TOO SMALL TO FAIL: A New (TH)INK Anthology

128 6x7.5-inch pages, b/w
Keith Knight Press paperback
$16 plus $4 p&h from Knight at kchronicles.com

KEITH KNIGHT, in case you haven’t been keeping up (distracted, perhaps, by the impositions committed by Pecos Perry and Michele “Crazy Eyes” Bachman), draws three cartoon features: a weekly strip called K Chronicles, a syndicated daily strip called The Knight Life (about which Garry Trudeau said: “Keith Knight is mapping out a previously unknown vector of the vast cartoon universe”; and Dave Eggers said: “It’s hard to make a comic that is this funny while also so frequently profound. Keith deals with so many issues with both gravitas and such a light touch, while never missing a chance at a cheap laugh. This is the work of a master.” — both comments that apply to Knight’s third enterprise), and a single panel cartoon called th(ink). 

The first two are semi-autobiographical and have been reprinted in book form; the volume at hand is the third collection of the third feature, an African American cartoonist’s comment on the passing socio-political scenery, another of those first drafts of history. Herein you’ll find Knight’s sharp elbows poking at the economy, New Orleans, police brutality, corporate corruption, the first African American U.S. president, and so on.

Knight pulls no punches in th(ink). Race and the social injustices that abound even in post-MLK America insinuate themselves into all his work, but in th(ink), such matters are the chief comedic fodder. Knight inserts his dagger and then twists it gleefully. But he doesn’t overlook the small stuff of chuckles. Never does. For this book, the cover design incorporates a symbol signaling “too small to fail” — namely, a cent sign. Not a dollar sign; a cent sign. And then there’s the Keith Knight Press logo — a tiny sheep, sheepishly embedded in a toilet (symbolizing sheep dip?). This book is available at Keef’s website and nowhere else, so go there now and get your copy. “Failure,” as the man sez, “is not an option!”

Comments

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Lol I read it! Well, it's quite funny! Don't know why many people critize it so much! Not good, but it's also not bad!