****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
... it would be necessary to invent him.It's not just that his comics are really funny. They certainly are, but they also use real issues in science and public perception of it to make real points. Like that counter in a department store selling "Pheromones: Lanvin, Dior, Chanel, ..." Or that general telling that scientist "All we want is something new that will incapacitate the enemy without giving us bad press." Some strike just a bit close to home for me, like the labs labeled "Research" and "Development," with the lab labelled "Bottlenecks" standing between them.The most remarkable thing is how current so many of these issues are: genetic engineering, environmental pollution, chemical hazards, and more. These comics were originally printed between 1971 and 1986, 20-35 years ago now, and the only thing dated about them is occasional bell-bottoms! They're still as pertinent (and sometimes impertinent) as ever.Maybe what makes these comics last so well is that, even if the science changes, the scientists don't. They just as human and just a fallible now as two thousand years ago, and they're the real subjects of Harris's affectionate gibes.-- wiredweird
