Hark! A Vagrant (Hardcover) (comics)

Hark! A Vagrant is an uproarious romp through history and literature seen through the sharp, contemporary lens of New Yorker cartoonist and comics sensation Kate Beaton. No era or tome emerges unscathed as Beaton rightly skewers the Western world's revolutionaries, leaders, sycophants, and suffragists while equally honing her wit on the hapless heroes, heroines, and villains of the best-loved fiction.

She deftly points out what really happened when Brahms fell asleep listening to Liszt, that the world's first hipsters were obviously the Incroyables and the Merveilleuses from eighteenth-century France, that Susan B. Anthony is, of course, a "Samantha," and that the polite banality of Canadian culture never gets old. Hark! A Vagrant features sexy Batman, the true stories behind classic Nancy Drew covers, and Queen Elizabeth doing the albatross.

As the 500,000 unique monthly visitors to harkavagrant.com already know, no one turns the ironic absurdities of history and literature into comedic fodder as hilariously as Beaton.

HARK! A VAGRANT takes readers on a romp through history and literature -- with dignity for few and cookies for all -- with comic strips about famous authors, their characters, and political and historical figures, all drawn in Beaton's pared-down, excitable style. This collection features favourite stories as well as new, previously unpublished content. Whether she's writing about Nikola Tesla, Napoleon, or Nancy Drew, Beaton brings a refined sense of the absurd to every situation.

In just four years, Kate Beaton has taken the comics world by storm with her non sequiturs, cheeky comebacks and irreverent punch lines. With 1.2 million monthly hits on her site - 500,000 of them unique-- and comics appearing in Harpers Magazine, the National Post and The New Yorker, her caricatures of historical and fictional figures filtered through a contemporary lens display a sharp, quick wit that knows no bounds.

See the original webcomics at: http://harkavagrant.com/