June 01, 2009
Three Reviews For the Price of One
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Honestly, I could have been really cheap here and milked the 3 volume set of "The Book of Biff" that I purchased by writing a separate review for each. After reading through the, however, I really saw no need to rate them separately. Being so small and so similar, multiple print reviews would redundant. Which means that this print review will be covering all three books. With that said, let's get to it, shall we?
It should be mentioned that "The Book of Biff", brainchild of Chris Hallbeck, reminds me very much of the old "Good Idea / Bad Idea" segments from "Animaniacs"... at least the "Bad Idea" part of those segments. Now, if you don't know what "Animaniacs" is, close your browser since you shouldn't be surfing online at school anyway! Then, when you get home, ask your parents about it. Bloody kids!
Getting back to "The Book of Biff", this particular webcomic is a single panel humor webcomic bringing us the many ill-conceived ideas and misadventures of the title character, Biff. The cartoonish design of Biff helps alleviate any sense of sympathy you might have for the world's unluckiest man. In fact, you can't help but feel he brings much of his troubles on himself. Quite frankly, he's a walking Darwin award. Thank goodness for his apparent immortality, or this strip wouldn't have lasted one page.
The Content
Each paperback book comes with a little over 100 comics. Each comic is only a single panel accompanied by a caption explaining what thought, event, or action brought Biff to his particular situation. The premise doesn't change much over the course of the books, which is perfectly acceptable as the premise is broad enough to offer Chris plenty of freedom to be creative. And he certainly is creative about throwing Biff into some bizarre scenarios.
Honestly, I must say that I found the comic made me smile more than it actually made me laugh. I only really laughed out loud at one or two comics per book. I can't say it's due to any fault of the creator's, really. Nor can I really say this fact counts as a mark against the books. The Jokes were bad or unfunny in any way; it's just that I found them simply amusing. There are worse things I could call a webcomic, I assure you.
Much of the humor seems to come from the matter-of-fact way that each event is described. And "The Book of Biff" handles this style of humor well. For each crazy situation we see Biff acting out in a comic, the context for that particular comic can be just as wacky. The beauty is that it gives Chris the ability to have whatever setup he needs in order to tell the joke and we have no option but to believe it is possible.
The premise may not change much, but What does change is the art style. As time goes on, the art becomes cleaner and smoother. That being said, however, "The Book of Biff" would be just as enjoyable if the rougher art had remained the standard. Even in the beginning, the scenes were rendered perfectly for a webcomic very much dependent on physical comedy. Slapstick humor is difficult enough to pull off on TV or your standard webcomic, now imagine being limited to a single panel. Chris deserves a lot of credit for being able to do what he does in just one frame.
Started: Jan 02,2006
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