Alex Hirsch

Not long ago, I binge-watched the cartoon series Gravity Falls, after having heard for years that it was really great and I absolutely needed to watch it. I confess, for most of the series those recommendations had me more than a little befuddled. I felt like, OK, this is perfectly good kids' fare, it's likeable enough, I probably would have really loved it when I was eight, but it's nothing particularly special and I don't really see the appeal to adults. Then I got to the final run of show more episodes, and was like, OH, WOW, OK, NOW I GET IT! THAT WAS EPIC! (Yes, just like that. In all caps.)

Much of what made it so epic was the bad guy, Bill Cipher, an evil triangular chaos demon, and if you haven't seen the show, trust me, whatever you're imagining the real thing was far, far weirder. And then right after I finished watching, a decade after the show originally aired, it was announced that a book supposedly authored by the triangle himself was coming out soon. Well, how could I resist snapping that up?

Unlike the show, which was supposedly suitable for little kids -- although, frankly, there's stuff in there I strongly suspect would have given me nightmares if I had somehow watched it when I was eight -- this one explicitly states that it's aimed at an older audience, probably because it features not just weird horror stuff and references likely to go way over kids' heads, but also really terrible advice for things no one should try at home, some hints of not-entirely-fantastical-feeling violence, and a mildly suggestive "your mom" joke or two. Also some really disturbing pictures of teeth.

In the book's pages, Bill plans and schemes, cheerfully breaks the fourth wall, and shares stories about his past. Want to know what he's been doing on Earth throughout all of human history? How he responded to Ford Pines breaking up with him ceasing to be a usable tool for world domination? How about the origins of the Time Baby? And, of course, the answer to the ever-pressing question of whether Bill is actually dead? Well, it's all in here!

And, OK... Usually this sort of TV tie-in material is mildly entertaining at best, and appealing largely in how it plays on your nostalgia for the thing it's based on. Not this one, though! Frankly, I'm astonished by how much I enjoyed this one. The artistic layout is great, the combination of humor and horror is pitch-perfect, and it adds to the characterization and the lore of the show in ways that work very well. And then, the ending gave me exactly the same incredibly warm and satisfied feeling the ending of the show's final episode gave me, all over again.

I find that when I review stuff like this, the vast majority of the time I end by noting that I don't consider whatever-it-is a "must read" for fans of the source material. Not this time! If you're a fan of Gravity Falls, or even just someone who really enjoyed the heck out of Bill as a character, you definitely want to read this one.

Rating: I cannot -- cannot -- believe that I am giving this thing 4.5/5. But I am. That's how much I enjoyed it. And what else am I supposed to do with a book that left me with such a giant smile on my face afterward? show less

Having recently read The Book of Bill and Journal 3, I of course had to complete the trifecta of Gravity Falls spinoff books with this graphic novel. We have four complete stories here, namely:

"Face It": When a monster steals Mabel's face, Dipper and Pacifica have to go on an adventure together to steal it back. This one very much feels like it could have been an episode of the show. And I like the fact that Pacifica, despite having undergone some character growth and graduated from show more "nemesis" to "frenemy," clearly has not changed entirely overnight in some pat and unrealistic way. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the possible vague hints of Pacifica/Dipper romance, but I guess this isn't exactly the first place I've seen them.

"Comix Up": A very meta little tale, in which our heroes get sucked into comic books, romping through a variety of different styles and genres. I started this one thinking, "this is silly, but cute and kind of clever," started laughing uncontrollably somewhere in the middle, and was going "awwwww" with a great deal of feeling come the end. Not sure you can hit the right notes for this sort of thing any better than that!

"Don't Dimension It": Mabel accidentally gets dragged into the multiverse through a dimensional tear, and Stan and Ford set out to rescue her. Lots of interesting weirdness, lots of bickering grunkles, lots of Mabel. All great stuff! The only thing that gives me pause about this one is the fact that it's hard not to read it as a reply to those people who like to blame Mabel for everything, making the point that, yes, OK, she can be self-centered, but basically she's a good kid. Which is absolutely true, but I'm sorry, her detractors do not deserve one Mabel, never mind a multiverse full of Mabels!

"The Pines Boys in: The Jersey Devil's in the Details": This one features the elder Pines twins as kids. It's the one I was most looking forward to, and, boy, did it not disappoint. The story is lots of fun, there are some jokes that made me flat-out guffaw (although the throwaway joke that made me laugh the hardest I suspect you have to actually be from New Jersey to be amused by), and I adore these kids. Especially lil' Ford, who is a nerdy little cutie pie. I just want to cuddle him and share my science books with him. (OK, admittedly, I might feel the same about the older version, too, but never mind that.) And their sibling bond here is so sweet and lovely. It's simultaneously heartwarming and, knowing what comes later, heartbreaking. Although it does, of course, end on a happy note.

So, anyway, yeah. It's all good stuff, and it satisfyingly captures all the things I love about the show itself: the strangeness, the great characters, the humor, the perfectly blended combination of goofiness and genuine heart. Definitely recommended to fans of the show, of all ages. show less

So, after recently watching through Gravity Falls and then reading the conveniently just-published and unexpectedly delightful tie-in The Book of Bill, I had to go back and read this earlier volume, too. This one is perhaps slightly less bizarre, slightly less creepy, and slightly more kid-oriented than The Book of Bill, but it's still great. It's a published version of the journal seen in the show, complete with previously missing pages and a few annotations from various characters. (And show more also some secret codes that I was too lazy to decode but was able to look up online instead. If you're reading it, I absolutely recommend doing one or the other!)

It's kind of nifty getting to hold a version of an item that was so central to the show, and to see pages that we only got brief glimpses of suddenly spread out for your perusal. The book also adds a lot to the televised stories, though, giving follow-ups to some episodes and filling in some important blanks, most notably the answer to the question of where the journal's original author was and what he'd been doing for the past thirty years. There's a lot of the show's usual kind of humor, and I laughed out loud several times. But there's also some great and often surprisingly poignant character stuff. (That scribbled-out drawing of a sailboat! Oh, my heart.) I could completely hear each entry in my head in the voice of the character who wrote it, too. And, not gonna lie, the final few pages, written after the show's big climax, made me stupidly emotional. Over cartoon characters! Well, if the show could do it...

Anyway. Like The Book of Bill, I definitely recommend this one for fans of the show. And while I was fine doing it the other way round, I do ideally recommend reading this one first, as there's a reference or two in the later book I would have understood better if I had.

Rating: I was going to give this 4/5, but then I got to the end and, to repeat, it made me stupidly emotional about cartoon characters. Again. So, screw it, have a 4.5/5, book. show less

Bill is BACK and he wants to make a deal... with YOU. Essentially a sequel to the TV show Gravity Falls (about ten years later in our reality, but seemingly straight after the events of the finale in the Gravity Falls reality), this is a book written by interdimensional demon and villain of the show Bill Cipher. The big question is whether or not Bill is dead, and also Ford sends us a warning not to make a deal with the trickster. But Bill wants to find a way back to life? Reality? Our show more universe? after being betrayed by Ford and foiled by the Pines family and this time he has set his sights on manipulating a new victim, the reader. As you might imagine from the architect of Weirdmageddon, the book is absolutely effed up and full of bizarreries, ominous creepiness and Faustian choices. The cover says this is meant for older readers but we always knew that Gravity Falls was for kids of the 80s and 90s really, didn't we? It is gorgeously presented and although I'd rather NOT hang out with Bill or have to kill Scrimbles the Elf, Hirsch's creativity and humour are spot on and I'm just glad to have a new bit of the Gravity Falls story to enjoy. There isn't very much of the Pines family here, so that could be a disappointment but there are tonnes of easter eggs and I've not even bothered looking into the codes hidden throughout so that is sure to keep some readers entertained for some time. MORE PLEASE. show less