'Uh-Oh Plato!' with words by Charles Pepin with art by Jul is a combination comic strip/essay book about how philosophy relates to the modern workplace.

A young intern named Kevin Plato joins a modern company. This one is staffed by famous philosophers, so we get Nietzsche as the human resources director and executives like Heraclitus and Descartes. The book alternates between cartoons and essays.

The concept sounded interesting but failed to deliver. The text essays shed little light and the cartoons were kind of insipid.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I wanted to like the comic, but I couldn't It started off funny, but got a bit dull. While anyone who has worked in a big corporate office can relate, I had a hard time enjoying the work after a while.

Unfortunately, I really wanted this book to be more funny. The illustration style was really funny at first, but that too got a tad bit dull with each chapter read. Other than that... I just really wanted to like this book, but I didn't.

It felt like an endless book, yet it is so short. It was quite boring and I am sure it has great things to say. Combining corporations and philosophy is itself a great idea, but most of the essays were bland. Except for "Love On the Run: The Tyranny of Urgency", I really liked that one, especially since it made a great point <i>"But if everything is urgent, what is important?"</i>

Most of the essays were relevant to corporate life, like the one mentioned above, but unlike that one, my problem with the other essays was that they did not have anything new or mind-blowing. It was simply a narration of corporate life, problems and characters. But no conclusion or thesis to entertain me or make me think in depth about the essay.

“[Values] No longer universal, they are relative to a time, a place, a practice. Isn’t this the best definition of corporate ethics?”

This review is also posted in my blog :
https://onewordtoomuch.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/uh-oh-plato/

Thank you to Europe Comics and Net Galley for a free copy of this book in trade for an honest review

This book really does nothing to me other than good humor and simple illustration. I have no problem with the simple illustration, but I don’t quite get the story. The story is funny and those who work or had worked in the office could relate to the story. Being an intern, Plato is being introduced to each of the unique characters of his co-workers. It’s also got everything from casual Friday to the photocopier jam problem.

However, the funny moment got lost when in between the illustration there are 2 pages with long passage about the characters (besides Plato). This I think needs some understanding of basic philosophy or history from each of them. Some characters I know, but still the point is no longer funny when you read the long passage of each character point of view. It might be more effective putting in the philosophical thoughts into the comic than in text. Unless you know who the characters are, you’ll be lost.

I like the illustration. It’s simple with solid lines, comical faces and expression as well as funny body language. Even the costumes fit with every character. For example Socrates is drawn with toga. It really supports the story. For the illustration, I would give it 4 stars.

Recommend for those who has an interest in philosophy and would accept it in a humorous way, other than the theoretical style.

I...didn't like this.

I thought it would be funny, with philosophy references/jokes yeah, maybe some I didn't get but it just...wasn't. Even the references I understood weren't clever or funny it was just...there. It was teaching to be educational and clever, but it was mostly dense, and assumed you had more knowledge than I did at least. If you really like or know philosophy, you may like this, but it really wasn't for me. There are a bunch of super-specific in-side jokes and essays that read really academic rather than funny. I did like the illustrations though.

Not my thing. There were too many characters and now enough character development. Maybe it was intended as a philosophy major’s insider joke, it just didn’t work for me.

An interesting take on philosophy. Not quite my art style preference, but it was fun.

I just couldn't finish this. The essays weren't really that interesting and the art was okay, but the story didn't draw me in and I'm not sure of the book's purpose. The concept sounded interesting though.

Not my thing, so DNF. Looked a fairly plotless bunch of in-jokes about philosophy, peppered with two-page essays relating philosophers' thinking to business, all with some kind arty-farty gift-book shtick. If like me, you don't do philosophy at the best of times, you'll be ditching it quick too.