Rating: 
Summary: one of Hart's more in-depth books
Review: Christopher Hart's name appears on a number of beginner's how-to books, but he's not just a beginner's author, as this book demonstrates. This is one of the better, and more advanced, cartooning books out there. While it does go over yer usual "stick-man" first steps briefly, most of it is devoted to addressing stuff like panel layout, strip breakdowns, consistency of character design, timing in humor writing, marketing your work, etc. In every case, Hart speaks from experience: apparently he has written stand-up and TV comedy professionally, as well as doing animation, comic books, strips, and piloting the space shuttle. [I'm just guessing at that last one, but don't be surprised... ]Anyhoo, if you've advanced in your cartoons to the point where you're considering getting into the pool of publication, this book is a good resource for polishing and fine-tuning what you can do.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than most catrooning books
Review: Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain is a great resource for aspiring cartoonists, one, because as one reviewer said, it doesn't insult you about your ability. The book helps you learn about creating your own characters, laying out panel strips, making single-panel strips, tricks of the trade, what poses and looks are funnier for characters, help with joke writing, learning more about dialouge, text balloons, shading, techniques, how to get your work noticed and sold, how to protect your ideas, and a ton bit more. He even discusses hard and soft punch lines, good and bad setups, dimensions to draw the copy, what tools to use, different kinds of panels, drama vs. comedy, wide and close views, shadows, connected and double balloons, tips on submitting to publishers and syndicators, rating your own gags, meeting deadlines, handling writer's block, building character name recognition, and cartooning resources to both submit to and get more information on. An all-around great book for the beginner cartoonist and the serious cartoonist with a career in mind.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than most catrooning books
Review: Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain is a great resource for aspiring cartoonists, one, because as one reviewer said, it doesn't insult you about your ability. The book helps you learn about creating your own characters, laying out panel strips, making single-panel strips, tricks of the trade, what poses and looks are funnier for characters, help with joke writing, learning more about dialouge, text balloons, shading, techniques, how to get your work noticed and sold, how to protect your ideas, and a ton bit more. He even discusses hard and soft punch lines, good and bad setups, dimensions to draw the copy, what tools to use, different kinds of panels, drama vs. comedy, wide and close views, shadows, connected and double balloons, tips on submitting to publishers and syndicators, rating your own gags, meeting deadlines, handling writer's block, building character name recognition, and cartooning resources to both submit to and get more information on. An all-around great book for the beginner cartoonist and the serious cartoonist with a career in mind.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent how-to book
Review: I found this book to be an excellent resource for aspiring cartoonists. Most other cartooning books I've looked at seem to say "Cartooning is a terrible career! You'll never make money!" or "Give up hope now! If you can't draw like me, you'll never succeed!" But Chris Hart's book is the exact opposite -- very informative, easy-to-follow, and overall very helpful. He also tells you where to put emphasis when designing a strip and developing characters. And most importantly, he gives tips on how to come up with ideas (funny ones), not just how to draw. Hart doesn't make you feel like his way is the only way, as other cartooning books do -- this book leaves aspiring cartoonists with a lot of hope!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent how-to book
Review: I found this book to be an excellent resource for aspiring cartoonists. Most other cartooning books I've looked at seem to say "Cartooning is a terrible career! You'll never make money!" or "Give up hope now! If you can't draw like me, you'll never succeed!" But Chris Hart's book is the exact opposite -- very informative, easy-to-follow, and overall very helpful. He also tells you where to put emphasis when designing a strip and developing characters. And most importantly, he gives tips on how to come up with ideas (funny ones), not just how to draw. Hart doesn't make you feel like his way is the only way, as other cartooning books do -- this book leaves aspiring cartoonists with a lot of hope!
Rating:
Summary: definitely not a waste of money
Review: i just bought this book about an hour ago (offline). i really really wanted to buy it coz it looked very nice and informative. plus, it looked like i could get a lot of nice referrences for my drawings. it was expensive though, and being an ordinary high school student who receives a measly allowance every week, it seemed like a waste to spend all of my week's allowance on this book. i still bought it though, compulsive buyer that i am (hehe). as soon as i did, i started to regret it coz i thought that i might've spent too much. as soon as i got home though, i started reading it and now i think that buying the book was the right thing to do-- i love it! now i don't regret that i bought it.
Rating: 
Summary: Bleh
Review: I wanted this book to be good. I really did. It had what I was looking for, info on the most important aspect of cartooning: the writing.But, unless you intend to create cliche, unoriginal cartoons, this book is not for you. Because that's all it does. It explains in detail the most common cartoon character stereotypes and how you should use them. it tells you what is normally done and tells you to do the same. cartooning is not about following paths that have already been followed. i enjoyed The Naked Cartoonist by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for the New Yorker. It explains the creative process in general.
Here's my advice: don't listen to advice from cartoonists who aren't even successful themselves. they clearly don't know what they're talking about.
Rating:
Summary: A great nuts-and-bolts book about cartooning
Review: If you're confident in your drawing abilities, but have little knowledge about the specifics of putting together a comic strip, this is the best book I've seen. When I decided to dabble in comic strips, I didn't care about how to draw them; I was more curious about character views, composition, what makes a scene funny, ballon placement, and timing. This book covers all that and more. If your interested in the mechanics of what makes a comic funny, this book is a must-get. Those who know how to draw will get great advice on what makes a character look funny. If you don't know how to draw comics then get a different book that covers that topic...then buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great nuts-and-bolts book about cartooning
Review: If you're confident in your drawing abilities, but have little knowledge about the specifics of putting together a comic strip, this is the best book I've seen. When I decided to dabble in comic strips, I didn't care about how to draw them; I was more curious about character views, composition, what makes a scene funny, ballon placement, and timing. This book covers all that and more. If your interested in the mechanics of what makes a comic funny, this book is a must-get. Those who know how to draw will get great advice on what makes a character look funny. If you don't know how to draw comics then get a different book that covers that topic...then buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: table of contents
Review: Introduction Chapter 1 Drawing Funny Characters Chapter 2 Writing Jokes Chapter 3 Humorous Layout and Design Chapter 4 Everything You Need to Know to Be a Professional Cartoonist Index
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