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Mr. Colostomy
Are we not all criminals―eating our take-out, foraging for mushrooms, lapping at puddles?
What happens when sleep becomes commodified? What if all the people at your local café were piloting drone strikes? What is the hidden cost and darkness of the society we must all engage with? Mr. Colostomy opens up cans of worms faster than they can restock the Goya on your bodega shelves. Who is Mr. Colostomy? Why, he’s a manifestation of a searching consciousness, a marginally employable horse detective who sleeps outside, standing up. As he attempts to unravel a ridiculous plot that follows the disappearance of a couple of brats who turn into atomic particles after sundown, Mr. Colostomy remains always alien, a mutant mustang, an eccentric equus who might just be trying to make a buck in Babytown, the Babylon built by babes―or, is a more sinister plot a-hoof?
The surreal comedy of Mr. Colostomy is enhanced by Thurber’s process of creating the comic through parapraxis, meaning with no forethought or pencilling. This comic honours the mistake as the desired or hidden expression of the unconscious. All that matters is that the comic is funny or real or neither! All comics were created in a public space in order to “swim in” or “feel” the audience.
What happens when sleep becomes commodified? What if all the people at your local café were piloting drone strikes? What is the hidden cost and darkness of the society we must all engage with? Mr. Colostomy opens up cans of worms faster than they can restock the Goya on your bodega shelves. Who is Mr. Colostomy? Why, he’s a manifestation of a searching consciousness, a marginally employable horse detective who sleeps outside, standing up. As he attempts to unravel a ridiculous plot that follows the disappearance of a couple of brats who turn into atomic particles after sundown, Mr. Colostomy remains always alien, a mutant mustang, an eccentric equus who might just be trying to make a buck in Babytown, the Babylon built by babes―or, is a more sinister plot a-hoof?
The surreal comedy of Mr. Colostomy is enhanced by Thurber’s process of creating the comic through parapraxis, meaning with no forethought or pencilling. This comic honours the mistake as the desired or hidden expression of the unconscious. All that matters is that the comic is funny or real or neither! All comics were created in a public space in order to “swim in” or “feel” the audience.
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2022
4 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 8, 2024
I appreciate Thurber's improvisational skills and I love his cartoony art, but his weird wacky surreality just couldn't sustain my interest for a full 200+ pages. I thought the simplest strips were the best ones.
December 17, 2022
Mr. Colostomy is a suave mustang who's full of other-worldly charm but really, he's a purveyor of social commentary that's biting and completely off-the-wall. Imagine having a conversation with a well-dressed horse on acid where no subject is taboo, and you're half-way to understanding the brilliance of this eccentric, darkly sinister and hilarious graphic novel. Pure genius!
May 9, 2022
Fun improvised daily strips that follows a horse detective in a surrealist noir story.
Most of the strips are done in a full page 2*2 panel format. Each one was done improvised with seemingly no story thought out. At times there is continuity between strips until transforming randomly and drastically.
Unfortunately, I eventually got a bit bored midway through the book. There were some really fun strips, I just wish it was a bit more consistent.
Most of the strips are done in a full page 2*2 panel format. Each one was done improvised with seemingly no story thought out. At times there is continuity between strips until transforming randomly and drastically.
Unfortunately, I eventually got a bit bored midway through the book. There were some really fun strips, I just wish it was a bit more consistent.
April 11, 2022
Weird. Surreal. Strange. Hilarious. Bizarre. Satirical. Brilliant. Pointless. Loved it.
May 14, 2022
A collection of silly, improvised cartoons based on the four-panel form, one gag per page, most involving a walking horse, the eponymous equus Mr Colostomy, and his sidekick Groomfiend, a mouse, in adventures ranging from the surreal to the satiric. A lot of fun and recommended.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
February 24, 2025
Huge Ex-Library risk: thin uncleanable easy-tear "grainy" covers
Narrative: ***
This rollicking sideshow is a ->daily strip<- that never made it to a periodical for very good reason despite very scattered brilliance in philosophical humor. I could tell this was done by a subversive spirit with funny intellectual mind but he couldn't translate that into a drawn strip continuum.
Visual: **
Same sporadic excellence within this totally undroughted (proudly) mess.
Narrative: ***
This rollicking sideshow is a ->daily strip<- that never made it to a periodical for very good reason despite very scattered brilliance in philosophical humor. I could tell this was done by a subversive spirit with funny intellectual mind but he couldn't translate that into a drawn strip continuum.
Visual: **
Same sporadic excellence within this totally undroughted (proudly) mess.
December 28, 2022
A bit uneven at times but the highs are so so high. Love a good send up of the art world.
July 6, 2023
I found this to be quite enjoyable.
October 31, 2025
Welcome to the (s)laughterhouse. What would we be without our stray thoughts?
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews