Book 11 1/2

"It's Not Funny If I Have To Explain It" by Scott Adams

I love to hear about the creative process, or creator's opinions on their work. My favourite aspect of DVD technology is the capacity for commentary tracks. I thought the best aspect of "On Writing" was King's views on, well, writing (creative and practical aspects) and when a creative person is interviewed and they start chatting about how the do what they do (not the old "where do you get your ideas? schtick, but actually talking about the nuts and bolts) it's almost always interesting. With that in mind, I really enjoyed reading Scott's little notes at the bottom of the comics in this.

Essentially, it's just a collection of Adams' favourite strips, but with the added bonus of - as I said - little notes under the strips explaining why he wrote what he did or how he wasn't sure he'd get away with a gag he had planned, but that the editors didn't get it so it was printed. Basically, it was a comic strip compendium with a commentary track. Very neat.

Four "I never thought I'd get away with this" comments out of five.