National Network for Equitable Library Service

Kick Butt is a special collection of aging cartoons from the Ballard Street cartoon panel. The droopy people of Ballard Street have an unmistakable, if not energetic, approach to aging that’s sure to elicit a chuckle from even the moodiest of birthday honorees. Van Amerongen sees “each cartoon panel as a little movie scene, and we’re looking at a single frame from a small piece of film — something happened prior to our peek, and something’s going to happen afterward.” “Most cartoonists ignore the graphic possibilities of the comic strip, but Jerry Van Amerongen understands that a picture can be the funniest part of the story. On a comics page crammed with crudely drawn characters who never move, it’s a pleasure to see Jerry’s seriously disturbed middle-aged suburbanites. Each panel is deftly composed to let the reader piece together the story behind the caption. Here at last is a strip that’s fun to look at.” —Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes