Far freaking out, man!, 24 Sep 2008
Sorry, couldn't help that and if I hadn't used that title I'm sure someone else would have.
This book brings back memories of the early 70's when I had long hair and regularly visited a head shop in Newcastle's arcade where I bought my first Grateful Dead t-shirt (Skull & Roses, what else?) and picked up the occasional copy of The Furry Freak Brothers, all long since gone missing.
Along with Crumb's Fritz the Cat, the Freak Bros were the best known characters, and the longest lived, to come out of the underground comics movement of the late 60's. The reason being they were brilliantly written, outrageously funny, perceptive, satirical, scathingly cynical about just about everything, and so on. The detailed distinctive and appealing cartoonish style didn't hurt either.
Now although the core joke is that of the FB's constant search for drugs (followed by sex), the stories themselves ranged widely across all aspects of the counter-culture and the world, music, capitalism, government agencies, revolution, movies, comics, and extreme violence. Oh and let's not forget the Fat Freddy's Cat strip and said cat's constant search for food (preferably live & screaming) and place to use as a toilet (shoes and hats being good). Despite being of their time, the stories remain as fresh and funny as the day they were first published.
Over 600 pages, 224 in colour with covers and posters and other odd stuff, and a brief history of the strip, this is a bargain and a genuine masterpiece of the comic form. This is just great fun from the first to last pages and an essential purchase. It's even better than drugs, man (or so I'm told.)
Fantastical hilarious druggy hippies, great art and stories, 11 Feb 2003
I've lost count of the number of times I've read the Freak Brothers cartoons. They were a favourite of mine when I was a hippy student. But reading them again now as a 33 year old "straight" non-drug-using IT Manager, I still find them great fun and very engrossing.
The Freak Brothers are 3 hippies who spend their lives doing drugs and getting into ridiculous adventures. For example: moving to the country on cocaine earnings, starting a gold rush, and ending up running the town; going to Mexico, getting locked up on false charges and meeting a great Mexican mystic; going into the movie business; trying to sell on radioactive material; etc... etc...
Each story lasts from one page to a whole comic length. The plots are wonderful, and full of little twists and turns. The 3 characters are distinct and hilarious, the "straight man" Freewheelin' Frank, the "stupid one" Fat Freddy, and the "geek" Phineas.
The cartoons are, of course, fantasy. Any real human beings doing the amount and variety of drugs that the Freak Brothers do, or living their lifestyle, would have been dead or totally insane within a decade of starting! (And certainly addicted with a few years...)
Although these are chaotic hippy comix in one sense, they are very ordered in another sense. They use standard but detailed cartoony art which is lovely to look at, easy to follow "non-surreal" plots - the skills of the writer and artist are great. It is these skills that really make the comics timeless, not their super-hippy nature. The drugs and "drop out" elements really serve as a fantasy-enabler, helping the Freak Brothers to do and get into the most amazing situations.
These are highly recommended for chaotic comedy comic reading. BUT, if you are a student, don't let these stories sway you into believing you can do loads of drugs with impunity!
