A true classic of American comics. Thank you to Art Spiegelman and Seth (legendary cartoonists) for introducing me to Gross through KRAZY, the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit. I finally read this book after reading the KRAZY companion volume. He Done Her Wrong was their second choice as a highly influential part of American comics, right after Krazy Kat. ( )

I was attracted to He Done Her Wrong: the great American novel (with no words) because it is an early example of a wordless graphic novel (1930 - only the second one published in the USA) and described as something akin to a slapstick silent film. This is very true, and a lot of the scenes were very funny. I really enjoy books that tell stories in an unusual way, which is why I'm so drawn to wordless novels. I'm also a big fan of silent film, though I never do watch as many as I'd like - though I subscribe to TCM, I share the tv with my parents, and I'm rarely around or able to pick the station when silent films are airing. So, really, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't like He Done Her Wrong.

Unfortunately, I think I may be deficient in the visual shorthand used in comics in the 1920s, because I was pretty confused by many scenes. I wasn't entirely certain what the caricatures or set pieces were referring to, so the humor or just plain meaning was sometimes lost on me. For example, I couldn't figure out what the heck the Villain was doing with a coin-operated box that ended up making him destitute. Was it a machine for a train pass? for cigarettes? A slots-type gambling thing? It was plain that he was irritated by it and spending his entire fortune trying to get it to work, which was somewhat amusing, but the real humor was lost on me. It turns out, from the afterward, that it was a gum machine. Now it's hilarious!

But even with my ignorance of some of the visual gags, there was plenty to laugh at - from the way the Hero is completely out of his element in the Big City to the heartrending tale that the Heroine acts out in an effort to get a job, which is repeated step by step up the ladder to the very top of the company in great detail - only for that job to be washing the floors. So much effort and drama for such a thing! Dozens of pages in the build up, only for such pathos!

I would like to become more familiar with cartoons from this period, because I do enjoy them, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't have used a different book as my major introduction. He Done Her Wrong was enjoyable and all, but just a bit too confusing for 21st century me to be a really strong read. ( )

This is a novel told using no dialog at all. Every page is an illustration, and all dialog is implied by the action in the drawing. It sounds simple, but the artist conveys such a range of emotions in his drawings that the reader is quickly engrossed in the tale. Some of the drawings are dated, but the story itself is universal and timeless. Enjoy! ( )

A rollicking good story in pictures (no words) of a classic tale of good versus evil in the Canadian North by a master humorist, artist and storyteller.A telling panel is the moment when a dazed and beaten hero is about to cross paths with the girl he loves and has been searching for, when a bijou matinee sign carried by two workers comes between them, and they walk past each other unawares. The name of the movie on the sign is "Fate". ( )