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Dork
From the multi-Eisner award-winning creator of Milk and Cheese and Beasts of Burden comes this collection of his cult, humor comic anthology.Comprising years of black humor stories about a living voodoo doll, a serial killer sitcom, truly real live sex, a disco skinhead, an urbane devil puppet, classic works of literature acted out by Fisher-Price toys, and more absurdity--this is a must have for Dorkin fans! Featuring most of the Dork comic run as well as the 2012 full-color House of Fun special, along with rarities, extras, a cover gallery, and a newly drawn introduction.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 31, 2018
16 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Evan Dorkin
276 books143 followersEvan Dorkin is an American comics artist and writer.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 5, 2020
Some of the gag strips and panels are amusing, but anything longer than a page generally didn’t work for me. It’s a lot of edgelord sub-Jhonen Vasquez stuff and overly talky, petulant observational comedy (the boomer humor in the final issue is nauseating). I don’t want to be too hard on it, though, because Dorkin strikes me as the kind of guy who would read GoodReads reviews of his own work. Some of the art is fun in an edgy ‘90s alt-comics way, so at least there’s that.
March 7, 2020
Giving it three stars for the Invisible College of Secret Knowledge portions and the good drawing. For me, though, the bulk of the book just didn't land. I don't mind dark topics or dark humor (which are plentiful here) but I found lots of the book repetitive (one Murder Family episode is plenty) and lots of the humor obvious or not that entertaining. Your mileage may vary.
February 19, 2019
"The Murder Family" failed to land, nothing else was grabbing me, didn't finish.
Reminded me of Love & Rockets, another graphic novel in which every panel is packed wall to wall with text, also a DNF. A little white space can be a good thing, guys.
Reminded me of Love & Rockets, another graphic novel in which every panel is packed wall to wall with text, also a DNF. A little white space can be a good thing, guys.
March 12, 2021
A couple years ago, I saw one of RebelTaxi's videos on failed animated pilots, which led to watching the Welcome to Eltingville pilot. I've been meaning to read The Eltingville comics since, but just recently found this for a really good deal. Dork is a book collecting all of the non-Eltingville and non-earlier Milk and Cheese stories that were in Evan Dorkin's series of Dork and House of Fun comics. When this book is funny, it's really funny, but when it isn't, it can feel like a chore to get through. I am specifically referring to the "Fun" pages. Each of these pages has seven short comic strips that range from being hilarious to really unfunny. The joke of "Evan not having a joke" gets old pretty quickly, and I'm saying this as someone who thinks he's a really funny writer. The Fun pages are fine every once and a while, but it gets to a point where, similar to the Wobbly Headed Bob comics in the Squee collected edition, there's pages and pages of Fun comics one after another. This is when the book really feels like a chore to get through (so much so that over halfway through the book, I stopped reading these pages entirely (other than the Daria comic)), which is unfortunate, because as I said,this book and it's author are really really funny. If they were to publish a book of just the Murder Family comics, I'd get that for a lot of people, because those comics are some of the funniest things I've ever read, so it just kinda sucks that rest of the book can't really live up to that.
January 14, 2019
4.5 OUT OF 5
It's here, the collection we've all been waiting for! All of Evan Dorkins DORK issues collected (mostly), minus the Eltingville Club and Milk & Cheese strips (the most popular work) which is collected in their own "Must Own" books. Now, having said that, this is still a must own book as these strips ranging from less popular characters like THE MURDER FAMILY and the haunting DEVIL PUPPET are great in their own right, and all the pages of gag strips have a purity to them that is really refreshing. This is pure Dorkin, and there is a sarcastic rage to the humour that I identify and adore.
The quality of this is great, the pages are larger than the issues, which middle aged me appreciates since I'm half blind now and can't imagine reading my floppies gain now that I have this. Not all of the humour has aged perfectly, I'm sure there's bits that make Dorkin cringe a little, but considering this material spewed out of an angry Ska-Head over decades, it should be more than forgivable and most should be able to put it into a proper context. I can, and I did! AND I LOVED IT!
And I'm not even getting into the incredible reprint of his autobiographical nervous breakdown issue. One of the best you'll read of the genre.
Just buy the Fucking thing, all right? GOOD!
It's here, the collection we've all been waiting for! All of Evan Dorkins DORK issues collected (mostly), minus the Eltingville Club and Milk & Cheese strips (the most popular work) which is collected in their own "Must Own" books. Now, having said that, this is still a must own book as these strips ranging from less popular characters like THE MURDER FAMILY and the haunting DEVIL PUPPET are great in their own right, and all the pages of gag strips have a purity to them that is really refreshing. This is pure Dorkin, and there is a sarcastic rage to the humour that I identify and adore.
The quality of this is great, the pages are larger than the issues, which middle aged me appreciates since I'm half blind now and can't imagine reading my floppies gain now that I have this. Not all of the humour has aged perfectly, I'm sure there's bits that make Dorkin cringe a little, but considering this material spewed out of an angry Ska-Head over decades, it should be more than forgivable and most should be able to put it into a proper context. I can, and I did! AND I LOVED IT!
And I'm not even getting into the incredible reprint of his autobiographical nervous breakdown issue. One of the best you'll read of the genre.
Just buy the Fucking thing, all right? GOOD!
May 9, 2019
4.5, because some of this stuff, like anything else from the 90's, just hasn't aged well.
"How to Get Sued" is pure undistilled, bite size Dorkin. Dare I say it is my favorite of his regular bits, moreso than Milk & Cheese, Murder Family or Eltingville. The "How To Get Sued" Omnibus would be worth the price of Dork! alone, and I haven't even touched the Invisible College or Fischer-Price theater (how is the dog always so perfectly cast?), or issues 7 or 11 in their entirety. You're paying less than $20 for 200 pages of the finest cartooning the 90's to early 2000's had to offer.
In a better world I'd be brave enough to slap all the Dilbert and/or Cathy collections out of the hands of America's morons and replace them with this. In a perfect world I wouldn't have to. We'd all rise with the sun, make daily devotions to The Devil Puppet, and go out wordlessly into the world, smiling at each other as we pass, for we know. The knowledge of Mighty Carl Jung is eternal.
Amen.
"How to Get Sued" is pure undistilled, bite size Dorkin. Dare I say it is my favorite of his regular bits, moreso than Milk & Cheese, Murder Family or Eltingville. The "How To Get Sued" Omnibus would be worth the price of Dork! alone, and I haven't even touched the Invisible College or Fischer-Price theater (how is the dog always so perfectly cast?), or issues 7 or 11 in their entirety. You're paying less than $20 for 200 pages of the finest cartooning the 90's to early 2000's had to offer.
In a better world I'd be brave enough to slap all the Dilbert and/or Cathy collections out of the hands of America's morons and replace them with this. In a perfect world I wouldn't have to. We'd all rise with the sun, make daily devotions to The Devil Puppet, and go out wordlessly into the world, smiling at each other as we pass, for we know. The knowledge of Mighty Carl Jung is eternal.
Amen.
January 25, 2021
Not really a graphic novel since its a collection of smaller parts. I'll have to change that shelf name someday. There are a couple of out and out laughs and lots of amusing gags, but there is also the centerpiece of the book which is an autobiographical account of his nervous breakdown. At first I was annoyed as all he did was whine and acted like all the Indy comic authors was making fun of, but then it turns into something else, perhaps a real piece of literature. It transcends the genre of self pitying, tell it all comic authors. I also like the puppets Satan and the stories he told.
August 14, 2018
some of the jokes haven't aged well -- trying to be shocking and provocative in the '90s just comes across as being a bit of a jerk and/or childish 20 years on -- but what hits, hits, and it's a fun ride through dorkin's id and ego over the years. the autobiographical stuff is cringe-worthy, but not in a way where you wish it'd been edited out, but literally difficult to read. they're so deeply personal and confessional, you ache for dorkin.
May 13, 2020
Interesting collection of Evan Dorkins early work before he was better known as the creator of indie comics hit Milk & Cheese. Nice to see the development of his style from the early strips to the more polished style at the end of Dorks run.
September 4, 2022
After finishing up Dork. The only question I have is, did evan dorkin really run under a moving 18 wheeler? Because that his a legendary neighborhood stunt. this is a great 90s dark horse book but reader be aware. this is a variety book.
August 10, 2018
Demented comics for demented people...why do you think that I gave it five stars?
June 16, 2023
Some gags really got me but overall just ok.
August 15, 2024
I HEART ZE MURDER FAMILY
June 8, 2025
Wavered between three and four stars - some of the jokes feel a bit 'punching down'. But ultimately I did enjoy it, even the really terrible parts.
April 29, 2025
My roommate watches reruns of the Munsters everyday so reading the adventures of the Murder Family oddly comforted me like I was in on the joke. That’s before it got real tired and real old.
December 17, 2023
Bizarre and funny compilation. Its cool seeing his style evolve through the years
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews