delphi | What I'm Reading: Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection by Joshua Barkman

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kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: Non-Human POV

(I checked this square off my bingo card last time, but this new release arrived with perfect timing, so I'm doubling up.)

Ew, It's Beautiful is the newest collection of cartoonist Joshua Barkman's webcomic False Knees. It contains around 120 short comics, the majority of which were new to me, separated into sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall based on their setting.

The stars of False Knees are usually birds, but there are some cats, insects, and at least a couple of beavers in the mix here. Barkman's art is legitimately beautiful, with a naturalist's specificity and a knack for combining human expressions with realistic animal features, and his writing captures the universal experience of being a small creature in an unfathomably big world. It's full of absurd humour, occasional moments of awe, and recurring bits about the creative process, self-image, and the way friends or family can be on entirely different wavelengths. The comic is where I got my current default icon from, and it almost never fails to bring me a little joy or give me something to appreciate.

Two eastern bluebirds perch on the branch of a maple leave whose leaves have begun to change colour. The male says, 'Wasn't this leaf green before?' The female says, 'Yup. Summer's almost over.' The male says, 'What?' and the female says, 'About time to head south for winter.' The male pauses, staring into the distance with almost angry incomprehension, then turns back to the female and asks with horrified bewilderment: 'What?'

A loon swims underwater, its webbed feet propelling it powerfully. It breaches the surface majestically, flapping its wings. The viewpoint then pulls back, the loon a small figure on the water with a stretch of coniferous trees on the shore. It opens its beak, its haunting call represented by a speech bubble crowded with a collection of cheerful ghosts.

A piping plover stands on the beach amid colourful rocks and says 'Welcome to the lake-side gallery! We have lots of great artwork.' He approaches a large stone featuring two fossils, one of a trilobite and one of an ammonite. 'We're not sure who made these ones...' he says, 'But I think it's about two little weirdos being friends.'

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muscle_wizard

Ohhhhh this is so totally up my ally!!

The humor with animals (based on these comics) reminds me of Liz Climo c:

delphi

I really enjoy Liz Climo's work too!

pauraque

That is an excellent representation of a loon's song!

I know, right? It's such a nice bit of cartooning, because I immediately heard it.

sylvanwitch

Oh, that artwork is *gorgeous*! I love the combination of nature art and funny little anthropomorphic observations.

The final panel of the loon cartoon is my favorite because YES!

That one's my favourite too! I believe Barkman lives in Montreal these days, but he's originally from Southern Ontario, and so many of these just bring me back there.