Books
Mark Newgarden is the author of several books of, and about, humor.
How to Read Nancy
with Paul Karasik
Fantagraphics Books, 2017
The Eisner Awards Winner: Best Comics-Related Book, 2018
“It’s a masterpiece.” – Robert Crumb
“As one of the members of the first graduating class of How to Read Nancy, I can insure that anyone who wants to understand the mechanics of comics should snap up this thorough (and thoroughly entertaining) extended autopsy of Bushmiller’s genius. I learned more about reading pictures from it than I did from seven years of art school.” – Chris Ware
“How to Read Nancy details the agony involved in making comic strips. It is also a very funny book.” – Ben Katchor
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We All Die Alone
A collection of cartoons and jokes, edited by Dan Nadel
Fantagraphics Books, January 2006
“I’m a fan of Mark Newgarden.” – Matt Groening
“I’ve been waiting for a book of Mark Newgarden’s stuff most of my adult life. Somehow, he managed to retool the basic external elements of cartooning - big noses, panel gags, punch lines - into a sophisticated inner language of uncomfortably familiar self-mocking existential despair. Most everybody knows that 'funny' is really 'misery,' but his stuff gets as close to misery as it can without quite ever touching off the chain reaction that'll make you want to cut your head off - all the while staying hilarious. We ‘youngsters’ should be paying him reparations for stealing from him for all these years.” – Chris Ware
“Newgarden could well be the forgotten genius of pop culture’s last quarter century.” – Tom Spurgeon, Res Magazine
Bow-Wow Books
“Small-scale narrative gems, the Bow-Wow stories are masterpieces of economy. They keep it simple, but are not simplistic. Indeed, students of graphic narrative should study these — and Johnson, Soglow, Bushmiller — to learn how to pace and structure an illustrated story. In restricting themselves to few words (in the board books) or none (in the picture book) and succinct iconic artwork (in both), Newgarden and Cash make their limited palette feel limitless.”
– Philip Nel, Ph.D, The Comics Journal
Bow-Wow’s Nightmare Neighbors
with Megan Montague Cash
Roaring Brook Press/Neal Porter Books, 2014
“Bow-Wow is like Bee-Bop; you can read it quick or spend your time with it. Either way, it swings.” – Mo Willems
“Bow-Wow’s Nightmare Neighbors is a mysterious and perfectly-crafted little book, full of surprises and profundities and infused throughout with an uncanny sensitivity to the current state of canine-feline relations.” – Dan Clowes
“This book has no words, so I have some for it: smart, funny, stylish, spooky, clever and amazing.” – Lane Smith
Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug
with Megan Montague Cash
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007
Gold Medal, The Society of Illustrators, The Original Art, Celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration
“What an odd, sweet, surreal, and hilarious adventure from Newgarden and Cash. It’s what Crockett Johnson, Ernie Bushmiller, and Rod Serling might have come up with if they shared a bench at the doggie park. I love it!” – Lane Smith
“The clever circular plot is funny, quirky, and even suspenseful, working well as a wordless picture book.” – School Library Journal (starred ★ review)
“This is one of those rare books that a parent who still has two brain cells to rub together can read to a toddler without falling asleep at the switch.” – Boston Globe
Bow-Wow concept series
with Megan Montague Cash
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007-2009
Bow-Wow Orders Lunch
Brings the reader a shiver of pleasure over something as simple as order being restored in the building of a sandwich.” – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
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Bow-Wow Attracts Opposites “As much fun for parents as for children...their cleverness reaches across generational lines.” – Infodad.com
“Enchanting, memorable fun for young and old.” – In the Library Reviews
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Bow-Wow 12 Months Running
“Delightful mixtures of whimsy and education – as entertaining for parents as for young children.” – Infodad.com
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Bow-Wow Hears Things
“I'm not ashamed to admit I love Bow-Wow!” – In the Library Reviews
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Bow-Wow Naps By Number
Best Books of 2007: “An irrepresible golden terrier...sends kids on an offbeat counting adventure.” – Lisa Von Drasek, Nick Jr. Magazine
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Bow-Wow’s Colorful Life
“Simple enough for babies to work on the concept, weird enough to appeal to parental readers again and again.” – Kirkus
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Cheap Laffs: The Art of the Novelty Item
with Picturebox Inc.
Harry N. Abrams, 2004
“A very smart book about dumb products.” – xrayspex.blogspot.com
“There is absolutely no good reason for Cheap Laffs to exist. It serves no pedagogical purpose, tells no vital story, and has nothing to say about the state of the world today. I read it from cover to cover.” – Toronto National Post
“There’s a truly outstanding introduction that tells the colorful, fascinating story of the gag, stories of intense rivalries between immigrant entrepreneurs of the last century, squabbles over who invented rubber puke, and the early regulation of sneezing powder. These were deeply weird people, but charming, and Newgarden's capsule history of gagdom is like a window into a better world.” – Corey Doctorow, Boing Boing