The only reason this isn't getting five stars is that this is Beaton's first collection and she's gotten even funnier (i.e. better) since this collection came out. If you don't read Hark, a Vagrant you should be.

What's to love?

Beaton makes history funny without dumbing down the history. (Which isn't to say there's no dumb humor in the book. There's a lot of dumb humor. But it's *smart* dumb.)

Beaton draws in the casual, scribbly style of Norton Juster or Lauren Child. Not enough cartoonists draw that way for my tastes.

And you'll laugh. If Napoleon eating cookies doesn't get you, Tesla's bloomer-throwing groupies just might do the trick. ( )

I'm persistently fond of Beaton's strips; even when the joke doesn't quite work, there's something charming about them. They're daffy, yet intelligent. Her scratchy pen style is acute and expressive when it needs to be, amateurishly loose when it doesn't.

I love it when she lets herself go on period costumes; I'm wearing her constipated-looking beruffled Victorians saying "I am so excited for someone to invent the t-shirt" t-shirt as I write this. ( )

I don't know why it took me so long to warm to this webcomic. Friends kept forwarding me the wrong ones at the wrong time, I guess. But now it's one of my favorites. And I don't even know that much about history (or Canada). The quirky snark works regardless, plus you end up learning new things. She's a history major who works in a museum, so the scenarios are fact-based, if never the dialog. And the art itself can be just hilarious. ( )

Quirky, fresh, and charming historical comics. ( )

Kate Beaton writes about historical characters, with more than a few Canadians showing up (a selling point for me). A fantastic book, the kind of thing everyone can enjoy. Her web site is here:
http://harkavagrant.com ( )