Father and Son

by Erich Ohser Plauen

Father and Son is one of the most beloved comic strips ever drawn—an uproarious, timeless ode to the pleasures, pitfalls, and endless absurdity of family life.

Father and Son is a slyly heartwarming, dizzyingly inventive classic in the tradition of Calvin and Hobbes and The Simpsons . Created in 1934 by the German political cartoonist Erich Ohser (using the pseudonym E.O. Plauen after being blacklisted for his opposition to the Nazi regime), the gruff, loving, mustachioed father and his sweet but troublemaking son embark on adventures both everyday and family photoshoots and summer vacations, shipwrecks and battles with gangsters, a Christmas feast with forest animals and a trip to the zoo. Drawn almost entirely without dialogue, the strips overflow with slapstick, fantasy, and anarchic visual puns. Father and Son remains an uproarious, timeless ode to the pleasures, pitfalls, and endless absurdity of family life.

This NYRC edition is an extra-wide hardcover with raised cover image, and features new English hand-lettering.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comix, Cartoon

312 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2017

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau]

Even as the shadow of Nazism covered Germany these simple cartoons of a father and son glimmered with the hope of a new day - after the shadow engulfed the country - a return to a time of innocence lost. Thought provoking and chilling; should be read by anyone interested in cartoons from a political perspective.

[Chris]

A beautifully happy wordless comic strip from 1930s Berlin, focusing on the joyfully happy relationship between what otherwise would be two stock comic strip characters. Even more affecting because of the historical essays that begin and end the volume, giving context to the world Plauen lived in, his struggles with censorship under the Nazis, and his eventual death awaiting trial in a Gestapo cell.

[Jie]

Delightful. Quick read. Always a nice visual perspective change to look at comics for a while.

[Peter Landau]

These mostly wordless comic strips featuring a sometimes belligerent often loving round, bald and mustached dad and his mischievous little mop-topped boy, called appropriately enough FATHER AND SON, are beautifully drawn and hilariously inventive. E.O. Plausen, the pseudonym of the German political cartoonist and illustrator Erich Ohser, was denounced by neighbors late in WWII and committed suicide as he waited for his death sentence to get carried out. It's hard to comprehend the horror he lived as his world fell apart when you page through his fantastic creation. I have to say, I was feeling depressed when I picked up the book, and there was no Allied air fleet bombing my town into rubble or fascist leader taking my country to hell (well, maybe a bit of that last part is true), and the funny stories expertly rendered left me smiling and hopeful. I imagine they did the same for the artist and his contemporaries.

[Vi]

very sweet slapstick.

[Rob McMonigal]

If you're a fan of old comics strips, this is a hidden gem!

[Robert Diaz]

Very delightful collection of comic strips. Perfect gift for any young, imaginative mind. I am glad this work of his was not lost as a result of the war and that whole situation.

[spoon]

hooray! goofy fun.

[Michael Rhode]

Mostly wordless strips are fun, and worth reading, even without their historical importance. This is a very nice edition of them too.