I found this to be kind of monotonous. While I enjoyed some of the comics, many of them felt like the same idea/joke just framed slightly differently, and others I just didn't really get. I feel like I would probably get more enjoyment out of the comics individually if I were to see them while scrolling on social media (ironically enough), as opposed to having them all bound together in one book.

I read this book without any prior knowledge of the author or his art... which I usually think is a bonus because it cannot happen that I already know the majority of the work.
At first, I was enjoying the art quite a bit, but as I was getting more into the story, I was finding it hard and hard to keep my focus and interest.
And for me, the biggest downfall was the texts which sometimes accompanied the images. Mostly I thought that it did not add anything to the story.

My favourite part was all the comics which included candy hearts!

Overall, it was an okay read, but I cannot say that I would come back to read another book by this author. However, I have mad respect for the author to try to challenge himself to draw 500 comics in 500 days, one each day. I would be exhausted on day 5.

received an e-ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

Siegel took up a challenge to draw 365 cartoons (which he then turned into a 500 day challenge). This book displays that process and showcases its results with the selections the author thought were best (though I question one or two selections).

I remember when many of these cartoons (especially the ones that went viral) first appeared on Twitter. Siegel admits that he tweaked some for the book, and most tweaked versions were an improvement. I found myself snorting aloud again at some and being sad I'd missed others the first go-around (Siegel explains why this can happen even with "followers" in his essay on social media algorithms).

The essays struck a chord because they seemed an echo of the debates I have with my husband, who believes that the internet is the worst thing to happen to society (while he is simultaneously glued to Facebook). I found it interesting to see the debate play out in the mind of one human instead of two.

I see several reviews complaining that "it didn't help"; "it was too cynical." Not everyone picks up on irony, so may have missed the world burning on the cover. I am going to compare this to how readers interact with Dickens: irony is lost on children, so they find the story boring (though children would probably get a giggle out of all the butts in Siegel); irony wounds teenagers and young adults, so they find it depressing; and adults find irony cathartic and laugh. If you haven't reached the level of maturity to appreciate Swiftian or Dickensian irony (and that's ok if you haven't), you're probably not going to like this book. But, if you look around the world as it stands at this moment in the summer of 2020 and laugh so you don't cry, this book will help you do that.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book at around 40% ....

I went into this book assuming it would be a fun and witty take on today's social media obsessed society, but unfortunately, it was a miss.
Other than a few comic strips that have a potential for becoming funny memes (like the Abbey Road one....), I just think the artist completely missed the mark on being funny and yet pertinent in the message I'm sure he wanted to pass on...

Also, I don't think this book is suited for "all ages and backgrounds", as it says in one of the book's blurbs, because there is several content that isn't appropriate for younger readers.

Overall, I was just very bored, didn't find it funny at all... In fact, it was more depressing than funny.
Had potential in it's premise, but was a miss for me.

I'd still like to thank NetGalley and the publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

#IHopeThisHelps #NetGalley

I’m the person that loves a good pun, cheesy joke or visual gag and this book has all of that and more. I’m always impressed when someone with one well honed talent shows up with another talent and Tommy Siegel has established himself not just as a musician but as an artist and comic. I also really liked the font used in this book, it felt clean and calming, so hey, I guess this book did help! Great read when you just need something light and laugh out loud funny.

So this was a compilation of cartoons for adults. Absolutely hilarious, but I would not want my middle schoolers reading it. It is very much centered around adulthood and how much it sucks, which is 100% accurate.

Some of it was really funny, but in general I thought the type of humour was not for me, so I ended up not finishing the book. Maybe it was too sarcastic for me, but it was also quite niche. I didn't get some of the jokes, others I just thought were not interesting or smart enough to be in a book. And there is a lot about being a musician, and general pop culture, when the book is marketed more as a comic about anxiety in the 21st century. Yes, there are things about climate change and internet addiction, but if those topics are supposedly the back bone of the book, I felt they weren't exploited enough.

Maybe if you're familiar with the artist already, or if you are interested in jokes about being a musician or "millennial culture", then you may really enjoy it.

I also felt the structure of the book was a bit all over the place. There wasn't a clear progression.

I have a few things I'd like to say about this book.
I tend to enjoy comics and graphic novels, and yet... this was not quite the case.

I'll start with the positive things I'd like to highlight:
- the drawings, I gotta say I actually enjoyed the drawing a lot. Can't stress this enough.
- I found the format of this book quite interesting. It's the first time I read a graphic novel with such a present author, this was achieved through the introductions to some of the parts of the book. It felt like the author wanted to make sure the reader understood the references to the world he was presenting, or rather to HIS perspective of the world.
- I had a good laugh with some of the cartoons.

The negative side:
- it wasn't my cup of tea. That's all, that's why I didn't enjoy it, actually.

“Social media hellscape” is an apt way to describe the author’s perception of social media, as he’s described and drawn in this book. “I Hope This Helps” by Tommy Siegel is a peek into the life of the author, whom has an uncanny knack of understanding millennial angst, vastly driven by social media. I appreciate the author’s self-deprecating humor and honesty about his social media/phone obsession and how he was able to turn that into these comics. There were many chuckles, a few laugh out loud moments while reading this book, and also a few thoughts of “how is he reading my mind?”

I enjoyed learning about the author’s process of how he started drawing again and his 'one comic a day for 500 days' challenge. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the Sunday comics, and this was a great trip down memory lane. This book is worth reading if you enjoy comics, commentary on social media, and/or laughing at someone else’s angst (or your own).

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I Hope This Helps is the result of a challenge, long drawing hours and an incredible sense of humor. I had already seen some of these in different social media, so I was really happy to hear about a book collecting them. The idea of mixing the comics with a little bit of narration was a very good one as well, because the author knows he's got a good story to tell and sometimes these kind of sketches are not enough for that. It also helps with the pace.

The first questions everyone asks when in front of a sketch collection is the type of humor they'll find. In I Hope This Helps, the humor changes from plain absurd to highly political (even if sometimes that is not what the author wanted, as he himself explains), to really well thought language-related sketches, to... well, birbs and butts. And, even if I'm not really keen on butt-humor (and never thought this would be a phrase I'd write on a book review), I must confess that some of the b-sketches are... inspired. Kudos to you, sir.
The rest, they are a mixture of painfully real situations, scenarios where you find yourself very represented and they sometimes hit extremely close, something I think is a huge success and somehow balances the book as a whole.

(Millenials realize that they are laughing about stuff they may be shouldn't but that's our way of not having time to realize the world around us is on fire)
And yes, hands are weird.

I highly recommend 'I hope this helps' to anyone who needs to leave the phone unattended for a while and does not mind getting face to face with an unapologetic gallery of, among others, jokes about millenials, classifications and... rear ends.
I think I'm going to follow the very wise advice from 'power of positive self-image', by the way.

***ARC by Netgalley. I really appreciate it.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

A collection of offbeat, funny, and weird cartoons from the wonderfully twisted mind of Tommy Siegel. This enjoyable read is geared to millenials and those hopelessly addicted to social media. Alternating with the comics are humorous essays that answer the burning question of how a touring musician in an indie pop band also became a cartoonist.

A handful of these cartoons have adult and political themes. For those not immersed in American internet culture, these jokes will probably fall flat. However, for its intended audience the majority of these will hit the mark. I felt personally called out by some of the cartoons, but always in a way that made me chuckle.

This book is curated from Tommy's drawing challenge (500 cartoons for 500 days) and is an eclectic mix about anxiety, internet addiction, music, life on the road, coping mechanisms, pop culture, coffee, candy hearts, and most importantly, butts.He has unexpected insight on a variety of subjects, and his quirky art style with floating eyeballs and "concealed carry" noses is instantly recognizable.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

I Hope This Helps was born of Tommy Siegel's idea to create 500 cartoons in 500 days. He posted his drawings to several social media sites each day, and at the end of it, decided to create a book featuring a collection of the best of these comics, as well as a few essays detailing his experience creating these comics.

My favorite part of the book were the parts where he told us how the process worked. The comics were hit and miss for me. A few genuinely made me laugh, several made me smile, and some left me scratching my head. That said, I expect he will continue to grow as an artist as he goes, and I look forward to see what he comes out with in the future.

In response to the title of Tommy Siegel's first published comic collection, I want to say - yes, yes this helps. This helps very much. His combination of absurdist humor combined with witty observations of the absurdity of present-day living make this book both a great laugh-packed distraction and also a source of great relief thanks to the clever relatability that can be found on nearly every wonderfully ridiculous page.

Loved it! I've been a huge fan of Jukebox the Ghost for years, so I was really excited to check out this book. Tommy's cartoons are extremely clever and on point for this cultural moment. Would recommend to anyone who needs a good laugh these days!

Probably most relevant for Millennials, especially those who are cringing over the current state of US culture and politics, or who would gladly pay $7 for an artisan cold brew from a barista with a waxed mustache. I fall into all of these categories, and if you do too, this is a MUST read. Clever, witty, spot on.

I preordered the hard copy for my young 30s brother who is surely going to read it in one sitting and laugh his booty off in the process.

Thank you Tommy for normalizing the craziness I feel on a daily basis since 2016!

Thomas is a wonderful human. This book is witty, funny, and self-aware. Spectacular read. It truly did help.

This was really funny! I laughed, snorted, chuckled, and nodded in solidarity all the way through it. Of course some of the comics were funnier than others—that’s par for the course with humor.

I didn’t mind the brief essay sections. They slowed the reading a bit, but were interesting and relatable, if a little repetitive. I, too, have wrestled with the question of how social media is adding to my life or hurting it, and how it’s affecting our society as a whole.

Overall, I rate this book 4 Gary Larsons out of 5.




https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3516514387

3.5-4

slight t/w: mention of depression
i've been super burnt out & busy, but this collection of doodles/comics was incredibly refreshing in a way.
i thought tommy siegel's work was very original. i liked how it was composed of doodles/comics that reflect millenial culture, everyday anxieties, & intense social media consumption. i liked how siegel also took the time to explain some of the doodles & his process with drawing 500 doodles/comics while being a musician. it allows the reader to understand the creator & their work better which i appreciated. i do wish it was a bit longer & there were more doodles/comics incorporated because i felt like the text to doodle/comic ratio was a bit off, but that could just be me. overall, 'i hope this helps' really did help.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This was a fun and easy read. The author goes into detail about how drew comics for 500 days in a row. He talks about the joys and the hardships of doing this. He is also a musician so he will at times contrast the art forms. The book is mainly the best comics (in the author's opinion) from the 500 days. Some of them are funny, some are related, and some just plain weird. There are also some sections of long text that at times was relatable and at others went waaaaaaay too far down the rabbit hole of social media and what it is doing to our society. Overall, an entertaining, quick read.

I Hope This Helps is a comic series focused on the absurd parts of life and anxiety. Created by Tommy Siegel, it's marketed as being the perfect escape from a world that has gotten far too real.

I'm going to be completely honest with you here: I think I would have liked this graphic novel more had the title and marketing been different. The title (and description) led me to believe that it was going to be a funny, quirky, and uplifting series of comics.

It wasn't. Sure, it was funny at times, and that's why I refuse to rate it lower than three stars, well, that and the artwork. But it also got pretty dark. Nothing about the jokes or comics in this would be defined as helping.

This comic series takes the time to make many comparisons between different generations, but mostly younger and older millennials. There are some good laughs to be found here, especially if you have a good sense of humor about yourself or the whole situation.

In short, I Hope This Help has a unique sense of humor, and is worth the read. Just don't go into it expecting it to actually try to help. The goal is to make people laugh, but not in the most expected ways possible.