Media Release -- Cartoonist Kate Beaton returns with all-new sidesplitting comics that showcase her irreverent love of history, pop culture, and literature. Collected from her wildly popular website, readers will guffaw over "Strong Female Characters", the wicked yet chivalrous Black Prince, "Straw Feminists in the Closet," and a disgruntled Heathcliff. Delight in what the internet has long known—Beaton's humour is as sharp and dangerous as a velocipedestrienne, so watch out!
The sequel to the hit comic collection Hark! A Vagrant, which appeared on best of lists from Time, NPR, and USA Today; spent five months on the New York Times bestseller list; and won Harvey, Ignatz, and Doug Wright awards.
Hardcover, 160 pages, $19.95 US / $24.95 CDN, black and white, ISBN 978-1-77046-208-3
"The range and singular wit of her brilliant historical, literary and pop-culture parodies is simply impossible to capture in just a few words."— The Guardian
"When it comes to rendering and sending up historical and literary characters, Kate Beaton is one of the most artful hands around. She manages to do in three panels what some professors can't do over entire semesters: breathe the stuff of life into her characters."—The Washington Post
"This is Beaton in her purest distilled form: historical personages being funny, with comedic body-language to die for."—Boing Boing
"In a just world, Kate Beaton's work would be required reading in schools."—Vulture (click here to read the interview!)
"Step Aside, Pops features the hallmarks of Beaton's comedic approach: lo-fi comics riffing on classic literature, obscure history, fairy tales and other esoterica...For those who enjoyed Beaton's first collection, this represents an expansion of an already-impressive comic voice; readers who enjoy smart, irreverent takes on history and literature will find plenty to delight in here."—Paste
"With Step Aside, Pops, Beaton is solidifying her place among others such as LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Bill Nye the Science Guy at making one's audience fall in love with a subject that in school can oftentimes seem boring and uninteresting."—Autostraddle (click here to read the interview!)
"From Julius Caesar to The Secret Garden and from the late Romantics to Kokoro, Beaton knocks it out of the park, having a go at anything and everything with her razor-sharp wit."— Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Kate Beaton's comics are uniquely incisive. Since starting her popular (and hilarious) webcomic Hark! A Vagrant in 2008, Beaton's work has amassed a huge fan base and proven that you don't have to sacrifice intelligence for punchlines."— Broadly (click here to read excerpt!)
"Whether it's the Founding Fathers, Wuthering Heights, the concept of "Strong Female Characters," Ida B. Wells, or just an image from the archives, Beaton puts her clever and mirthful spin on an assortment of things you never imagined would send you into laughing fits. It's sort of like a weird, fun, not entirely accurate lesson in history, literature and pop culture all at once."— Mental Floss
"Welcome to Beaton's world of twisted history, where figures from historic events, classic literature, and current pop culture merge with hilarious results."— London Free Press
