Cover Image: Life in the Stupidverse

Life in the Stupidverse

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Okay, here's the thing: this is funny, but it's a dark funny. I'm giving this props for successfully skewering this past twenty years we've been living through (I know it's really just been four years, but it feels like twenty), but I must acknowledge that not everyone is going to be able to handle this yet, it's too soon, still too real. Had I read these strips one at a time as they came out, I could laugh harder, but in big chunks, it's too much. This is a me thing, and I'm not going to fault the author for it. Years from now, I'll be able to read this and laugh harder. I have less delicate friends who I know would enjoy this now, and laugh like crazed monkeys at it. Now, not every strip is great, but the humor's pretty even, no duds.

#LifeintheStupidverse #NetGalley

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You just can't go wrong with a Tom Tomorrow collection. Sharp-as-a-knife satire shines a light on the never-ending absurdist drama in which we find ourselves enmeshed.

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This is a chronicle of life under the Trump presidency by Tom Tomorrow. The comics in the book cover from the 2016 election to a bit past the 2020 impeachment hearings. From the book's description:


"Relive all the trauma of the first several years of the Trump presidency through the Pulitzer-prize nominated cartoons of Tom Tomorrow!"


And it has been a traumatic time made worse now by the coronavirus pandemic. Readers may want to think this is satire. The author, I think, is basically presenting current reality, which gets so ridiculous and painful that the dark humor practically writes itself. No matter how outrageous in his humor the author tries to be, he is not far from reality. To be honest, these comics really hit close to home. This book may well be a way to preserve the messed up world we currently live in the U.S.


The humor does vary in quality. Overall, this is very dark humor. You may chuckle or laugh nervously a bit, but you might also get seriously depressed. For some readers, you may not want to read this book cover to cover. Read a few strips, take a break, then read some more to keep the sanity.

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It's hard to write funny satire about a president as horrific and ridiculous as Donald J Trump. Tom Tomorrow tries, but ultimately this attempt at humor just seems depressing and sad.

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Goodreads described this book best when they said "Relive all the trauma of the first several years of the Trump presidency" and "It's a hilarious but nightmarish trip down memory lane". Life in the Stupidverse is a collection of cartoons from Tom Tomorrow. So much has happened during the Trump presidency that I forgot about a lot of the stuff mentioned in the book. Relive some of the past craziness like; Alternative facts, Lamestream media, ID required for groceries, and Trump's Valentine's Day card for Melania. You will laugh and want to scream as you read some of the cartoon strips in this book.

4 stars

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I normally like reading satire about our current federal government. Especially the cheeto in chief, but this was just too much. Not because they were being too mean to the current president, it was just the right amount of fun. However, each strip is quite long and it’s just too real. To right now as I am stuck in quarantine. It is too much so I have DNFed it. Maybe in the future I will be able to find the funny in this. Right now it’s just depressing and I don’t need that.

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Thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley, I received a copy of this guide to election 2020 in exchange for my honest review…no wait, this isn’t actually a guide to the election, it’s something to help us survive the next several months…

Full disclosure: I think the current President is the most corrupt, incredibly incompetent, racist, misogynostic loser to ever occupy the office. AND I happen to appreciate political satire, so I’m a big Tom Tomorrow fan.

I dipped into this book at several locations, and every one captured some fustercluck of the past 3 1/2 years…so if you want to be reminded of events or characters, they are all here. It also serves to remind me of the importance of the upcoming election. It comes out in August, so will be well timed to gift people before November! Five stars (and yes I am totally biased).

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Good lord, this was depressing.
When reality becomes more absurd than satire it really is hard to write a political comic. In fact, at several points, the truth of the matter is so surreal that Tom had to write *actual quote' so we’d know it wasn’t made up.

Even though we wish it was.

The American Presidency has been such a circus that, looking back through the years’ strips, it’s hard to believe that we’ve forgotten some of this stuff- it’s old hat. I was reading it and going, “Oh wow, I forgot about that. Did people really buy that crap? How did they let that go?”
Tom’s accurate portrayal of the major players and the way he emphasized what both sides were thinking in such a succinct way is definitely what made him so popular. While I can’t say I enjoyed the comics, it was a real eye-opener to have the whole horrific episode laid out in such a bare way.

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I certainly don't like Trump, but far too often I've seen how I really don't like non-funny anti-Trump comic books, either. This was about the worst.

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This is a book filled with comics mostly about Trump and his antics. But, that is clear from the cover. This seems to be a collection of separately written comics that were bounded and made into a book.

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(I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.) One can take relief in political satire or not. For those finding this decade almost unbearably absurd, Life in the Stupidverse boldly announces its agenda in its title. Tom Tomorrow's portrayal of the 45th president is instantly recognizable, less mockery than minor exaggeration. In one panel, he admits the challenge of critiquing this era: "How do you write satire when the president is a walking caricature?" The cartoonist's answer is to employ a combination of reductio ad absurdum (Steve Bannon admitting, "Look, nobody said destroying America from within was going to be easy") and tautology (a mocking news headline reading "Constitutional Processes Are Unconstitutional"). Each panel is bitterly contemporary. For example, one strip features a head shot of Rudy Guliani drawn with such restraint that it is even more shocking to read his speech bubble: "Few people know this kids, but there are many circumstances in which you have no obligation to respond to a Congressional subpoena.” A child replies to this salvo, mirroring the reader's uneasy surprise, "Um, really?" One of Tomorrow's strengths as an editorialist is knowing where to report the news verbatim, as when he writes the simple caption, "2.3 million Americans are losing health care coverage." To leaven such grim realities, Tomorrow then reaches to the other extreme, with news anchors exhorting viewers to "Put on your MAGA-vision spex to see through [Democrats'] transparent bias." And sometimes, the cartoonist evokes laughter out of despair, as when a Second Amendment advocate asks rhetorically, "Instead of blaming guns, why don’t they hold bake sales and buy Kevlar vests for everyone?" Tomorrow aptly names his approach "Post-Traumatic Discourse," but I regretfully believe we are not there yet.

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***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
A little long, but mostly funny. I've seen a few books that are a little funnier, but appreciate what the author is doing.

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This book pokes fun at Donald Trump, who has to be truly the stupidest human on earth. Any one of his press conferences or rallies is comic book material, but I love anything that highlights his incompetence and instability. While this book is funny, the chaos that that buffoon has landed this country is anything but

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