This breathtaking volume boldly, cheerfully, and blankly stares back across the stunningly mellow life and times of Zonker Harris. From his Californian-American roots to his legendary status as surfer, nanny, and former sun god, his career trajectory has unfailingly carried him ever deeper into the homegrown heart of the American daydream. A puddle-plumbing denizen of Walden Commune, Harris spent his formative years as a bodaciously freaked-out college student. His innovative decoding of the rites and rituals of the burgeoning counterculture put him on the cover of Time. Forced by a strategic oversight to graduate from college, Harris blazed a path to glory on the pro tanning circuit. His triumph in the George Hamilton Cocoa-Butter Open set a high watermark for the sport.

Family values led Harris to devote considerable time to helping his stunned parents refill their empty nest. Extended-family values propelled him into a career as a professional nanny, in which capacity he has indeed taught the children well--especially Sam, who was surfing the long board while still in diapers. Later, leveraging his political cluelessness, Zonker served on the disastrous Duke2000 presidential campaign. A devoted foot soldier in the war against AIDS suffering, Zonk is held in high regard among SoCal's medical marijuana community for the efficacious potency of his magic brownies. Unfazed by worldly success, he remains a true and gentle freak. After all, he humbly notes, I am but one dude. 

"Ziggy must be a part of me, because he feels as if he's been with me all my life.

Whether it's snowmen, turkey legs, Christmas trees, or shopping, you can bet Ziggy will have something to say about it. You can also depend on this little bit of Everyperson to spin out a homespun philosophy that leaves you smiling, shaking your head just a bit, and saying, "You know, he's got something there." That's what makes Tom Wilson's Ziggy a hit with the 75 million readers who see the panel in more than 600 Sunday and daily newspapers around the world. And it's what promises to make Ziggy's Gift a memorable way to celebrate the holidays.

Honoring the re-release of the movie Ziggy's Gift on DVD, this holiday-themed cartoon collection is the answer for any shopper looking for just the right combination of humor, warmth, and thoughtfulness. Ziggy is so approachable and easy to read, recipients won't be able to stop once they begin paging through the book.

This holiday season, Ziggy is bringing with him a Christmas gift that will capture and warm the hearts of everyone. Ziggy's instantly recognizable persona fosters a built-in confidence among buyers who feel they know the character and feel comfortable giving this collection as a gift. Ziggy and the holidays are made for each other!

Animation Festival Selects Ziggy's Gift as Feature Film

"You must have a camera in my house! " That's the comment Jerry and Jim get most often from readers of their comic strip. And it's probably because Zits is the best depiction of life with a teenager since, well, ever! Pimp My Lunch: Zits Sketchbook No. 10 Zits chronicles the daily lives of a teen in a way that's not done in the popular media-with respect. "Having teenagers in the house is like having a front-row seat to one of life's great passages," says Jim Borgman. "Zits tries to respect that period by taking a sympathetic view of all the players involved-the parents, as well as the kids."

We like to think of Zits as the antidote to all of the bad stuff you read about teenagers today," adds Jerry Scott. "Many people believe that modern adolescence is all about gangs, guns, drugs" etc. Zits gives a different view of the teenage experience "where, for most kids, relationships, friendships, school, and sports are the stuff of daily life.

Zits levels the playing field and often causes (gasp! ) communication to occur between kids and their parents. Appearing in over 1,200 newspapers worldwide, this enormously popular comic strip has been a staple since it was first syndicated in 1997.

Bucky, Satchel, and Rob are back for more madness and mayhem in Scrum Bums. And the world couldn't be happier! Darby Conley's previous titles include two New York Times best-sellers.Bucky Katt is a rather obstinate Siamese who constantly battles his "owner" Rob for control of their home. Satchel Pooch, the Labrador-Shar-pei mix who's sweet and lovable, makes a nice lackey for Bucky. Bucky knows he's smarter than everyone else; it's just a matter of convincing the rest of the world. Satchel always tries to do the right thing but very often ends up the brunt of Bucky's antics. Rob Wilco is a bachelor trying to regain household domesticity. Together, this seemingly typical threesome gets into some less-than-typical but hilarious situations. There's never a dull moment at the Wilco residence.

Get Fuzzy, featured in over 500 newspapers worldwide, is one of the most highly lauded cartoons in the country. The National Cartoonists Society named it Best Comic Strip of 2002. Its sidesplitting humor and hilariously illustrated facial nuances appeal to animal lovers everywhere. Bucky and Satchel's words and expressions are what we all picture our beloved pets saying and doing.

Leave it to Sherman to make waves. This every-guy great white shark has something hilarious to say about everything from George Foreman Grills and "hairless beach apes" to soul-soothing meditation and that popular South Pacific Ocean pastime, American football. Like any good shark, Sherm is relentless in his hunt for laughs.If undersea creatures make you think "Nemo" you haven't yet had the chance to swim in Sherman's Lagoon. This watery world off the imaginary island of Kapupu in the South Pacific is home to a great white shark named Sherman; his wife, Megan; turtle buddy Fillmore; geeky fish pal Ernest; and Hawthorne, a macho hermit crab. The situations this crew manages to get into are definitely not Disneyesque.

This tenth Sherman's Lagoon collection includes all the "up-there" topics that "down-there" sea animals usually miss out on: things like which swimmers taste better, those in one- or two-piece suits; how to repair a dryer at 20,000 leagues; and where to find psychiatric help on a coral reef. You could say Sherman's just a regular guy with a slightly salty look at how things work.

Creator Jim Toomey excels at meshing the human and sea life worlds in a way that makes joke-cracking crabs and style-conscious sharks seem perfectly normal. This collection is sure to hook new fans and reel in longtime Sherman aficionados like never before.

'The comics pages have no shortage of family strips, but For Better or For Worse distinguished itself from the start. . . . This success can be attributed to Johnston's uncanny ability to see into the heart of daily life so accurately that readers feel she is speaking directly to them."Art imitating life. That's what happens in Lynn Johnston's perennially popular comic strip, For Better or For Worse. By reflecting on her own family and experiences, she created the Pattersons: Elly, John, Michael, Elizabeth, and April, along with grandparents, grandchildren, friends, and coworkers and the everyday situations they deal with.

In Never Wink at a Worried Woman, life is progressing for each character. Elly and John tenuously think of retirement while still being preoccupied parents of a preteen. Michael and Deanna grow into their roles as new parents while Michael's career gets a new boost. Elizabeth takes more steps to adulthood, by beginning her student teaching and facing the fact that Anthony is marrying another. April is racing to turn 13, busy with her band and also helping out at Lilliput's, where she makes a painful discovery about a coworker. Add in Grampa Jim's quest to maintain his aging dignity and baby Meredith's burgeoning curiosity, and you get a full dose of life.

For Better or For Worse has appealed to readers for more than 25 years. It runs in more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S., Canada, and 20 other countries and is translated into eight languages besides English.

  Fitting in. Being different. Growing up. Staying a kid. Zits is a comic strip about the funniest, most painfully emotionally charged, physically demanding, mentally challenging, and colorful times of our lives—adolescence. Those who are living it can relate. And those who have been through it cannot remember the time without smiling, or at least wincing at the arrogance and ignorance we all mistook as maturity during those few eternal years.

Zits: Sketchbook #1 is an inside look at life from the point of view of Jeremy, a private 15-year-old who is desperately hacking his way out of childhood and into maturity. He labors in the shadow of Chad, his perfect older brother who is away at college. Jeremy is a freshman in high school whose main pastimes are hanging out with his best friend, Hector Garcia, forming a garage band, and being amazed at his parents' spectacular ignorance about almost everything. Impatient, self-absorbed, emotional, and bored silly, Jeremy is the essence of adolescence. Zits resonates with its fans because the strip contains so much truth and insight, wrapped in an uproarious context that's all too familiar to everyone who's been 15 or has parented a teenager.

"When things go wrong and life throws you a curve, and some curves are a little larger than others, Ziggy handles it. He takes it on the chin and keeps on going." --Cincinnati Magazine

Ziggy has appeared in far more places than the newspapers that enthusiastically carry his visage. The lovable loser is taped to computers, pinned on office bulletin boards, and magnetized to refrigerator doors. He's carried in wallets, sent to friends and relatives, and stuck to bathroom mirrors. In a word, Ziggy is everywhere!

Such is the appeal of one of America's favorite pop icons. And Ziggy fans worldwide have the chance to see their old friend through the pages of The First 25 Years Are the Hardest! , a retrospective of some of Ziggy's best moments.

There's a confused little guy talking with his psychiatrist, ruminating at the bathroom mirror, and commiserating with his talking parrot. There's Ziggy at Mom's Diner, Ziggy addressing the heavens, and very often, Ziggy looking straight into the eye of his reader while dispensing such wisdom as, "Today is a first; That's why it's called 'The Present.'"

Ziggy speaks to everyone who's suffered a bad day, slipped up now and then, or spent time slogging through the rain showers of life. This book, commemorating Ziggy's 25th anniversary in the hearts and minds of the world, is filled with Tom Wilson's hand-picked favorite frames, those "you-can-say-that-again" triggers that always bring Ziggy fans back for more.

For the past thirty years, Ziggy and his band of merry friends have offered their daily dose of optimism to more than 75 million faithful readers who identify with the characters' hopes and insecurities. Ziggy, who relates better to his animal friends than he does to people, always manages to find the bright spot, inspiring us to do the same.In this special 30th anniversary edition, Ziggy's friends pay tribute to the quintessential little guy in a large world, the lovable character with the big head and the generous heart. Together they take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane, touching on their favorite times with Ziggy. Complete with a timeline documenting milestones in Zig's life, Ziggy's Friends for Life is a must-read for fans and collectors alike!

An Illustrated Guide to Shark Etiquette is filled with the no-holds-barred, undersea humor that has made Sherman's Lagoon an international success. The popular cartoon features a dim-witted shark named Sherman, his sea turtle sidekick Fillmore, and an assortment of other coral reef critters who team up to battle the encroachment of civilization on their remote tropical paradise in the South Pacific. As isolated as they are, they still manage to deal with all of modern life's "conveniences" and issues, with hilarious results.  Sherman is, shall we say, not the sharpest fishhook in the tackle box. One minute he exasperates Fillmore with nonsensical ideas like video taping every moment of his day in case something happens. Then, when something really does occur—say the arrival of space aliens—Fillmore later discovers that all that was documented was the back of the cameras lens cap! Toomey has a remarkable talent for making a great white who's always on the prowl for a human snack into a lovable lump of a guy. This third Sherman's Lagoon collection offers another engaging assortment of comic strips and a wonderful good time for readers of all ages.

  "Some readers have likened the dubious regard for humans in Sherman's Lagoon to the late, lamented Far Side by Gary Larson."—Dallas Morning News

  Sharks have always fascinated Jim Toomey. "I was the only one rooting for the shark in Jaws," he says. Now, Toomey's dim-witted Sherman is back with Another Day in Paradise. This fantastic collection of the popular strip takes a satirical, sea-floor look at modern culture through the eyes of Sherman, his sidekick sea turtle friend Fillmore, and schools of other coral reef critters in their remote tropical paradise.