Sometimes being a reviewer is tricky, even when you’re reviewing a book you really enjoyed and you’re pretty darn sure most of the people reading the review will enjoy it too. And reviewing The Many Deaths of Scott Koblish has its own special degree of reviewing difficulty because, despite the fact we enjoyed every page of it (and laughed out loud on about a dozen occasions), we don’t actually have very much to say about it. But here goes.
Scott Koblish is a real guy. He’s an Eisner-nominated cartoonist, a Guinness Book of World Records holder, and the artist of more than 500 comic books including issues of Spider-Man, Deadpool and Thor. And in his spare time, he draws cartoons of his own death purely for… well… “sh[insert rest of rude word here]’s and giggles.”
And that’s what this book is about (although the title probably already gave that away.) This is a brilliant collection of Scott Koblish’s variously nasty, surreal, unexpected and often downright looney-tunes ends – pretty much one death per page so, unlike the far less funny movie The ABC’s of Death, it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
What? You want more? If we tell you any more we’ll give all the punchlines away.
Okay. Goats. Cats. Cthulhu. Texting. Alligators. Killer apes hungry for pastrami. Fairies. Barbecues. A time travelling bus. A bad laundry decision. And that’s just a few.
Oh, and even when Scott’s finished the book and delivered it to his publisher, the Grim Reaper still has one more startling demise up his big floaty sleeve. Screenwriters would call it a ‘call back’ but I just call it genius.
Beyond that, there’s nothing else to say. Just read it, especially on a day when you need cheering up. You’ll be glad you did.
THE MANY DEATHS OF SCOTT KOBLISH / AUTHOR: SCOTT KOBLISH / PUBLISHER: CHRONICLE BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
