THE FLYING BEAVER BROTHERS: BIRDS VS. BUNNIES

Birds vs. bunnies: It was only a matter of time.

Fans of the Flying Beaver Brothers already know what to expect when they pick up a new volume in the series. There will be goofy sound effects. (The latest book, the fourth, includes the words “GABLOBBLE!” and “SPLOIP!”) There will be household objects of enormous size (in this case, a giant hamster cage and an even larger desk fan). But the jokes in this outing are funnier than ever. Eaton’s sense of humor has become so dry that the best jokes don’t even sound like jokes out of context. The funniest line is, “We also have secondary ocular membranes.” Readers will laugh hysterically and then tell their friends, “You had to be there.” The plot is summed up in the title: Birds get into a war with bunnies. But the plot is never the point in a Flying Beaver Brothers comic. The point is that the artist gets a shot at drawing a giant fan and a fish in a diving helmet.

The Flying Beaver Brothers may not look imposing, but they can meet any challenge they take on, even armies of birds and bunnies. By the end of the book, readers will believe a beaver can fly—and that they also have secondary ocular membranes.