Erich Origen

I received this book in the first-reads program.

While I'm not opposed to parody books, this one came up a bit dry for me. The tone of the book itself kept switching between a rather adult tone (hence the reference to the Southern strategy) and a childish one (the Democrat decrying that the food "tastes like chicken.. which it was itself.) By not sticking to a consistent tone I felt a bit robbed of the full experience.

As expected, the book took a hard line against the Republicans. What surprised me, however, was that at the end in the "epilogue" it took a stance against the Democrats as well. What the book left me with, as a reader, was a generally confused bewilderment as to what the book would agree with at all. If both parties are awful, then why exactly take a stance that would further such animosity? It seemed strange.

… (meer)

In which motivational speaker superhero The Ultimatum, fired by his ubercapitalist employers the Just Us League and deserted by his sidekick A+, who has to pick up an extra shift at his day job, reverts to his public identity as Bruce Paine and begins a desperate search for new employment. He quickly joins up with superheroes and sidekicks who have been similarly left behind by the economy and together they begin a crusade against various capitalist supervillains such as Laissez Fairy, The Invisible Hand, and Pink Slip. This is an extremely amusing book, and the characters' daffy names, invariably a sendup of some economic term or cliche, are not to be missed, and virtually every panel introduces a new one. Obviously this book is written from a point of view, but conservatives should relax, check their politics at the door, and enjoy the fun.… (meer)