Book Review: THE BIRTH OF CANIS

I was never a huge fan of "Get Fuzzy." However, now that my local newspaper no longer publishes the strip, I have to admit that I really do miss reading it on a daily basis. THE BIRTH OF CANIS is a collection of "Get Fuzzy" strips that ran in newspapers from July 6, 2009-May 23, 2010. Before even opening the book, I was really impressed with the cover of THE BIRTH OF CANIS which is a parody of the famous "Birth of Venus" painting by Botticelli. There aren't too many longer running storylines in this collection, though there are a few, including Bucky's plan to put he and Satchel on a tv reality show (an idea that is turned down, but is later picked up by the next door neighbor Fungo Squiggly as the series WORST NEIGHBORS for the Ferret Television Network) and Bucky's implementation of the Ferret Threat Level warning system. In some collections previous to THE BIRTH OF CANIS, the focus on Bucky and Satchel with Rob as the straight man was lost and the strip started to seem to revolve around the ever larger cast of unusual animals that Bucky and Satchel know. That's not the case in THE BIRTH OF CANIS. The focus has returned to the core trio. With that said, Fungo makes a few appearances as does Mac Manc McManx. Also, for a few strips Satchel brings home a stray dog he finds, Ibid Q. Muttly. Overall, a decent collection of "Get Fuzzy" strips, that, although isn't as funny as some other previous collections, such as MASTERS OF THE NONSENSEVERSE: A GET FUZZY COLLECTION, is more in-tune with the original humor of "Get Fuzzy" that made it such a hit.