Reviews

Action Philosophers! Giant-Sized Thing, Vol. 1 by Fred Van Lente

nickjagged's review against another edition

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2.0

Passable introduction peppered with some fairly bad takes

dawnoftheread's review

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3.0

Wacky, yet informative. Useful for getting basic concepts across at least.

monikasreadingadventures's review against another edition

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5.0

This comic book is a great collection of philosophers. what is even better is the fact that each story about the philosopher includes a combination of their philosophy and life. This is quite refreshing because you get to know about the philosopher's life a bit more. The comics are fun and educational although I have to admit that some of the philosophers were harder to understand than others. I'll be rereading this more than once.

libraryelf's review

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3.0

Great for the non-philosopher type.

jescatling's review against another edition

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4.0

Not a narrative story, but comic mini-biographies of Plato, Nietzsche, Freud, etc. See the slaves of Monticello tap Thomas Jefferson on the shoulder and ask, "What about us?" Watch as Ayn Rand's rationalization skills crumble when her lover starts sleeping with a student.

ederwin's review against another edition

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4.0

This probably makes most sense if you already know at least a little bit about the philosophers being described, and have at least a little experience with other comics. I have, and I enjoyed it immensely.

You won't get a complete understanding of any of these thinkers thoughts. That just isn't possible in a few comics pages per person. And the ideas are sometimes being mocked at the same time they are being described. But there is enough to refresh your mind on who's who, or to help you decide which ideas you want to explore further. And overall, it is just fun!

The art is often very literal. Example, the concept of "give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves" is drawn as words coming out of someones mouth and literally forming a rope and noose. (This is in a discussion of how to learn and how to engage in debates.) I often hate this sort of literal drawing, but I enjoyed it here. It helps a lot that the drawing style is very varied, imitating a wide range of comics creators and styles. (John Stuart Mill is drawn as Charlie Brown. Foucault as a character in Family Circus. Etc.)

[This edition is the full run of the comic, which was 9 individual issues, or 3 smaller collected editions.]

whitehousedotcom's review against another edition

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3.0

heh heh
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