Kaori Likes Things: Hark! A Vagrant is bomb.

I really like Hark! A Vagrant. What the hell is that, you might say. Well, it is a comic by the brilliant Kate Beaton on a range of topics: most notably, history and literature, but also occasionally American comics, pop culture, and Canada, among others. (P.S. Beaton is Canadian...which is why some comics are about Canada. It all makes sense now) Basically, her comic is hilarious and awesome and you should go read it right now.

One thing that is very interesting about her comics, and which make them much more entertaining and rewarding to read, is that they are oftentimes like little inside jokes. You have to be familiar with the background and characters/figures involved, whether literary, historical, or otherwise, in order to really, fully appreciate the hilarity of the comics. Also, because of the background knowledge needed to get the full comic experience, the comics seem....I don't know, more intelligent? Which is nice. The jokes are still ridiculous though. All in all, I'd say it's a good mix of highbrow and lowbrow. Oh, also! While her art is stylized for a comic genre, Beaton is clearly very skilled, as evidenced by the really accurate drawings of famous people/characters/historical figures.

Anywhoo, here are some of my favorite comics - with links back to the original post which may or may not contain more comics on the same topic! There are a ton because I like Hark! A Vagrant so much that it's hard to pick just a few. I also tried to include comics on an array of topics, as well as not include ones that were too obscure (because some of the history ones can be pretty obscure, though still awesome). OH AND ALSO making the comics big enough to read as is messed up the formatting, so BE SUUURE to click on them to enlarge. Enjoy!

Macbeth