Filled with wonderful black and white art, "Ew, It's Beautiful" is a must read/must-have for bird lovers with a sense of humor. Barkman's newest will be definite purchase for my book collection, upon publication.

**Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.**

Publishing date: 05.08.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: Stunning art paired with humor, and the main cast is animals. 5 stars

I loved this little book. The art is beautiful and the humor is just up my alley. Truly, I have nothing negative to say about it except that I wish it was longer.

To summarize, if you like sarcastic and slightly "dumb" humor from the perspective of an animal then you will like it. And the art here is just *kiss* MUAH.

Audience here could be anyone. There are no direct adult or child themes, the language is for everyone, and anyone can enjoy quality art. I do think some of the humor will fly above Middle grade and younger audience, but they will like the pictures.

5 stars, just the perfect little treat for me right now. Will be recommending it to anyone and everyone. Possibly also buying a copy to decorate my shelves ...

10/10 no notes, this book brought me so much joy and I can't wait to pick up a copy for my coffee table.

I received an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a huge collection of short, sweet, thoughtful, and genuinely amusing comics focusing primarily on birds, but with some ants, beavers, and raccoons thrown in for good measure.

The art is everything from adorable to psychedelic.

I genuinely laughed a few times, which is really something for this type of comic.

A thoroughly pleasant and amusing collection.

This is a fun and fast read! I imagine it’ll make for the perfect gift for bird lovers and comic strip readers alike. I loved the art style and look forward to more!

Animals with personality, birds at that, what’s not to like! I absolutely loved this. Beautifully illustrated and very funny.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

(Links will be added when the book is officially published - as I suppose that's what's expected by the publisher)

Humourous, thoughtful, and georgeously drawn! (As was to be expected if you've ever looked at the artist's online presence.)

This is a lovely collection of short strips by Joshua Barker, assorted by seasons. A variety of birds reflecting on bird and human existence - and the big and small questions of life.

A great quick read!

This book is a collection of short comics by Joshua Barkman.
While most of them feature different birds (along with a few other animals), do not be fooled.
This book is nothing short of a human mirror, making us challenge some of our thoughts and notions.

It is as funny as it is clever and thought-provoking.

I am not a bird enthusiast, but was able to fully enjoy this book nonetheless, which additionally portrays the universality of the topics mentioned here.

I did not read anything by this author previously, and I will surely change that now.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

An all around fun time! Great art, grand characters and amusing and inspiring thoughts on every page. I enjoyed every page.

Delightful! I enjoyed the structure and balance between humor and introspection. A fun, quick read with an interesting premise.

Super cool!! Da weiss ich auf Anhieb schon 2 Menschen, die das von mir geschenkt bekommen! Total gut! Werde es oft empfehlen.

4,5 stars!

As a bird lover, this graphic novel just hits the right spot. I truly laughed my ass off with some of these illustrations and the faces of the birds. The illustrations are as beautiful as they are funny and one of a kind. The behavior of the birds truly stood out against the funny aspects such as building a next, loneliness and internal thoughts.

It makes me kind of remember that we think too much ourselves. Where birds can enjoy the beauty of nature and each other, or themselves. This graphic novel is beautifully done with fun aspects to it.

I'd highly recommend this novel if you love birds as much as I do, and are in for a very fun and quick read about the funny behaviors and internal thoughts of birds and other creatures. Because ew, that was so beautiful.

If you are looking for a light-hearted, thought-provoking and funny read, I enjoyed reading about these birds.

The illustrations are beautiful, and I enjoyed how the colour palette changed with the seasons.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing, NetGalley and Edelweiss for this DRC.

This one was so delightful!

It's a collection of comics from Joshua Barkman, and if you follow him on social media you've probably seen some of them. However, in this collection they are divided into seasons and I just love this framing.

Overall, this was funny yet melancholic, and I think that everyone would love to read this. Not only are the drawings fantastic and detailed, but the critters have distinct personalities that just make sense. And all of them are just so, so adorable. And, frankly, relatable.

If you've wondered what the pigeons thought about while they scrolled downtown, or you just want to have a fun time, I beg you to pick this one up.

A quick and refreshing read.

Ew, It's Beautiful is a collection of memes that explores some of the bizzare places our minds could go through the inner thoughts and conversations of animals. The art was beautiful and some of the comics made me smile, but for the most part, the humor was not my cup.

This was a quick and quirky read about animals (mainly birds). It was pretty enjoyable collection of small comics.

"a bird after a bird after a bird" -- or something like that. this comic collection was perfect. i'd come across barkman's comics on tumblr, so having realized the chance to get my little raccoon hands full of them was a no-brainer. i love that the comics were structured around the seasons. it really sends home the point that we're all just some little creature living in this world, full of our own thoughts and feelings.

if you want a good laugh with dashes of existentialism and hope, read these. a little birdie told me so.

A fun collection of bird memes. The artwork is fun and intriguing. I don’t think this humor was for me though.

A hysterical collection of great art and hilarious comics. Quirky and beautifully illustrated! Worth a read!

A great way to laugh out loud- you'll want to share this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Andrew McMeels publishing for the arc.

I thought this was a very cute collection of comics. Quite a few made me chuckle out loud while others made me stop to think. (There were a couple I didn't get as well, but overall I enjoyed them). I love to imagine conversations birds and other animals have on a daily basis and I feel like these comic strips perfectly captured that. The artwork was beautiful as well.

This was a very quick and easy read through, which was a perfect palate cleanser after the heavy book I just read. I would recommend!