I was recently given a book called Poop by Sam Sharpe. It is a small, handmade, self-published book with a series of visual puns that run through its pages, one of which involves some confusion between the words “luncheon” and “lynching.”
I love this book because it is reminiscent of the small books I had as a child, which were about cloyingly endearing characters: The Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, etc. But the topics Poop covers are decidedly adult, and incredibly tasteless.
The contrast of the precious size and the smack-you-in-the-face topics create an awful relationship that works on a very base and tasteless level; and I truly and utterly love that. The drawings are incredibly rough, and the words are written quite crudely, lending an air of epiphany that really works with these themes and this format.
All in all, a well-conceived approach to tasteless humor.
