all directions Addams went was quite my kind of humour, but I did find a lot of them at least intriguing, particularly considering the times they were put out in, which was so far from today's meme and internet culture.
The quality of the print was actually horrible. This isn't Addams fault, but a lot of these cartoons have been enlarged and are now presented in a tragically blurry and unsatisfying way that doesn't do his skill of telling an entire story in a single image justice. Even after checking this out I'm not entirely certain if it's my cup of tea, but I'll certainly will be keeping an eye out for more in the future. One last little joke to leave you with:
April 12, 2017
Admittedly, I know nothing about Charles Addams or his work... but now I know he was the creator of the Addams Family. What I liked about this collection of one page comics was the rawness of the characters and situations. Addams wasn't afraid to "go there" and while sometimes it feels like it should be appalling, you can't help but chuckle because you know the feeling sometimes. I like his artwork and the sass in it, and the fact that he wasn't afraid to depict marriage as something that people hated rather than something that is so wonderful all the time (because it's not).
May 1, 2015
Distinctive.
June 7, 2015
Oh how I love The Addams Family and I completely freaked when I heard the original TV series is based on a comic! Who knew?! Well, the minute I knew, I ordered a whole bunch.
I has to has them.
The original TV series is so dark and gloomy I want to have the house tattooed on me.
I loved the drawing of the characters in this comic, they're so sympathetic.
How dreamy is a man with such a dark humour as Chas Addams! Best comic artist <3
I has to has them.
The original TV series is so dark and gloomy I want to have the house tattooed on me.
I loved the drawing of the characters in this comic, they're so sympathetic.
How dreamy is a man with such a dark humour as Chas Addams! Best comic artist <3
June 27, 2022
This is a book of cartoons about relationships drawn mostly in the 1940s and '50s by a man with a famously dark sense of humor and two bad marriages. You probably have an idea how you'll feel about it from that one sentence alone.
I like Charles Addams' cartooning an awful lot, especially his Addams Family work, of which there is very little in this book. I would have enjoyed it much more if the reproductions were even halfway decent. Unfortunately, they look as if low-resolution JPGs were downloaded from a website and printed by the lowest bidder. It's just a terrible presentation of some great material. The pixellation is so bad that the punchlines of several jokes are ruined, because they aren't legible.
If you're an Addams fan, even a completist, skip this volume.
I like Charles Addams' cartooning an awful lot, especially his Addams Family work, of which there is very little in this book. I would have enjoyed it much more if the reproductions were even halfway decent. Unfortunately, they look as if low-resolution JPGs were downloaded from a website and printed by the lowest bidder. It's just a terrible presentation of some great material. The pixellation is so bad that the punchlines of several jokes are ruined, because they aren't legible.
If you're an Addams fan, even a completist, skip this volume.
November 18, 2022
Dark humor panels on marriage, some previously unpublished.
February 22, 2024
I should have gotten the paperback. Still … Addams!
This is a fun book full of the standard Addams dark humor. Unfortunately some of the cartoons are difficult to read on the Kindle, and some even have the caption for one comic on the next page.
Horrible format, great book.
This is a fun book full of the standard Addams dark humor. Unfortunately some of the cartoons are difficult to read on the Kindle, and some even have the caption for one comic on the next page.
Horrible format, great book.
June 22, 2025
Okay, these are even darker and more macabre than his Addams Family cartoons. I actually laughed out loud several times, but you have to have one dark sense of humor to appreciate these, as the subject matter includes sex (a lot having to do with mermaids…Addams may have had a bit of a kink), suicide and matricide (almost all of them). These are absolutely not kid friendly (whereas most of the Addams Family cartoons were).
November 21, 2011
Most of these cartoons are about murdering a spouse.
January 11, 2023
"Is there someone else, Narcissus?"
October 29, 2019
Ideally I would have found a collection of cartoons with the Addams family characters. Here it just seems to be unhappy couples, and not much of it is really funny. Some of the cartoons are also really muddy, where you can barely discern what the joke is supposed to be. Knowing Addams was published in The New Yorker that kind of made sense, but it looks like a lot of the roughest ones were previously unpublished.
I know Addams himself had more experience with unhappy than happy marriages, so it probably makes sense, but there is a good-heartedness with the Addams that is absent here, and it loses something as a result.
I know Addams himself had more experience with unhappy than happy marriages, so it probably makes sense, but there is a good-heartedness with the Addams that is absent here, and it loses something as a result.
Read
January 17, 2025An okay collection, with several strikes against it unfortunately: A fair number—the funniest ones, at least—already appeared in THE WORLD OF CHAS ADDAMS. The previously unpublished ones are rough sketches, mostly, and not all work (maybe there was a reason he didn’t work them up into finished pieces?). And then there’s the repetition—the idea that every married couple secretly wants their spouse dead gets old fast.
October 31, 2020
Fun humor but since the images are enlarged they look blurry especially on words written in the cartoon so sometimes it's hard to read and i don't get the joke. Should have left some of the images smaller so they would be clear.
September 25, 2022
Some of the comics were great, some not sooo much, but the worst thing about this book is the poor quality of the printed pictures. Several in-comic texts are unreadable thus making the punchline incomprehensible.
I would love to see the art in good quality, but this is not worth the money.
I would love to see the art in good quality, but this is not worth the money.
June 7, 2025
3.5
Artig, mørk humor. Trekker ned at det er litt dårlig trykt. Stort sett ikke veldig problem, men på skilt og plakater er det så og si umulig å lese hva som står. så det trekker en halv karakter. Ellers var jo dette ganske gøy.
Artig, mørk humor. Trekker ned at det er litt dårlig trykt. Stort sett ikke veldig problem, men på skilt og plakater er det så og si umulig å lese hva som står. så det trekker en halv karakter. Ellers var jo dette ganske gøy.
October 11, 2017
Obviously hilarious and nostalgic but the images were kind of wonky and stretched out, just not very clear. Not the fault of the artist, though, I don't think.
October 26, 2017
A fun read for the Halloween season! (or any time, really). Charles Addams is the master of understatement and subtlety while pointing out the darkness that lies often hilariously within us.
December 18, 2018
Extremely quick read, some are funny, but a very few I didn't get. I like the Addams family-esque ones best.
August 3, 2019
a delightful
tongue and cheek humor
tongue and cheek humor
April 8, 2020
Addams' humor certainly isn't for me.... Weirdo.
August 19, 2020
Really dark humor. Loved the sketches tho.
November 11, 2020
I’m giving this 3 stars only because it’s so badly printed it’s almost unreadable.
January 19, 2021
Fantastic collection of Chas Addams works, but publishers failed to realise stretching original drawings made them very blurry and an incomprehensible blur of lines in a good portion.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews