The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Break U and Other Follies
Gilbert Shelton, Paul Mavrides
9798875002175
Uitgeverij Fantagraphics
Engels
The last volume of this classic stoner satire collects the
last three decades of Shelton’s counter-culture Greek
chorus, as the Freak Brothers react to changes in the
world around them, plus a hefty selection of Shelton’s
non-Freak cartooning from the ’80s and ’90s.
Across nearly 200 pages of peripatetic perambulations, the counter-culture Greek chorus (on cannabis) confront many conundrums
for the first time: flea-market Rembrandts and gallery performance
art, the softening of US/Soviet relations, cops caught on cameras by
both citizens and reality tv, jogging, computer roommate matching,
being looked up to (?) as elders, terrorism, religious fulfilment and
giant hamsters. More quotidian gags and shorts abound, with both
the Freak Brothers and their feline flat mate engaged in the ardours and
ordure of urban living, plus one last tall tale told by Fat Freddy’s Cat to his
never-aging kitten nephews.
As with most other volumes in the series, this also rounds up a substantial helping of Shelton’s other cartooning, illustrations, shorts and covers
from anthologies across the time period — here, the 1980s and ’90s, picking
from Rip Off Comix, Knockabout, Zap, and French undergrounds Flag and
Psikopat. Paul Mavrides rides alongside Shelton as co-writer and lead artist
on much of this material and receives his own profile and overview.
The Freak Brothers Break Up! concludes Fantagraphics efforts to coherently compile and consolidate the collected Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
While their comics have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide in 16
languages, these painstakingly restored hardcovers, featuring die-cut covers,
are the first North American bookshelf editions in thirty years, the most comprehensive attempted, and the best-looking versions of the strips possible.
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