Close to Home (McPherson)

"Where there is stress, or receding hairlines and liver spots, there is humor." -John McPherson More than one third of the world's population is officially over the hill, while the rest of us are quickly approaching its summit. Be it the ritual hazing of new residents at Spring Meadow Retirement Center that requires retirees to drink 25 shots of prune juice, or the oxymoronic humor involved in the publication of the "1st Annual Swimsuit Edition of Aging Today," octogenarians, centenarians-even those younger and in between-all agree, John McPherson's comic mastery finds humor in life's most everyday act-namely, aging. McPherson's Close to Home cartoon panel features a zany cast of malpracticing medics, denture-less dentists, and cynical civil servants. Culling more than 100 aging-specific black-and-white and full-color panels, McPherson creates the ultimate ode to getting older.

No one walks away from a Close to Home cartoon unscathed. John McPherson's lumpy characters and bizarre situations are tailor-made for gut-splitting laughs. And then there are the cartoons that leave readers shaking their heads, sputtering, "Oh my gosh" as a guilty smile passes across their faces. The Scourge of Vinyl Car Seats delivers what fans expect from McPherson: jokes about everything from parenting to dating to car repairs. McPherson takes his readers on a journey that's very Close to Home.

Only in the world of Close to Home can you find hospitals staffed with hypochondriac-sniffing dogs, Yellowstone employees who secretly spike Old Faithful with gallons of Mr. Bubble, and telephones equipped with Caller I.Q. Of course, for the creator of the screamingly successful Close to Home, it's just another no-holds-barred day at the drawing board. Specializing in humor in everyday situations, John McPherson lampoons the worlds of parenting, marriage, school, health care, work, and leisure in ways that get readers to laugh at themselves.