Pickles

Given the aging of the American population and the increasing number of married couples where both live well into their eighties, the "Pickles" comic strip has a ready audience. It features a couple celebrating over fifty years of marriage where they have grown into each other but their idiosyncrasies have never ceased to grate on the other and are the primary topic of the strip. It is funny, largely accurate and a worthy addition to your daily comic fare.

I discovered Pickles in the San Jose Mercury News when I moved to California. It focuses on Earl and Opal, a senior couple who celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary during the strip, supported by their dog Roscoe, their curmudgeonly cat Muffin, their divorced daughter Sylvia, their grandson Nelson, and Earl's partner-in-procrastination Clyde. The strip centers around Earl and Opal dealing with the little things in life that they have to contend with as a retired couple, and a lot of the humor comes from various characters trying to one-up each other, with. What really makes the strip work is Crane's ability to write and pace dialogue, and the combination of meaning and inscrutability he imparts to his characters' expressions.Crane's no Bill Watterson, but his clean linework and attention to body language and detail, along with the verbal jousting, recalls Calvin and Hobbes' sense of whimsy. Even though the strip often treads the expected ground of sight, hearing and memory loss, it all seems fresh and newly-silly here. The strip is best characterized as "playful", and this book made me laugh out loud several times.The big flaw in the book is that it (as well as its sequel, Pickles, Too) is not complete. It's a sampling of strips from 1994 to 1998, mixed more-or-less randomly, and sometimes a strip which is part of a longer sequence is presented out of context, or a storyline ends abruptly after only two or three strips. Pickles is good enough that it deserves complete reprinting, and it's unfortunate that the publisher chose this scattershot method of presenting Crane's work. Hopefully someday this error will be rectified.But until that day, this is still a fine collection to add to your bookshelf.

It tickles my funny bone! Yet, it tames the side of me which resembles the characters. A keeper! Delightful! For teens to seniors. Saturated with laughter! Punctuated with innocence. Wrapped with the true flavor of life! Long live the fertile mind of B. Crane!

This book tickles my funny bone, and at the same time it massages the sane, rational part of me. Its down-to-earth characters deal with life in its truest form. One to read over and again. Refreshing! Delightful! Witty! This one is a prize!

Pickles is one of the most under-rated comic strips in newspapers today! It's a strip that is consistently funny, day after day. The gentle, but dry wit of its creator, Brian Crane, is nicely represented in this collection. The book's introduction by Charles Schulz will warm your heart! This is great book for Pickles fans, young and old.