The variety of art style in this book is impressive. Yes, it's a book about (mostly) birds being existential and darkly hilarious, which means that there's zero things wrong with it! These animals are filled with such self reflection and wonder that you can't help but relate and want to be on their level. The tone is so pitch perfect if you're into gallows humor.

Ew, it's beautiful describes this collection of short comics perfectly. The art is gorgeous and it offers a nice variety of comics, so you definitely won't get bored going through it! I don't think all of them are winners -some I really didn't get, but others I want to frame and hang in my house to look at forever.

6/10 - Gorgeous art, funny, sometimes deep, will make you a fan of seagulls.

It's a collection of arts about birds and life.
It's funny, refreshing, beautiful and (as far as I know) scientifically accurate. (Bird facts come in handy y'all)
Loved it. I'm gonna go back to my favorite panels so many times.

Reading this collection of comics brought a big smile to my face and I laughed so much! The art is so beautiful and the comics so hilarious! I also love how the art is varied with watercolors, inks, pens, markers. It makes the whole collection so much more interesting to read. I think this would be a great gift to friends who enjoy comics! Really loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Are there uglier birds? Sure. Are there prettier birds? No.

This is just as delightful as it is in strip form, and it was just as funny (and sometimes profound) to read them for a second time.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for letting me read!

Lovely comic book with beautiful drawings. Focused on birds, animals and nature this book is a gentle journey into the minds of wildlife on the themes of friendship, and life, Enjoyable. Thank you to the author. Thank you to # NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was a cute, light read. Lots of animal humor and gorgeous artwork. I could just look at the pictures all day.

Sarcastic and witty; it’s a good way to spend an afternoon reading. I appreciated it but somehow it lacks of something to make me remember it in the future

This comic book can be summed up in two parts: the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! You can just see the reverence for birds, and the occasional cat or rabbit. The detail is exquisite.

As for the text, for the most part, I did not find anything funny, even though I like dark humor. Most of the panels were a miss for me. You clearly need to have a niche sense of humor.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A collection of cute, sweet, funny, and existential bird comics. Everyone who reads this is sure to find at least one comic that makes them laugh, and even if it doesn’t match your sense of humor, you can still admire the beautiful artwork!

Joshua Barkman’s next installment for the False Knees series is just as funny as his last. Beautiful illustrations and a really funny bird perspective of the world through the seasons. A fantastic gift for bird lovers!

A collection of one of my favorite introspectively absurd comics? Yes please! I always love it when I come across these comics on social media! (Do I mean on Tumblr? ...Yes I mean on Tumblr.) And my friends and I love to send each other links to them. This book is birthday and holiday gift material.

This book is humorous at moments, and while I would like a picture of the seagull and the "You'll regret 100% of the fries you don't take" to hang on my wall, overall the book is just ok. I think the author could have waited longer to put together the funniest comics in one book if I'm honest. There were funny moments, but not enough that I would have finished it had it already not been short.

Ew, It’s Beautiful is, well… exactly what it says on the tin. Beautiful? Absolutely. Ew? Occasionally. Funny? Sometimes.

Joshua Barkman’s art is gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that makes you stop mid-page just to appreciate how lovingly he’s drawn a slightly annoyed bird or a squirrel having an existential crisis. Even when a joke didn’t quite land for me-and yeah, a fair few didn’t-I still enjoyed just looking at the page. His animals have personality without feeling cartoonish.

Humor-wise, it was hit or miss for me. A few comics made me genuinely laugh, especially the ones that felt more like oddly specific memes than punchlines. Others felt a bit too familiar or a little too gentle in their absurdity to stick with me.

Overall, it’s a nice collection. Solid. Not mind-blowing, not reinventing anything, but if you like beautiful art and thoughtful little observations about life, animals, and how weird our brains can be, this might be your thing. Just don’t expect every page to make you laugh out loud. Sometimes it just makes you go, “…huh,” and honestly, that’s fine too.

With comics that aim to be funny, it all comes down to how well your sense of humour fits that of the author. For me, this was not the case with Ew, It’s Beautiful — thankfully, Joshua Barkman has more to offer!

The elephant in the room: the beauty of the illustrations… it abundantly speaks for itself. Rarely do I encounter this much beauty in style and execution both! I cannot imagine anyone disliking them, or finding them unremarkably generic: for though they’re pretty objectively beautiful, they also have their own individual souls. At least to me it seems Barkman’s tenderness towards animals flowed through his pen.

I’m also not saying none of the jokes landed for me, because some certainly did. These were ones I found relatable on a larger scale, more akin to memes. (If anything, some of the comics could very well be used as templates!) But for me the strongest were the more sentimental ones, either cute or sad. The artwork 100% lends itself to these instances. And I fully believe there are quite a few pages in here that Mary Oliver would have loved.

Ew, this was fun to read.

A comic with birds as the main characters, with other animals like bugs and cats and beavers sprinkled in, going through not so profound and funny realizations as well as existentialist ones, too. The art was beautiful and fun and charming, seeming to use a variety of media like water color and some collage and sketches. Detailed and realistic, but also fun.

If you want some fun art to look at, or you like birds, you’ll enjoy this!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a charming title. I laughed way more than I thought I would, and it's so fun. And there were nice reflective moments in the series too. I really really liked it.

This was such a fun and delightful read. Ew, It’s Beautiful is a collection of single- and multi-panel strip comics, each packed with wit, whimsy, and the kind of dry humor that sneaks up on you in the best way.

The illustrations are absolutely stunning—Joshua Barkman’s expressive art style gives each bird a distinct personality. I already have three people in mind I want to gift this to, which says a lot about how charming and accessible this collection is.

Even when the comics touch on existential or slightly darker themes, they remain light-hearted and oddly comforting. There’s a bit of goblin energy here—quirky, unexpected, and a little chaotic, in the best possible way. While other animals make the occasional appearance, this is definitely a bird-centric collection (yes, sometimes others pop in—but it’s about 99% birds, so I stand by that!).

If you enjoy Strange Planet, animals with personalities in general, or meme-like comics you feel the urge to immediately share with your friends, this one’s for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this gem!

Hilarious and charming! I’ve been following these comic strips on social media for years, so I was thrilled to read an advance copy of the latest False Knees collection. As someone who enjoys birdwatching in my own backyard, this is exactly my kind of humor. These silly little birds and critters—egocentric, dry, and utterly ridiculous—made me laugh out loud.

The artwork is stunning. With watercolor, pen, and colored pencils, the illustrations capture the details of nature beautifully. What really sets it apart is how much emotion the artist conveys on the faces of animals—without ever fully anthropomorphizing them. That’s where the comedy magic happens. It's like a bird version of Jim from The Office staring into the camera.

Wry, weird, and wonderful—this collection is a joy.

4.5/5

I'm a simple woman. I like art, I like memes and I like birds. This book has all three.

It provides little slice of life moments and most sequences are 1-2 pages. So whether you choose a random page whenever you feel like it, or eat the whole thing up in one go like I did, this book will make your day a little bit better. I chuckled multiple times while reading.

The art style ranges from black and white to colorful. You will find relatively simple, sketchlike drawings as well as very detailed ones.

I really enjoyed this book, as it was light-hearted and refreshing to read while also being diverse enough to stay interesting.

ARC, so thanks to NetGalley and the publisher providing this in exchange for an honest review.