I have seen these comic panels around the web on different platforms like Facebook and Instagram. They are always enjoyable and it's great to see them in a print book. Absolutely loved this one, funny short comics that take mere minutes to read and brighten your day with laughter. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys quick comics like All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen and Jory John.

Oh, how I love funny pieces of media that have underlying deeper themes...

"Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection" has everything from hilarious bird behavior and everyday animal actions presented in a punny way to questions that confront you directly with moments from your own life.
I highly recommend reading this, no matter if you need a smile, want a beautiful art style to admire, or think about the silly human race through a new lens.

This review is brought to you by me, as well as the two pigeons who have been watching me for the entire time it took me to type out this text and are probably wondering why I was laughing about pictures of their relatives earlier.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.

A delightful coffee table book and a perfect gift for friends this summer. The panels don't have an overarching plot, but they're hilarious and a nice sample of the False Knees comics style (and they're Canadian!).

This was delightful! Admittedly, there were a few comics in this book that I didn’t get, but I enjoyed most of them and genuinely found a lot of them to be hilarious!

Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection by Joshua Barkman
lighthearted slow-paced
Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0 ⭐

Beautiful illustration style, quirky humor, but awkward pacing/ordering?
As a collection of comic strips/panels I didn't expect to see any kind of strong narrative connection but did find how the book was ordered was a little odd. The book is broken into seasons with winter being the only one that showed strong connection to the season it was placed in. Additionally, and this might be a personal preference, I found it slightly jarring how some sections had a number of purely illustrative pages slotted in among the comics. While absolutely gorgeous I did feel that it threw off tone by jumping between humor (albeit beautifully drawn), and purely aesthetic pieces. I personally would have preferred if they had kept all of the stand alone art pieces to a single section for me to flip through and appreciate as a whole rather than interspersed.

A good collection for those who are already a fan of the artist or who enjoy one page/four panel style comics.

Thank you NetGalley & Andrews McMeel Publishing for the review copy of this comic

A delightfully offbeat collection of the everyday musings of birds and other creatures! Ew, It’s Beautiful is the perfect palette cleanser or coffee table book to flip through when you need a laugh, since each comic strip is self-contained and usually only a page or two in length.

You'll enjoy if you like puns, existential humour, and beautiful line illustrations.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy.

It was honestly so funny 🤣🤣🤣
I laughed so many times. Quick, simple, yet so entertaining comic. It was more like memes than comic 🤣🤣🤣
The illustrations were so beautiful. Beautiful and funny. What a book!

Thank you to Joshua Barkman, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for this perfectly amazing book.

A nod to one of the comics contained within, Ew, It’s Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection by Joshua Barkman imagines what birds would say if they could talk to each other.

I’ve followed False Knees on IG for years. I was very excited to see a collection. Artful, funny, snarky, and occasionally sweet. ​I enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it. We can always use more reasons to laugh. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrew’s McMeel Publishing. 5/5

Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection
by Joshua Barkman
This book has so much going for it. Gorgeous artwork that matches the corresponding type. Clever and witty comics, with or without the type. The main subjects are birds, but other animals are in here too.

I love his humor! It's the kind of humor that catches you off guard.
Between the enchanting art and the witty humor, I felt so good when I finished this book. I had been stressed for weeks, but I finally felt relaxed.

This would be perfect for a gift , for yourself, for someone stressed, or for that side table/coffee table you put your special books. It would certainly be an ice breaker and conversation starter.

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this incredible book!

If birds thought like humans. Who knows? Maybe they do! This book will get you thinking about it.
This book is a fun, quirky and quick read. Bonus points if you are a fan of gorgeous bird artwork.

Thank you to Andrew McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a great book for dipping in and out of, it is witty and the illustrations are all amazing. A very funny well put together book which will be very well received by our library patrons of all ages.

What a fun silly graphic novel all about birds. It was a delight to read and had many funny comics in it. I especially like the comics about raccoons. Those were great. I have not read Joshua's other book, but I put a hold on it at the library and will read it soon. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a lighthearted silly book.

3/5
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

The art is lovely! I particularly love the comics in a monochrome watercolor style. I do think some of the comics have nice messages, but the humor is very Facebook Meme-esque which is not my personal preference.

I have enjoyed the False Knees comics for awhile so it is nice to have a collection of the comics together. I enjoyed the way that the comics were organized by season throughout. The comics about the crows were my favorite.

I loved this book! The art was absolutely gorgeous, in both composition and color. Many of the pages made me laugh or at least smile and I like how it was separated by season. I'm eager to try and stock this in my store, and I'd love to recommend it to people. I'm partial to comic strip books but this one takes it a up a notch with the lovely art style. The humor was just my thing as well.

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review

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⚝ Rating ⚝: 5✩ / 5✩’s

⚝ Review ⚝: This was just a fun, quick read through with refreshing animal-behavior humor. As a bird lover, I absolutely adored this and will absolutely add a physical copy to my collection. While a very lighthearted and humorous look into the behavior of birds, it all made absolute sense. This is 100% what birds are thinking. You can't convince me otherwise.

⚝ Illustrations⚝: I loved this art style! Everything from lineart, abstract, and watercolor, it all tied really well together and fit the tone of the comics.

My monthly reading breakdown for May will be posted to TikTok, IG, and Threads the first week of June.

The art in this book is unbelievable, it is seriously beautiful! The stories are funny and clever and it’s so interesting how it reflects the lives of birds with ours and how they “see” life. Loved it and would love to read more from this author! Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read this story. This book was pretty good and if you’re into short humorous comics this is the right kind of book for you.

Personally, I just don’t think I have the same sense of humor as the author/illustrator. I heard about the artist before and that they were really funny so when I saw the ARC available on NetGalley I decided to try it. I could tell that the intention of the comics was to be humorous. The way they were drawn, the syntax of the sentences and the placement of punctuation indicated humor, however I personally didn’t find many of the panels funny and I think that’s just down to personal preferences of humor.

However, some of the short comics were very interesting. I liked getting to see the way the birds were drawn and the funny way that each of the birds was portraying a bird stereotype while also commenting just a little bit on our own human stereotypes. It was definitely more of a humorous comic compilation than one with one overarching message, but it did have some messages in it.

I personally enjoyed the layout of the comic. Each short comic was usually a page but no more than 2 pages which gave it a distinct finish to each unrelated comic pieces. However, the whole book was held together comprehensively by breaking up the book into sections by season. All four seasons were represented with an equal amount of comic strips per season all set during that season. It made it feel organized even the comic strips might be unrelated to each other.

Overall, I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. Not my type of humor but overall, the formatting and art style were very well done, and I enjoyed that part of the book.

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I'm going to be honest; I've not heard of the False Knees comics. However, the title was quite intriguing. I tread into this book carefully, and I was not disappointed. Ew, It’s Beautiful is a weirdly relatable and beautifully illustrated collection of comics that’s perfect for bird lovers and fans of dry, slightly existential humour.


The panel that stood out to me the most was 'Oh, it’s just you, the source of all my problems,' says the bird looking at its own reflection.
There are lots more that brought a smile to my face. If you like puns, you are sure to like this.

The artwork is stunning; it ranges from simple black and white to bright colourful detailing. As the panels are 1-2 pages long and each offer an entirely new insight, you can read it all jumbled up or binge through it in one go.

I received an ARC of the book from the publisher 'Andrews McMeel Publishing' in exchange for my honest thoughts through NetGalley.
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Thank you Netgalley, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and Joshua Barkman for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is incredibly funny. I was laughing my but off the entire time. There is so much sass and sarcasm, I don't understand how it can be contained by mere pages. Perfection.