Kyle Baker returns with another collection of one-off cartoons, short stories and plenty more tales of his own life in "The Bakers" and the result is a collection that is just a little bit stronger than the enjoyable first volume of Cartoonist. Baker brings a sharp and observant wit to these pages, but he does so in a way that is gently comforting rather than abrasive, a perfect mix of intelligence and, so surprising in these modern times, optimism. Oh, there are some dark elements to some of the stories, but it's the kind of darkness that you had in Bugs Bunny's constant torment of poor Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, not the kind of darkness you get in so many of today's comics, humor and otherwise. Cartoonist is Baker setting out to show the reader a good time, to let them have a little fun and a lot of laughs, and he succeeds admirably.
As with the previous volume of Cartoonist, this book is divided into several sections, and I'll comment on each of them in turn. He opens with a deadpan hilarious introduction that examines the nature of negative marketing and pokes fun not just as the sort of lightweight, non-edgy content of the book but at the rising price of comics (although $15 for 128 pages is certainly not a bad deal) and in so doing, pokes holes in the accepted wisdom of marketers and their mass audience. From there, he dives into two stories themed around "Delight" and "Courage," and each one examines these emotions/virtues with a beautiful wit and exquisite storytelling. Of the two, I'd have to say that the slightly nervous children and the terrified crossing guard of "Courage" made me laugh the most, but both are tributes to Baker's ability to tell very funny silent stories.
Baker follows these two stories with several one-panel strips, each using a joke that is told in a single caption below the illustration, ala The New Yorker. Some of these are hits, some are a bit too obvious, but the majority of them elicited a chuckle, and some of them, such as the "My Generation Tomorrow" panel, had such a core of truth that they both made me laugh out loud and stuck with me afterwards. Baker also revisits, briefly, some of the features from Cartoonist Volume 1 in similar fashion, with single panel gags that focus on "Once Upon a Time" (fractured Fairy Tales, more or less), the ethically-challenged lawyer Sweet Sue, defense attorney and the drug-soaked Myrna Burner. New to these pages is a quick and fun primer on "The Compendium of Essential Male Knowledge" which features a hilarious Conan-esque rendition of Baker himself and then pokes fun at macho male cliches.
The subtitle of this one promises "More Bakers" and indeed, Baker delivers on that promise, with over 50 pages of strips focusing on his autobiographical tales of his family. These are the highlight of the collection once again, a series of strips that perfectly blend years and years of family sitcom cliches with the honesty of autobiography and the well-observed wit of a cartoonist at the top of his game. What strikes me most about The Bakers is not just the gags, but the way that Baker delivers them, combining some legitimately funny gags with a palpable love for his wife and children that makes the whole thing seem sweet and touching.
For a while there, getting new Kyle Baker material was a waiting game, and it seemed to take a long time between projects. Right now, there's an embarrassment of riches for Kyle Baker fans, including a monthly full-color series, a graphic novel from NBM with Aaron McGruder (Birth of a Nation) and a relatively fast-paced (about every six months) release schedule of his cartoons in trade paperback. Cartoonist is the cream of the crop, as far as I'm concerned, of Baker's current work, plenty of fun and full of visual splendor.
