"What Would Satan Do? Cartoons about right, wrong, and very, very wrong" by Pat Byrnes

I wasn't very familiar with Pat Byrnes before I picked up this wondeful collection of his cartoons. He's evidently done a lot of work for The New Yorker, which is why he's well-known (to certain people - certainly not to me). I picked this up because I loved the title, not to mention the subtitle.

According to the introduction by the author, this book came about as a direct reaction to the phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" - something the author now believes is very overused. And really, how helpful is it to ask what Jesus would do in any given situation? Wouldn't it be more helpful to ask what Satan would do, and then do the exact opposite? Sure it would! Thus, the cartoons included in the book.

The humor runs the gamut here, from overt to subtle, from hilarious to groan-inducing. The artwork is great, with a mix of black & white and color 'toons. And I thought they were all quite funny. For example, one of my favorites shows two older, obviously rich, gentleman sitting in front of a fireplace. They have on their smoking jackets and slippers, and each has a glass of what appears to be brandy. The thinner of the two is looking at his companion and says "Release the hounds! That's your answer to everything." Too funny!

This won't take you long to read, maybe a half hour tops, so my advice is to see if your local library has it. Unless you really, really enjoy it, in which case you could certainly afford to buy it at the very reasonal rate of $14.95.