Gudetama: Surviving the Holidays

Gudetama. Pronounced Goo-De-Tah-Mah.

He's an anthropomorphic egg from Sanrio, creators of other such characters like Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru. Along with his assistant, the egg-yolk leotard dressed Nisetama, Gudetama provides people advice throughout various holiday conundrums. 

Since this book covers Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's, my original plan was to read bits and pieces of this book over the course of the next 45 days. However, this book doesn't follow any sort of calendar. Gudetama might help provide gift assistant with the employees at a local office party. Then he helps a family hosting a foreign exchange student experience Hanukkah before then helping a girl whose family gets really competitive playing games during Thanksgiving. I understand that Gudetama is a Japanese property, but I am pretty sure that they celebrate the traditional 'ber month' holidays in the same order we do in the States. 

Thus what I am trying to say is that I was hoping this book would have a survival guide section for Turkey Day, then another for the Festival of Lights, before slipping into Christmas, Kwanzaa and a quick trip through to the new year. I would have read each section as we reached the appropriate holiday. But since it didn't happen that way, I read this book in the course of one fun filled night. 

Written and illustrated by Wook-Jin Clark (Flavor), this book perfectly captured the holidays and the many troubles that come along with them. My first real introduction to Gudetama, I thought he was hilarious as a kind of protein packed version of Garfield, only not quite as snarky. Nisetama, while clearly an annoying soul, was a great foil to Gudetama; playing the Nermal role. I only wish this book was done in sections so as I could enjoy these two characters over the course of an entire holiday season.

And if Oni Press was to bring Gudetama back for another helping of holiday delights in the future, I would gladly put the egg and his human friend on the guest list for another round of cheer.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Oggy and the Cockroaches: Oggy New Year #1

I rang in the new year with this holiday special from American Mythology Comics. Based on the French animated series of the same name, Oggy and the Cockroaches is a wild series about a house cat and an invading trio of pests. 

The artwork is reminiscent of Ren and Stimpy. To the point, I thought that this was actually done by that same art team. The humor is absurdist. But it's nowhere near as gross as the 90s Nickelodeon cartoon ever was.

There's 3 stories inside. The first story has Oggy challenged to start off the New Year by tackling a new hobby. In this case- writing a crime noir. Then Oggy forces the cockroaches to clean up their messes main during a New Year's Eve bash to remember. Lastly, Oggy decides to catch up on some new year's correspondence. 

There's a couple of prose extras at the end of this book. Read on and you'll learn the resolutions of Oggy and his pals. If you are really good, you might have your letter answered from Santa!

My first experience with Oggy and the Cockroaches was a fun one. I did have a little trouble with how Oggy's nose is computer generated on top of pen and ink art. But aside from that distraction, this book was a great way to cap off the 2020 holiday season!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Happy New Year, 2017!!!

Happy New Year, 2016!

May Your 2016 be purrrrrfect!