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My Crowd
Long before sick humor was in vogue, the deliciously ghoulish cartoons of Charles Addams had established his reputation as one of the deans of American comic art. The New Yorker published its first Addams cartoon in 1932, and his cast of genial ghouls, friendly freaks, and the famous family brought a touch of gleeful creepiness to its pages for more than five decades.
This classic collection of more than 200 cartoons, from the master of the macabre at his most diabolical, contains the best cartoons from his first six books and is sure to delight both fans and cartoon connoisseurs.
This classic collection of more than 200 cartoons, from the master of the macabre at his most diabolical, contains the best cartoons from his first six books and is sure to delight both fans and cartoon connoisseurs.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 1970
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About the author
Charles Addams
57 books230 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 64 reviews
October 5, 2018
Addams was simply one of the best. This book collects cartoons of his famous mysterious and spooky family, and mixes them with other goodies to form what is essentially a greatest hits collection. Here are some of my favorites:
And, one of the saddest cartoons ever:
Addams had a long, illustrious career, publishing over 1,000 cartoons before his death in 1988.
Addams stands in front of a mural he painted in 1952; it now hangs in the library at Penn State University.
And, one of the saddest cartoons ever:
Addams had a long, illustrious career, publishing over 1,000 cartoons before his death in 1988.
Addams stands in front of a mural he painted in 1952; it now hangs in the library at Penn State University.
July 14, 2012
Whose idea was it to take a crayon to my classic B&W Addams cartoons??? I don't know who thought it was a good idea to 'colorize' the cover. I guess there was some editorial mumbo jumbo, or publishing heebie jeebies. Well, I was worried it carried over to the inside of the book, but fear not, it does not. Nor will it ever. I've got an axe hanging over my book should anyone with a crayon approach its pristine Blackandwhitedness. Anyone.
This is a fun book of Addams cartoons with full page spreads for most, and a very satisfying collection of many faves for me. Great black humor reminiscent of the casual conversations I grew up with in my household. For instance, when I was very little, I was always delighted when a certain brother made up nursery rhymes for me. One day, when he searched for scissors, he found me tagging along wistfully behind him. So while snipping the scissors in the air and grinning his sweetest malevolence at me, he came up with this:
"First the ears
and then the nose,
and then-
a couple of toes!"
Which, being his sister, I found delightful and happily repeated back. For years. To the point that now, even my own children love it. Well, they know it, anyway. A little too much of the suburbs has been poured from the cement truck of mediocrity into their wonderful little minds.
BUT! This book is curing them! It is the medicine of the softly sardonic, if there really is such a thing. Like, if there really are ghosts, or wicked humor, or maniacs quietly plying their odd little misunderstood hobbies next door...
The shivery details of what remains barely mentioned within some of these cartoons gives me sweet, sweet abandonment of social cares.
Addams helps Hallowe'en linger far longer than perhaps some think it should. I love Hallowe'en, so I love this book. I also love the childhood I had. It's pretty easy being nostalgic this far into middle age, but I'd say the macabre part was comfortable. Just so, Addams is a comfortable reflection upon the real horrors of our socially correct assumptions. And he's just so dang funny in all the darkest ways, great to snuggle up with. Beats The Far Side, too!
This is a fun book of Addams cartoons with full page spreads for most, and a very satisfying collection of many faves for me. Great black humor reminiscent of the casual conversations I grew up with in my household. For instance, when I was very little, I was always delighted when a certain brother made up nursery rhymes for me. One day, when he searched for scissors, he found me tagging along wistfully behind him. So while snipping the scissors in the air and grinning his sweetest malevolence at me, he came up with this:
"First the ears
and then the nose,
and then-
a couple of toes!"
Which, being his sister, I found delightful and happily repeated back. For years. To the point that now, even my own children love it. Well, they know it, anyway. A little too much of the suburbs has been poured from the cement truck of mediocrity into their wonderful little minds.
BUT! This book is curing them! It is the medicine of the softly sardonic, if there really is such a thing. Like, if there really are ghosts, or wicked humor, or maniacs quietly plying their odd little misunderstood hobbies next door...
The shivery details of what remains barely mentioned within some of these cartoons gives me sweet, sweet abandonment of social cares.
Addams helps Hallowe'en linger far longer than perhaps some think it should. I love Hallowe'en, so I love this book. I also love the childhood I had. It's pretty easy being nostalgic this far into middle age, but I'd say the macabre part was comfortable. Just so, Addams is a comfortable reflection upon the real horrors of our socially correct assumptions. And he's just so dang funny in all the darkest ways, great to snuggle up with. Beats The Far Side, too!
July 26, 2017
I used to sneak this off the bookshelf constantly in order to reread it over and over again! Nostalgia begs me to give it four stars, but as I'm not really a fan of one frame comics, I can't bring myself to up it. But hey, it's the Addams Family!
February 6, 2018
For the time period these cartoons are from, they are poignant even now. I have always loved the Addams family, doing a little research and completely in love all over again.
July 17, 2014
2009 January 28
Some evenings I just can't commit to anything. I've got at least four ongoing books in the stack next to the bed, but I went looking for Addams anyway.
***
2012 March 28
The girls and I watched Addams Family Values, and followed it up with the first episode of the Addams Family series. So then I had to do a reread. I love Addams.
Some evenings I just can't commit to anything. I've got at least four ongoing books in the stack next to the bed, but I went looking for Addams anyway.
***
2012 March 28
The girls and I watched Addams Family Values, and followed it up with the first episode of the Addams Family series. So then I had to do a reread. I love Addams.
January 3, 2019
There were two huge volumes of Charles Addams cartoons at the local library when I was a kid. Fat tomes with nondescript library bindings, the titles stamped in white ink on the spine. They're no longer there—I checked a few years ago during an extended visit home—but I reread those books so many times many of the gags in them were memorized. I was delighted to see some of those burned-in-my-memory panels reappear in the pages of this volume.
And the jokes still worked.
And the jokes still worked.
February 4, 2020
The original Addams Family. You can't beat these cartoons and if anything time has made them seem even better.
April 23, 2024
It's a collection of Chas. Adams cartoons; it's damn near perfect.
April 5, 2019
Often hilarious, but do mind the times: the racism in some of the comics will jump out and bite you if you let your guard down.
If you are willing or able to take that tightrope walk, get ready to cringe and laugh at some of the funniest grim humor and strange sights a comic artist ever drew.
If you are willing or able to take that tightrope walk, get ready to cringe and laugh at some of the funniest grim humor and strange sights a comic artist ever drew.
January 30, 2023
I was a fan of Charles Addams’ cartoons long before the Addams Family became a TV and movie franchise ( I know this dates me). I was looking for a book of his cartoons and this was the only one our library had. The reasons I gave it a three rating are because there is no foreword or introduction or bio of Addams and the cartoons are not dated. However, it looks like the ones in this book cover a full range, and what is so interesting is how relevant they seem to today (Addams died in 1988, very good recent NPR story on his career
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/112954...).
Since there is a list of other Addams books, I will look for a more comprehensive one.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/112954...).
Since there is a list of other Addams books, I will look for a more comprehensive one.
October 27, 2008
The origin of the old TV show (goes without saying but youngsters may read this!)
CLASSIC twisted humor!
If you go for Gary Larson or at all into Tim Burton and "Nightmare Before Christmas" then you need this book. This is the collection of Charles Addams' original dark humor strip that first graced the pages of The New Yorker in 1932. Just thinking of some of the cartoons in here can start me laughing! (Maybe I belong in this book --- laughing for no apparent reason . . .)
CLASSIC twisted humor!
If you go for Gary Larson or at all into Tim Burton and "Nightmare Before Christmas" then you need this book. This is the collection of Charles Addams' original dark humor strip that first graced the pages of The New Yorker in 1932. Just thinking of some of the cartoons in here can start me laughing! (Maybe I belong in this book --- laughing for no apparent reason . . .)
July 31, 2017
The Addams Family movie is one of my favorites and I'm also a big fan of Gary Larson so this book was made for me. I loved all of the cartoons and will probably make a copy of a couple of my favorites to hang by my desk. I went through this book once and then went through it a second time just to enjoy it all over again. What made it more enjoyable was the fact that I could hear Anjelica Houston and Raul Julia reading the lines from each Addams Family cartoon. Loved it!
May 16, 2008
chaz addams. man, this guy's the master. some of funniest, darkest, weirdest, cleverist shit i'll ever read. plus, he's the guy that created the addams family. bonus. this book's a great collection of just a bunch of his stuff. get it.
April 14, 2012
The creator of the Addams family wrote this book. It's full of black and white comics he did for news papers. It's interesting to see what the Addams' were like before Hollywood got a hold of them. Still grim I see. Very nice.
January 6, 2014
Admittedly, I did not understand a few of these.
However, the overwhelming majority are creepy, subtle, and utterly delightful.
Buy this title from Powell's Books.
However, the overwhelming majority are creepy, subtle, and utterly delightful.
Buy this title from Powell's Books.
September 16, 2008
I'm thinking of a tattoo by Addams,just can't decide.
February 16, 2019
It's Charles Addams -- what else is there to think?
October 10, 2020
This hilarious book successfully pulled me out a depressive episode for an entire afternoon, and for that I can attest that it is funny as hell.
The humor is very macabre and highly clever (except of course for the a handful of outdated cartoons showing racist stereotypes of the era. Though they are few and far between, please be aware of that before reading this).
As the cover suggests, My Crowd includes a lot of cartoons showing the Addams Family as we’ve come to know them and love them, but they don’t make up the entirety of it. The other cartoons are just dark and funny on their own. A lot of them are also New York themed, so if you have a soft spot for the city, this book will tease many a chuckle out of you.
What struck me as most impressive is how My Crowd was published in the 1970’s, with cartoons drawn many years before that, yet they still remain just as relevant in 2020 as they once were.
Besides the outdated stereotypes mentioned above, my only other qualm is that the reproduction quality wasn’t great sometimes. The dark values of his ink washes didn’t have a lot of contrast, so a lot of detail was lost. You could still tell what was happening in the drawing, but they definitely could’ve printed them with higher contrast.
If you’re taking a humorous illustration class, this is an EXCELLENT book to study from. I wish I had know about it back in the day, highly recommended for illustrators looking for how to tell brief yet clever stories in single panels.
The humor is very macabre and highly clever (except of course for the a handful of outdated cartoons showing racist stereotypes of the era. Though they are few and far between, please be aware of that before reading this).
As the cover suggests, My Crowd includes a lot of cartoons showing the Addams Family as we’ve come to know them and love them, but they don’t make up the entirety of it. The other cartoons are just dark and funny on their own. A lot of them are also New York themed, so if you have a soft spot for the city, this book will tease many a chuckle out of you.
What struck me as most impressive is how My Crowd was published in the 1970’s, with cartoons drawn many years before that, yet they still remain just as relevant in 2020 as they once were.
Besides the outdated stereotypes mentioned above, my only other qualm is that the reproduction quality wasn’t great sometimes. The dark values of his ink washes didn’t have a lot of contrast, so a lot of detail was lost. You could still tell what was happening in the drawing, but they definitely could’ve printed them with higher contrast.
If you’re taking a humorous illustration class, this is an EXCELLENT book to study from. I wish I had know about it back in the day, highly recommended for illustrators looking for how to tell brief yet clever stories in single panels.
Read
September 11, 2024In our house the only Addams family is the old, black and white tv series and an occasional movie for my daughter. This is the show that created the characters we know so well from Addam's cartoons. I'm not an Addam's family fan but the cartoons are odd, dark, and quirky which I like. This book includes other cartoons of his which I may like better, because each cartoon has something surprising. Who doesn't enjoy looking at a normal looking scene and finding something weird tucked away that you could easily miss. If you like dark, weird cartoons then you'll like this book and his other works.
November 12, 2020
There were two huge volumes of Charles Addams cartoons at the local library when I was a kid. Fat tomes with nondescript library bindings, the titles stamped in white ink on the spine. They're no longer there—I checked a few years ago during an extended visit home—but I reread those books so many times many of the gags in them were memorized. I was delighted to see some of those burned-in-my-memory panels reappear in the pages of this volume.
And the jokes still worked
And the jokes still worked
September 30, 2021
The man obviously had a warped sense of humor. Not all of the cartoons in this had to do with the Addams Family. Some were very common during the time these were originally drawn. But one can see a progression of how the Addams family developed and, in fact, see some of the very jokes used in both the show and the movies as they originally appeared.
June 4, 2023
Sitting and enjoying my morning coffee with this volume. What's not to love about the charmingly quirky drawings of Charles Addams?! My Crowd, first published in 1970, contains some 200+ of Addams' cartoons--not all limited to the Addams Family--published in The New Yorker. What a fun mix for those of us who grew up on the TV show featuring this charmingly macabre bunch!
February 5, 2021
I fell in love with the Addams family movies when I was a teenager, when I came across this book in the library, I was thrilled. This graphic novel brings you new illustrations to the famous dark family. I really enjoyed the details within, and the simpleness of the text within.
February 20, 2021
Fantastic artwork and witty macabre humor that literally had me laughing out loud. These comic strips have aged extremely well. I love the Addams family movies but this is my first venture into the original comic strips, and I want more! Would love recommendations on what to read next..
November 1, 2022
Addams has a very weird and enjoyable sense of humor. Sometimes it takes a moment to notice the little detail in the drawing that gives the cartoon its bite. Lots of great cartoons, although seemingly put together in a random manner rather than organized in any particular way.
May 11, 2018
Really funny ones (though I didn't get a few of them, to be honest).
August 23, 2018
Wickedly funny. Some of the pictures are printed too dark but overall its a great collection.
August 30, 2018
a collections of "the favorites" from the first 6 releases. great cartoons but no rhythm to the collection.
December 20, 2018
Oh, Charles Addams. You're so clever!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews