cover image Dog Butts and Love. And Stuff Like That. And Cats.

Dog Butts and Love. And Stuff Like That. And Cats.

Jim Benton. NBM (www.nbmpublishing.com), $13.99 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-56163-846-8

Though the title makes some very specific promises about the content, there are also lots of gags about death, particularly murder, and breasts. The former points to a pleasing dark edge that runs through Benton’s cartoons and gives them some heft, while the latter at least shows his comedy is unfiltered. The gags, such as “The Passive Aggressive Raven,” which has made the rounds online and one particularly funny strip that covers a baby’s enthusiasm for new life, are tricked out with ironic twists and surrealist humor. Benton’s cartoons are hugely popular on Reddit.com, the website from which these comics were taken, and, like many webcomic artists, he uses multiple cartooning styles, adopting whatever works best for each strip. Benton is best-known as a one-man children’s franchise blockbuster, having created the kids’ series The Dumb Diaries, It’s Happy Bunny, and more. His name is still not quite household-level, but this collection might open up offline readers to his adult material. (July)