I know, I know! Three stars for the essential Kate Beaton?! Does Thomas not understand jokes or something? I love Beaton's comics and style, without a doubt, but reading so much of her material in one package wore me out. Her choices of historical, literary, and pop cultural figures to lampoon are ripe with potential, I just feel like she pulls from the ironic detachment well a few too many times. A lot of her strips in here can be funneled down to "someone acts silly while someone else makes a grumpy face" or "someone makes googly eyes about a biographical detail," with the someones all happening to be famous.

Maybe it was too much of a good thing for me to absorb? I liked her added commentaries for some of the comics. ( )

Additional comic strips from the webcomic Hark! A Vagrant from 2011 to 2015. Lots of Canadian history, US, and UK history, literature, mythology, and pop culture.

A large section of comics are about Wuthering Heights, which I have not read and so they were lost on me (though I’m sure they’re very funny). There’s also some history that I’m not familiar with, like the Black Prince. But it still contains my favorites - short strips based on the cover art of Nancy Drew books and Edward Gorey, and some Halloween cards, which were a nice seasonal treat. I think the comics in this volume are more specific than the first, and thus more likely to miss the reader, but when they do hit they hit hard. There are still a few comics that have not aged well, in particular a couple about “straw feminists” (extreme feminists made up by anti-feminists to prove a point) hit differently now.

Overall I think this was a comic that worked best in webcomic form. You can still find the archive at harkavagrant.com . I suggest using the “random” button. ( )

Comic strips for English Literature and History nerds, what more could you ask for? I love the illustration style, the subject matter, and the delivery.

My issue with it: Perpetuates some pet peeve historical inaccuracies. ( )

love her. She's hilarious as always. :) ( )

NSFW: some bits not suitable for work (or for children). Language and exaggerated stereotypes. It's full of historical and cultural references... I learned something from the cartoons (yeah I know they're fiction and exaggerated for the sake of humour, but they're still as accurate as most of the history and literature dished out to us in school... okay more accurate) and I might have to research.

I was all set to give it four stars for being excellent, and then I found the index. A comprehensive and detailed index just in case some nerdy soul needs to find the cartoons about Julius Caesar or Tom Longboat quickly. FIVE STAARS! ( )