Patty Cake & Friends #11
by Scott Roberts
Slave Labor Graphics, b&w, $2.95
rating: Neat-O
This issue: The wonderful world of Beanie-Babies, or Pocket Pets as they're known in the Patty-verse. As usual, Scott Roberts has a laser eye for bullshit advertising aimed at kiddies, and the parody ads in this issue (particularly one of The Gap's clothing for kids ads) are almost worth the price of admission by themselves. In fact, this issue is pretty much the all consumerism issue: every story deals either directly or tangentially with advertising and buying stuff. Even the Birdy interlude does, sorta. But throughout, Roberts manages to sound humorous, rather than scolding; the kids may be easy marks for Madison Avenue manipulators, but the pleasure that they take in their toys is genuine and heartfelt.