Rex

by Van Dyke Jones, Northland Publishing, 1990.

Interesting little work - the most interesting part of the book is the introduction, in which the author/illustrator lays out in detail the origins of his airbrushed cartoon dog named "Rex" with the unblinking eyes and the thick body and stiff legs - Jones goes through all the origins, from his childhood on up, and even about the familial inspiration for all the primary and secondary characters and some of the exigencies of the situations which present themselves to our "everyman" hero, Rex.

In fact, Parks in his introduction even likens his creation (and even skews it to wonder if his "creation" had, in fact, created the creator) to the characters of James Thurber, or Pogo.

With this, I was completely salivating with anticipation of the rest of this book - delights comparable to Thurber or Pogo! Shoot! Let me at it.

Unfortunately, the cartoon, while GOOD, was nowhere near what the intro purported it to be. These are one panel cartoons with a caption that illustrates a very basic drawing, which is usually simply Rex in a funny hat with an adobe building behind him. However, not to be fooled, the humour is in the subtlety, because usually the situation is that Rex is in trouble with the wife, and is simply waiting for the "storm" to blow over. So what we see in Rex's unblinking stare is a reflection of ourselves as husbands, and as men in general.

So, while the creation is simple, and good, and somewhat charming . . . it's nowhere near as good as the fantasy created by the introduction.

I mean, that was one dam'fine intro, I'm tellin' ya!

VG