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"You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper."

Those were the final words spoken by convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris the day he was executed in California's gas chamber more than 15 years ago. Death by Laughter, the latest book by cartoonist Harry Bliss, captures that sentiment with more than 100 of his best and most irreverent single-panel cartoons collected from his daily strip "Bliss."

You'll undoubtedly find yourself identifying with many of the other disturbing problems that Harry parodies in this hilarious little gem: Infidelity, pollution, breaking-up, therapist visits and computer breakdowns are all turned upside-down and inside-out exposing truths no one wants to talk about.

Harry emailed us from his home in Vermont in response to a few questions we had for him, including how he got to know actor Christopher Guest, who wrote the introduction to Death by Laughter, and his favorite cartoon that he's drawn for us to date.

PLAYBOY: Not only did Christopher Guest write the introduction to Death by Laughter, he owns some of your original artwork. What was your first encounter like with him?

BLISS: It was great meeting Chris and his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis -- two wonderful people; smart, funny, and very, very kind. My girlfriend and I met them for lunch in LA and we talked about all sorts of topics: cartoons, films, yoga, kids, and hybrid cars! Jamie has bought Chris a few of my cartoons and Chris and I have traded cartoons (he draws too).

PLAYBOY: Is there a different artistic process involved when you create illustrations for the various mediums (books, magazines, websites) your work appears?

BLISS: These days, all I seem to be doing is black and white cartoons, like the cartoons in syndication, on my Web site and in The New Yorker, so the process is the same. My work for kid's books is always in color and each book takes six to ten months, whereas I kick out the single-panel cartoons daily. With books, I'm the artist illustrating an author's words, so I guess there's a certain limitation in that, but it's a limitation I'm quite comfortable with, in fact, and I've grown to enjoy the collaboration. As far as the panels go, I generally begin by drawing a scene, say, a couple in bed talking, and once the drawing is finished I begin to imagine a narrative or back story for the people in the drawing -- what are they all about? Imagining the characters' motivations will often inspire a caption. Working this way, I feel, injects a certain sense of humanity in the work, and this is an important aspect I try to achieve in the panels. And sometimes the panels are immature, like me, and that's okay too.

PLAYBOY: Many of the dogs in your cartoons are personified exhibiting just as much angst and strife as the humans in your cartoons. Do you own a dog?

BLISS: I do have a dog. Well, it's my girlfriend's puppy, named Penny, and she's a terrific animal. I have a deep affection for animals and anthropomorphizing them is my way of bringing empathy to their existence.

PLAYBOY: In 2000 you illustrated the cover of the book Madam President in which the authors predicted there would be a female president of the United States within the next decade. When Hillary almost won the democratic nomination this year, you must have felt that your illustration was prophetic. What did you think eight years ago when you drew it?

BLISS: I've always felt that a woman could be president -- even when I'd done that book jacket. Other countries have elected women as leaders, so it has always seemed odd that the United States might be wary of this prospect. I suppose that being a cartoonist and a solipsist I kind of live in a bit of a bubble in that I tend to reject racism and sexism. I know they exist, but I just can't get my mind to admit it. Hillary would have made a great leader. Sarah Palin is another story. I respect her accomplishments, but she's not ready to be president, and McCain really underestimated women in this country by thinking Palin could ease their Hillary pain.

PLAYBOY: Nearly 30 cartoons of yours have appeared in the pages of Playboy in the last decade. Do you have a favorite?

BLISS:My favorite Playboy cartoon is Dude Descending a Staircase, No. 1, which is a spin on Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. It's not a typical Playboy cartoon and I give Hef a lot of credit in giving me the OK for that one. Duchamp has always been one of my artistic heroes, even as a kid, so that cartoon stands out. It was difficult to do and when I do speaking gigs and that image shows up, it always gets a big laugh, which makes me happy. Penny is biting my toes, so I have to go now.

unpaged. HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Bks. 2008. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-075554-6; PLB $18.89. ISBN 978-0-06-075555-3. LC number unavailable.PreS-Gr 2–

A picture book in four chapters in which a thrill-seeking chicken repeatedly leaves the warm security of her henhouse seeking excitement. She is captured by hungry pirates, survives a sinking ship, joins the circus, narrowly escapes a lion, is caged with other chickens, picks the lock with her beak, and liberates her fellow captives. Back home in her barnyard, Louise enthralls her sister chickens with the story of her grand exploits, until all fall asleep tucked safely in their henhouse, having felt the vicarious frisson of adventure. In the nicely patterned telling, DiCamillo ends each of Louise’s escapades with an old hen asking her where she has been. “Oh, here and there,” is Louise’s casual answer. Each new chapter begins with the bold brooder still eager to embark anew. Bliss’s illustrations depict the settings of Louise’s capers in vague antique worlds with various backdrops and in various eras. On every spread, Louise’s bright white feathers and brilliant red cockscomb will stand out and draw the eyes of young readers. Smart choices in book design allow for an oversize book that suits its larger-than-life heroine, and vertical spreads that capture Louise’s circus high-wire walk to maximum visual effect. This is a jolly metaphor for the stages of childhood in which young children long for short-lived independence and exploration always within the reassuring bounds of a secure home and family.–Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT

NYT Bestsellers List for 10/12/2008

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6595583.html?industryid=47139 

visit: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com 

NPR's Michele Norris talks with children's book author Doreen Cronin and New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. Together, they've released Diary of a Worm, a new children's book told from the perspective a young male worm who's actually a lot like many children. The book details a year in the life of this little fellow, who wears a red baseball cap and lives with his mother, father, grandfather and sister.

To listen go here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php
?storyId=1429458&sc=emaf

http://www.cartoonbank.com/CapContest/CaptionContest.aspx

http://www.thewildflowergroup.com 

http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Cover_Story/
2007/10/11/Of_Childrens_Books_and_Dirty_Ca/ 

August

Kirkus Reviews- STARRED REVIEW
Worm and Spider have had their say, now it’s time for Fly to take center stage. She frets in dated entries about going to school (“What if I’m the only one who eats regurgitated food?”), recording flying and other lessons, cutting up with her 327 brothers and sisters and especially yearning to be a superhero—despite her friend Spider’s scorn: “Superheroes bend steel with their bare hands. You eat horse manure with your feet.” Bliss contributes another set of cartoons that place small creatures with occasional identifying items of clothing (Fly’s is a hair bow) in a big and not always entirely safe world. It’s still a winning formula, and readers will come away, as from the two previous outings, with sore stomachs (from laughing) and surprising amounts of painlessly delivered natural history—plus Worm’s sage and comforting closing observation that “the world needs all kinds of heroes.”