Nuts

Last week I read Hicksville, which was an unabashed love letter to comic books.  I decided I wanted to keep reading fun stuff that was somewhat personal in nature.  So, because I was sure there would be a heavy emphasis on fun, I decided to read Nuts written and illustrated by Gahan Wilson, published by Fantagraphics.

Nuts is a collection of one page shorts about childhood that appeared in National Lampoon’s “Funny Pages” section throughout the 1970s.  The shorts are connected thematically and usual cover a topic such as getting sick, or going on a road trip, or some other rite of childhood.  The shorts always start with “Remember when..” and you can’t help but remember when.  Wilson depicts all the odd things and weirdness that occurs to you when growing up and distilled it into the shorts. 

When it comes to macabre humor, there are the three greats: Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Gahan Wilson.  These three put the humor in horror in a way that very few can.  This is why I couldn’t wait to read a book about childhood by one of their stature.  I fully expected this to be full of twisted little monsters in humorous situations.  What I got was a laugh-out loud look back at childhood.

I don’t know how he did it but, in Nuts, Wilson managed to capture the essence of childhood and put it on paper.  The segments talk about everything from parents giving you tasks that you don’t have any hope of finishing to having to attend Boy Scout meetings because your father thinks it’s good for you.  What makes the stories special is the way he filters the events through the eyes of an adult and channels the response through a foul mouthed little punk.  The Kid, our protagonist, says vicious, snide little comments that I wish I had known when I was that age.  At the same time, Kid is truly a kid who wonders why life is the way it is. 

Wilson’s art is a thing of beauty.  He draws short, squat figures that take a little getting used to but other than that it’s fantastic.  Every segment is told in 5 panels which are just crammed with lines.  Wilson also uses the word balloons to maximum effect.  Often times, when parents are present, they are overlapping making it difficult to distinguish what is being said.  But, as a child, many times that is exactly what happened.

Other than the 5 panel grid, Wilson used splash pages to detail a place in the life of a child.  For example, the splash of the school desk includes details such as ‘secret word – if you rub soft pencil over it, it shows up’ and the word is obviously not appropriate. 

If you love humorous stories about life then Nuts is the book for you.  There are few books that really evoke a sense of nostalgia but this is one of them.  At the same time, Wilson places heavy emphasis on the strange and weird things that occur to children that really make no sense.  If you are looking for something different, then this is the book for you.

- David Lee