Andy Hartzell

Garden of Eden retellings/parodies are a dime a dozen, but Monday manages to make the idea fresh, always veering away from an expected joke to go in some different direction-- sort of Douglas Adamsish in its style of fantasy-comedy, but with less ironic distance, full of playful enjoyment of the wild imagery and the characters on their own terms. The art is full of little sight gags that reward a close inspection, and one of my favorite choices in the story is how it portrays the characters' show more attitudes toward the weird experience of drawing and art-making in general. show less

(This is a review of the original, limited edition version of this book)

I feel that I almost can’t call this a mini-comic, it is such an elaborate, lavish presentation; but Fox Bunny Funny was by far the most interesting and accomplished self-publishing effort I saw last year. I had previously been a fan of Monday, Andy’s still unfinished take on the Garden of Eden, but his new comic really blew me away. Really a self-contained series of three books, F.B.F. comes packaged in a handmade, show more silk-screened black slipcover. The art is bold and attractive, and in the third book (“Funny”) Andy’s illustrations take on an extremely graphical style.
Inside, Andy has created a silent, fable-like story of anthropomorphized Foxes and Rabbits. Unlike your typical funny-animal story, F.B.F. doesn’t shy away from the ethical quandaries of having carnivores and herbivores sharing the same world; the Foxes wantonly prey on the Rabbits, going far beyond hunting them for food: the Foxes live in a virtual death-cult society, vilifying the Rabbits and inculcating racial hatred in their young. The protagonist of all three books is a Fox who is secretly drawn to the oppressed Rabbits’ society. His fascination torments him throughout his life, and he eventually ends up going “down the rabbit hole” and entering a world where everything he has ever known is turned upside down.
Like the best fables and myths, F.B.F. doesn’t give any easy answers, the symbolism can be read in a variety of ways and parallels can be drawn to any number of real world problems, from state-sponsored violence to gender and identity issues. This comic is a real work of art. show less

There are so many parallels to be drawn from this story and so much depth to mull over. For a comic with no text, this one says a great deal.

So...it started out well. Poor little fox wants to dress up as a bunny, much to the horror of his family. But then it got a bit violent and eventually I became convinced the author was on acid when writing the rest of the book.