Haway Man, Klaus! – Richard Short
Haway Man, Klaus! by Richard Short / ISBN 9781911081111 / 232-page paperback with flaps, 7 x 6 inches, printed offset, published by Breakdown Press (UK)
***
Haway Man, Klaus! is the first full-length collection of comic strips charting the un-adventures of Klaus, Richard Short’s pensive, anthropomorphic cat.
Reinvigorating the classic comic strip, Short salutes Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Tove Jansson’s Moomins and Japanese cartooning masters, before veering quickly into an original, strange and utterly unique world of screwball comedy and poetic rumination.
Short’s wit, at times gentle, at times acerbic, is expressed through his mastery of clear-line cartooning, revealing a tapestry of relatable human emotion through a cast of offbeat characters. Occupying a wholly original space in the current landscape of cartooning, Haway Man, Klaus! breathes new life into the comic strip format.
“[Short] creates beautiful, funny and thoughtful comics … Short’s comics start from a Charles Schulz template but grow increasingly complex, philosophical and beautiful … endlessly entertaining, plumbing the character’s emotional depths and providing the fodder for some remarkable punchlines … this is really excellent work and is highly recommended for readers who like their humour mixed with poetry.” Rob Clough, High Low Comics
