Unshelved, Vol. 1

I’ll admit it. I’m not above comics. In fact, I read every Foxtrot collection that comes out. Most of the Dilberts, too. And why not? There’s no rule saying that everything you read has to be 200+ pages of seriousness with chapters, end notes, and an index.

Comic strips can be every bit as funny as Bill Bryson recounting a walk in the woods. Just not as complicated. And Charlie Brown & company have probably expressed more wisdom per word than anyone you can name. Peanuts books outnumber pencils in my house and my daughters have read my well-worn Calvin and Hobbes collection — the greatest comic strip in the history of the world — more often than I’ve dusted the cobwebs near the ceiling above the stairway.

When two cartoonists show more appeared at a library meeting and stirred everyone into a fit of laughter with their interpretation of the “library biz”, I simply had to give a couple of their books a spin: Unshelved and What Would Dewey Do?.

Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum started publishing their Unshelved strip on the Internet six years ago. You wouldn’t think there would be much of a market for a comic strip set in a library, but it has slowly built up a loyal audience within the profession and has many fans outside as well.

The strip stars Dewey, a male librarian at the Mallville Public Library. His cynical outlook is a perfect balance for his hoping-to-please-everyone boss. There’s a odd collection of other regulars in the cast, including someone with a mysterious background permanently stuck in a summer reading program full-body beaver costume and a pre-teen boy who does everything in the library EXCEPT read. There’s also an endless stream of library patrons with questions, comments, and needs.

Real-life library staff can identify with many of the situations and chuckle in a “been there, done that” sort of way. Non-librarians (i.e., real people) can enjoy the workplace humor set in a familiar public place. If an engineer (Dilbert), a viking (Hagar), or a dweeb (Jon in Garfield) can have a comic strip, why not a librarian?

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Hilarious throughout the book and a great cast of characters. I look forward to all the wacky shenanigans and obvious questions from patrons when I become a librarian.

The very first volume. This is where it all began from what is the capital of Minnesota to the arrival of Buddy the Book Beaver. By the way, Buddy is my favorite character right behind Dewey, who is one of my heroes. Librarians will certainly love the humor, but anyone who has been to a library can appreciate the humor as well. Because, in the end, a lot of the fun and bizarre stuff that happens in libraries is universal. If you are looking for a different kind of comic strip to read, this is a great choice. I had been meaning to read this for a while, and now that I have, I am glad I did. I do follow the strip online, but having it all (or a good part of it) here is really neat.

The early years of Dewey the YA Reference Librarian at Mallville Public Library, and his awesome co-workers.

The collection is all different comic strips, but one of the things that I liked best about Unshelved is that there are short little story lines for a few strips then a new, little story instead of every strip being stand alone.

I also really like the newer, rounded art vs. the older more angular art.

Quite amusing, but I feel like this could have been a lot funnier than it is.

A compilation of the online comic, this collection was entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. Thrill to the adventures of Dewey, Mel, Colleen, Tamara, Merv, and Buddy the Book Beaver. The beginning art is rougher than the current look, but already includes the background touches that help make Unshelved so much fun. Check out the current run at [http://www.unshelved.com]!

I've been complaining about webcomics all day, but this one reads like a traditional Sunday comic strip and reminds me they were pretty boring too.