John Swartzwelder

Swartzwelder is a comedic genius who wrote some of the best Simpsons episodes sitting by himself in a diner and chain-smoking (when the diner banned smoking, he bought the booth and sat in it at home). You can see it in his first novel too; the whole thing is basically a series of excellent one-liners that surprisingly cohere into a plot, although that really wasn't necessary for the book to be enjoyable.

The jokes are pure and abstract, with almost no political or moral content—the show more opposite of 'clapter comedy' where the audience claps to indicate that they agree with you. show less

Schwartzwelder has produced another laugh out loud chapter in Frank Burly's detective career. The plot, such as it is, of Earth vs Everybody has Burly joining the local organised crime gang before his hijinks lead to intergalactic chases. Of course, it's all just a basic structure to hang Schwartzwelder's near-nonstop gags off.

It's almost odd that there's not a Frank Burly animated series in the works but perhaps it's only a matter of time.

This is the fifth Frank Burly book by the great John Swartzwelder and they just keep getting funnier.

The Exploding Detective follows the hapless private detective Frank Burly as he purchases a WWII Nazi jet pack in order to differentiate himself from all the other detectives. Obviously, as the title suggests, it doesn't go well for him. Or perhaps, it does go well for Burly, since he survives so many near death experiences.

There's lots of great lines and scenarios from Burly in The Exploding show more Detective; my favorite seems to be how after his previous travels through the space time continuum, he was able to convince city leaders to bury lots of time capsules so at least he'd be able to eat something when he went to the future again. show less

After receiving this slim volume as an early Christmas gift, I devoured it in one day—laughing my butt off throughout. As the cover so discreetly points out (this fact and the title are the only elements on the front of the book), Swartzwelder is better known as the author of 59 episodes of The Simpsons. The same twisted sense of humor that made the Swartzwelder years so hilarious is in full effect here.

Pretty much everything you need to know is right there on that minimalist cover: there show more is going to be a time machine involved, and Swartzwelder has proven himself to be a very twisted individual. 59 times, in fact.

The antics of Frank Burly, the world’s stupidest private investigator, found me searching for my Simpsons guide to see who penned Time and Punishment, the Treehouse of Horror episode where Homer inadvertently builds a time machine while trying to fix the toaster. It wasn’t Swartzwelder who wrote it, and maybe this is his way of getting back for not being invited to that party. Whatever his motivation, it’s a hit, and I’m looking forward to cracking open the next episode ... ’erm, book. show less