BOOK REVIEW: First Dog On The Moon’s Guide To Living Through the Impending Apocalypse and How To Stay Nice Doing It

BOOK REVIEW: First Dog On The Moon’s Guide To Living Through the Impending Apocalypse and How To Stay Nice Doing It

ABC Books/Harper Collins
November 2017
Paperback, $29.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Cartoon/Comic Self-Help

8.5/10

Walkley Award-winning political cartoonist of choice for The Guardian Australia, First Dog On The Moon, brings his marsupial-centric wit and precise social awareness to this comic study of the soon-to-be-released apocalypse, not that he presumes to know what form that will take yet, only that it will come.

It might be global starvation. You might “be eaten by an enormous mutant Nazi tapeworm the size of a school bus.” Bees, invasion, political correctness, asteroids and more feature amongst the many potential apolocaypsi, and First Dog gives us all we need to know about how likely they are, essentials to pack for them, what to wear, and whether you should stay in or road trip.

Truth be told, this is a very different book to First Dog’s Treasury Of Cartoons (reviewed HERE) – with much more words and not as many cartoons. In fact it’s an intriguing mash-up of scathing social commentary, autobiography, madcap observation, and satire-with-a-serious-message. Oh, and there’s a foreword by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, a big fan – First Dog’s publishers would want me to mention that, probably.

Most important of all, First Dog On The Moon isn’t just a self-proclaimed National Treasure any more: lots of the rest of us think so too.

Category: Book Reviews