The Argyle Sweater: A Cartoon Collection

By Scott Hilburn

The Argyle Sweater is a comic for grown-ups but it's inspired by a childlike imagination and charm. Follow bears, bees, chickens, wolves, dogs, cats, zebras, cops, game shows, phones, cavemen, and even nursery rhyme icons and an evil scientist, into the mischief and perfect-fitting dialogue of The Argyle Sweater world.

Hilburn jokes he thought about naming the strip For Better or For Worse but noted "that that one was already taken."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 17, 2009
• ISBN: 9781449444358

Book preview

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Reviews for The Argyle Sweater

[smichaelwilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cartoonist Scott Hilburn and I have a lot in common. We both share the same first name, and we were both exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation as children. We also have all our teeth, a weird sense of humor, and a strong affection for puns. Unlike me, however, Hilburn is also a talented artist, and a hilarious cartoonist.The Argyle Sweater is a collection of Hilburn’s single-panel cartoon by the same name. The influence of Gary Larson’s Far Side comics is easily noticeable, yet it never feels like he is attempting to copy or mimic Larson’s style. Hilburn’s humor is his own, a laughable blend of bad puns, unfortunate antonyms, and other fun examples of humorous wordplay.This is where a book review would normally give a more detailed description of the contents, but I simply refuse to be the guy who sits there describing cartoons and ruining the joke. All I can tell you is that I will never look at the Pillsbury Doughboy the same way again. You can count on laughing out loud every so often in between the giggles and chuckles that will no doubt follow any reading of The Argyle Sweater.The Argyle Sweater is a great collection of Hilburn’s past work, but there’s no need to stop there. You can also view his newest creations at theargylesweater.com, many of which no doubt comprise another wonderful collection in the near future.There are so few cartoons left that are worth reading, let alone worthy of open laughter. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss out on this one.

[andrewa121_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Argyle Sweater is about the closest cartoon one can find these days to Gary Larson's Far Side. From the drawing style, the single-panel framing (for most of the strips), and the absurd, punny humor, it is clear that this strip was inspired by (and pays homage to) The Far Side. Unfortunately, this means that the reader finds him or herself comparing it to Larson's inimitable creations. While a decent collection in its own right, one comes away feeling that the best Argyle Sweater cartoons only begin to approach the Far Side. This being said, for someone who has felt a hole in his or her cartoon humor intake since Larson stopped publishing the Far Side, The Argyle Sweater is about as close as you'll come. For anyone who loved the Far Side, give this one a look. It may go a fair way in filling the void.

[jnselko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There have been many cartoonists who have tried to fill Gary "The Far Side" Larson's wackily skewed clown shoes. Some have come close with the art, some (very few) have been in the general vicinity of the humor. Well, Scott Hilburn nailed the art and came closer to grasping the humor than any of the competition. In fact, about a quarter of the panels are virtually impossible to tell from Mr. Larsons, a percentage high enough to give Far Side fans hope the Mr. Hilburn keeps knitting on that sweater.

[gfvonb_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Argyle Sweater is one of the many comics that attempt to fill the giant void left when Gary Larson's Far Side ended. Unlike manyof the others, however, Hilburn's work often both reminds me of Far Side and surprises me with its originality. While not as consistently side-splitting as Larson, I did laugh out loud at quite a few of the comics in The Argyle Sweater. I handed it to my father, also a big Far Side fan, when he last visited, and he also enjoyed it.

[instigatrix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As many others have said, the first thing cartoonist Scott Hilburn's work will remind you of is The Far Side. However, The Argyle Sweater's humor has a slightly different tilt to it, which is sometimes a positive thing. There were a couple of laughs and a few chuckles to be had, but this seems very much like a first compilation of a strip that has a lot of growing left to do. (Also, I think that the best strip ended up on the cover. Kind of reminds me of a movie whose best scenes are all in the trailer.) I'll be curious to see what the next book is like. In the end, though, it's unfortunate that Hilburn's artwork--and I'm sorry, but simply squaring off a feature or two really doesn't count as differentiation, IMHO--is so heavily reminiscent of Gary Larson's; I suspect that the unevenness of the former's wit might’ve been less evident otherwise.

[deadmanjones_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

a rather flat collection that consistently amounts to illustrations of extremely stretched puns, or jokes that require that much text to explain that the caption is frequently bigger than the cartoon. Laboured to say the least.

[boredness-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved the graphics in this book. Although I didn't find a lot of the jokes funny and a lot of them I didn't understand, there were some that I enjoyed. Some of my favorites were the moths on page 11, the three pigs on page 16, the dung beetles on page 22, the pigeon on page 34, pick up sticks on page 37, three-tailed dog on page 38, and the cave people on page 57.

[arthritix-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This FarSide inspired comic is cute. I found the the crooked letters slightly anoying to read and the third grader jokes cheesy. I found the material confusing, as some of it was designed for kids, and some with PG ratings. Give it a shot.

[cameronl_51 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gary Larson's The Far Side appeared in 1980, and made quite a splash on the staid comics pages of American newspapers. It's absurd humor and science geek gags made a big impression (not always positive) on the nation's readers. When Larson retired in 1995, a lot of potential successors appeared, few of which came close to The Far Side's spin on one-panel comics.Now in 2009, we have Scott Hilburn's The Argyle Sweater. This comic truly is The Far Side reincarnate. The style of humor tickles the Far Side funny bone without being derivative. Many have wished for Gary Larson's return. The Argyle Sweater comes close to fulfilling that wish...very close.