49 Dogs, 36 Cats, and a Platypus: Animal Cartoons

Sidney Harris earned his reputation lampooning science, medicine, law, and academia, but with such knowing and affectionate humor that scientists everywhere have his cartoons on their t-shirts and coffee mugs. This collection extends Harris's skewed vision to the animal kingdom. In some cases, Harris projects human silliness onto the critters, as in the macho "I've been called a lion's lion. After I finish the carcass, I eat the hyenas and then I eat the vultures." In others, he puts words to human relationships with the beasts. For example, two dogs at a diner examine their menus, then one declares "Leftovers sound good." Then, consider the poor sloth, consoling himself by saying "At least I'm not accused of being envious, lustful, greedy, prideful, gluttonous, or wrathful." Sometimes, the commentary on human weakness becomes quite pointed. A pair of sharks represent that category when one says "Where are those nice blue fish that we like - the ones with the green stripes?" and the other answers "We ate them all - they're now extinct." Fish populations are in fact crashing due to human overfishing; the comment should cause at least a twinge of guilt. Despite some memorable panels, I don't find this Harris's strongest collection. My own work in science probably sensitizes me to humor in Harris's other topics, though, so you might hold a higher opinion of this anthology. I'm not criticizing though. Harris is still one of the best cartoonists around, and even his older cartoons speak to current conditions. -- wiredweird