Trots and Bonnie

"Trots and Bonnie is hilarious, poignant, raunchy, gorgeously drawn, and more relevant than ever. Shary Flenniken is an absolute genius." —Roz Chast

In the 1970s and 1980s, National Lampoon was home not only to some of the funniest humor writing in America but also to many of its best cartoons. One of the greatest was Trots and Bonnie by Shary Flenniken, a comic strip that followed the adventures and mishaps of the guileless teenager Bonnie and her wisecracking dog, Trots.

Bonnie stumbles through the mysteries of adulthood, as Flenniken—one of the few female contributors to National Lampoon—dissects the harsh realities of American life. Dating, sex, politics, and violence are all confronted with fearlessness and outrageous humor, rendered in Flenniken’s timeless, gorgeous artwork. After all these years, they have lost none of their power to shock and amuse.

This collection, handpicked by Flenniken and with an introduction by the New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake, is the first book of Trots and Bonnie ever published in America, a long-overdue introduction to some of the most stunning and provocative comics of the twentieth century.

Shary Flenniken is a Seattle-based cartoonist who has contributed to magazines such as Mad, Premiere, Details, and National Lampoon, where Trots and Bonnie appeared for many years. She served as an editor for National Lampoon from 1979 to 1981. She was an early pioneer in the underground comix movement and one of its few female voices, incorporating elements of feminism and gender politics in her work.

Emily Flake is a cartoonist for The New Yorker. She is the author of Mama Tried, These Things Ain't Gonna Smoke Themselves, and, most recently, That Was Awkward: The Art and Etiquette of the Awkward Hug. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Norman Hathaway is an art director and design historian. He is the author of Overspray: Riding High with the Kings of California Airbrush Art, and, with Dan Nadel, the co-author of the books Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream and Electrical Banana: Masters of Psychedelic Art. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.