You’ve likely seen Poorly Drawn Lines on the internet. It’s a comic strip of sorts that is similar to Cyanide & Happiness, but with more wit. If I had to pick, I would go with Poorly Drawn Lines because of the art. The art by creator Reza Farazmand is what really sells the jokes. It makes them memorable and more importantly you want to share them with others. Hence its popularity on the internet. Now with any collection of stories that looks to tell jokes there’s a risk of it growing repetitive. I will say that Poorly Drawn Lines dodges that bullet. It’s mainly due to the fact that you never know where the story is going and the fact that they’re lumped together by theme/chapters. Chapters save jokes people.

What unfortunately doesn’t work for the book is the actually stories that jump in and out of the chapters. These are un-illustrated prose stories that while occasionally funny, feel really out of place in the book. If I wasn’t reviewing this, I would have skipped them because there was little interest for me after the first one. I still think it was a strange choice and would have preferred more comic strips instead. Having said that, they felt like page filler.

The artwork is great. The style has a simple look, but don’t let that fool you. It’s very complex and the facial expressions do a tremendous job in helping with the jokes or being the jokes. The coloring is also simple and intentionally so. It gives the story a plain look, but because the story is anything but plain, it makes it even funnier. Simply put, you wouldn’t expect these stories to be paired with this art so its funnier because they are paired together.

If you like dark humor or stories that are weird and funny, then you should definitely check out Poorly Drawn Lines. And if you’re already a fan… well then you probably won’t find anything new, but hopefully you’ll see your favorites.

Score: 4/5

Poorly Drawn Lines: Good Ideas and Amazing Stories Creator: Reza Farazmand Publisher: Blue Rider Press/Plume Price: $18.00 Release Date: 10/6/15 Format: Paperback; Print