The Best Of Herman

by Jim Unger

Cartoons offer an ironic look at doctors, dentists, marriage, diners, bosses, pets, cave men, waiters, barbers, crooks, and bad drivers

Genres: Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1993

About the author

James Frederick Unger was a British-born Canadian cartoonist, best known for his syndicated comic strip Herman which ran for 18 years in 600 newspapers in 25 countries.

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Best of Herman: A Herman Treasury by Jim Unger (Andrews and McMeel 1993) (741.5971) (3628).

This is a collection of single-panel cartoons and cartoon strips by Jim Unger of his priceless character “Herman.” Herman is a portly middle-aged sad sack of a guy who invariably has a hard time interacting with people/places/things/life/etc.

One special quirk about Jim Unger’s work that a reader will immediately notice is that the characters in his comics all look alike. They are all decidedly ugly, lazy, and morbidly fat, but their appearances are cute rather than off-putting. It’s as though Unger has perfected one body type and has rejected learning to draw any others.

Though these cartoons are almost thirty years old, I had not run
across Herman or Jim Unger until recently.

You can count me as a fan.

Though this collection may not be laugh-out-loud funny, it sure made me snort a few times.

I purchased a used copy of this book in like-new condition from McKay’s Books on 11/20/21 for $0.25.

My rating: 7/10, finished 3/14/22 (3628).

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[Herman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too funny

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed and laughed over and over again.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think you have it bad?

The best cartoonists make us laugh at the incongruous and unfortunate events in our lives. By laughing at what went wrong, it is easier to cope with the messes and the difficulties of life. Unger is one of the best as he expresses all these things through his Herman character, a man that never seems able to get anything to go right. Herman is one of those people that has it worse than everyone else.
Each cartoon has a textual supplement that always goes well with the illustration. One of my favorites is when a heavy woman is consulting with a physician and he says, “Forget the facelift. I think we’ll try lowering your body.” If you have a need for amusement to brighten your day, this book will do that for you.

This review also appears on Amazon