Andrea Tsurumi’s Why Would You Do That? Is a collection of short stories and one page comics that feel at home in MAD Magazine, back when the magazine was good. There’s a mixture of stories here. Some goofy, some funny, others that will make you think while still remaining weird. There’s a strange cohesiveness to the comic even though the stories are all separate and standalone. I won’t go through all of them, but I will point out a few that highlight the volume. The first story needs to be talked about. It’s called “Poodle Smart” and it’s a hilarious look at poodles. It gives you all the info about them that you would ever need. It also shows instantly how diverse Tsurumi’s art style is by illustrating a wide range of material to go along with the poodles. There’s a lot of visual gags, but by far the one that made me laugh the most was the example of why a poodle needs exercise and mental stimulation. I won’t tell you any more than that.

One of the one-page comics was just a series of print shirts with different sayings. No joke, I would wear quite a few of them if they were real. Quite a few of them. Another great story is called “How To Pool” and it’s instructions about how to pool… it’s as funny as it sounds. There’s also a two-page comic of fake newspaper stories in which all the pictures were taken by a food photographer. I know that it sounds like I spoiled that one for you, but trust me I did not. The headlines and the pictures together are what make it hilarious.

The last story I’ll cover is “Hmtown” which stands for “Home Town” in case you didn’t catch that. It’s about Irvingdale the most haunted town in the country. The charm of this story is that everyone in the down, from inanimate objects to animals, tells some of the story. A lot of the stories are random. Information that few would find interesting, but the way it’s presented here is interesting. At first this seems like a goofy tale, but towards the end it’s clear that all of these stories are being used to build a different story happening in the background. That story, is touching and relatable. It’s a well-crafted story because by the end it’s a different story altogether. The art for this story is the most realistic and given the most care when it comes to the backgrounds and settings.

The overall art for this collection is great. It starts with the first story setting the possibility of anything can happen and it continues from there. Tsurumi definitely favors a style in which people are more on the realistic side with a variety of body shapes. There’s also a lot of weird illustrations which I only mean as a compliment. I don’t know how else to describe cakes and pies fighting other than weird and hilarious, especially when you see the level of detail.

I don’t see how this comic wouldn’t be for you. It’s funny. Its illustrations are frankly better than the vast majority of comics being published weekly and it’s unique. I have never read anything quite like this, but I certainly wanted to read more when I was done. If you’ve moved out of your superhero comic reading phase and you’re ready to really see what comics are about, then hey… start here.

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Why Would You Do That? Creator: Andrea Tsurumi Publisher: Alternative Comics/Hic + Hoc Publications Price: $10.00 Release Date: 5/10/16 Format: TPB; Print

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