The critically acclaimed comic strip the Penned Guin returns to print with “Burnout”-an all new collection of the daily cartoons that appeared on-line through late 2020/early 2021. The new book is packed with 100 pages of penguin laughs and giggles from the pen of creator Alan Henderson.
As a kid I remember the excitement I had for the Sunday edition of the paper. See, the Sunday edition had the separate full-color insert of comic strips. I was methodical in my reading of the funny papers, I had a system. First it was Garfield, then Peanuts, Skip over to Family Circus, then back to Dagwood, and do on. I made sure to read all the funny strips first before moving on to the adventures of Tarzan, Prince Valiant, The Phantom, and Flash Gordon.
Why tell you that story? Because I found some of that joy rekindled in The Penned Guin. For the most part they are simple three-panel puns or a play on words, but that type of storytelling is almost lost. I can’t remember the time I read a comic strip before today. Creator, Alan Henderson, is able to not just get a joke across in three panels, but he tapped into a feeling of nostalgia for me. I don’t think that was intentional but it happened and added to my enjoyment of the strips. Even the jokes that fell flat (hey, in 100-pages of strips they can’t all be winners) still brought a smile to my face.
The Penned Guin succeeds in its simplicity of giving you a daily smile. And that is what the funny papers were all about.
Score 10/13
The Penned Guin–Burnout–Kickstarter campaign is running March 19th, 2021 through April 10th 20201. you can check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1136825457/the-penned-guin-burnout
