Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. It made me laugh. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

I've enjoyed following Tommy Siegel's comics on social media for a while now, so I was pumped to hear he was releasing a full book of them. I Hope This Helps is a fun, weird, and somehow meaningful collection of comics, with great commentary from the creator, solid points to be made, and a tight layout. Many of the comics were ones I remembered seeing when he first posted them, but still made me laugh the second time around, and a handful of them were ones I had missed the first time around. It basically gave me everything I would have hoped for from a Tommy Siegel comics collection. Fans of his comics won't be disappointed, and I would definitely recommend it.

There were some fun comic strips in this book, but as a whole it was a bit disjointed. Every now and then the author included some prose about why he started drawing or his creative process, and it just didn't really fit. It would have worked nicely if he'd also drawn those thoughts as comics, but it didn't feel like it made sense to include it otherwise. He was also weirdly obsessed with phones being one of society's greatest evils, which got old pretty fast. There were comics spread throughout which I did really enjoy, so if you like the author, you might well enjoy his book too.

I was intrigued by this title because aren't all of us trying to find ways to help us live through the chaos of 2020 and need a little lightheartedness in our lives? I thought I could use some comedy, but this wasn't really my thing. It's mostly a compilation of Tommy Siegel's daily comics, which deal a lot with modern day anxieties and comment on first world problems, which I can see a lot of people enjoying, but for me, this kind of comic style is best suited for the internet, where it was originally shared.

A funny and honest collection of one page comics. A noticeable number of of them focus on living your life while balancing the influence of social media. Also, a lot of butts.

I'd definitely seen some of these comics before, but having them all together was even better. I laughed, I groaned, I showed them to my spouse. It encapsulated the past 9 months pretty perfectly.

An amusing collection of comic snippets that illustrate the silliness of our world. There is some absurdist humor and there is some satire. It's a nice mix of things that the average adult suffering through a pandemic covered in cheeto dust and clicking "Yes, I'm still watching" on netflix can really enjoy.

The breaks between the sections where the author discusses his process and motivations were nice. I think the bonus images of the pringle man were particularly good and added to the bizarre humor of that panel.

I have been a fan of Tommy Siegel for ages, first through his music, and then through evolution of his van doodles -- leading up to this book. His art and humor is quirky and dry and he gives a voice to the absurdity of the world without complete cynicism. This is a fun book to sit and go through in its entirety, or simply to flip open to any page and enjoy the random delights of what he has to share.

It took me a little while to get used to the author's cartooning style, his strange big-nosed characters, and his sense of humor, but once I settled in - I was hooked. And, while I still don't quite get the fascination with the naked Pringles guy, I got many, many chuckles out of this book.

I Hope This Helps: Comics and Cures for 21st Century Panic by Tommy Siegel is currently scheduled for release on October 6 2020. Tommy Siegel’s comics began as doodles in the back of a van as a touring rock musician, and quickly earned a viral global fanbase and shout-outs from cultural heavyweights ranging from Ringo Starr to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. With comics titled “Choose your social anxiety coping mechanism” and “What your coffee drink of choice says about you,” the book offers commentary on our phone-obsessed, social media-driven culture, as well as a series of relationship comics starring his popular Candy Hearts characters.

I Hope This Helps is a comic collection that had me just as interested in the commentary of the reasons behind his drawings, and some of how individual pieces came together. I did recognize some of the work from social media, but a good deal of it was new to me. I have to admit that when I started the book I was not sure I was going to enjoy it. The art style was not my favorite. However, the underlying humor and commentary of the text and some of the pieces quickly changed my mind. Some were just downright silly, others very witty. I really came to appreciate Siegal's intelligence and what they had to say. I also enjoy that they never took themselves too seriously and laughed at themselves and the insanity that is the current state of the world around us.

After reading this comic I came to the conclusion that this comic just wasn't for me. The art style was cool and everything but the jokes and relatability wasn't there for me.

*A free copy of this title has been provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

I Hope This Helps is Tommy Siegel's take on millenials and our social media addiction in a comic form. The book is made up of a collection of comics interspersed with the author's brief stories about his whole undertaking of drawing comics for 500 consecutive days.

Sadly, this book wasn't for me. Though being a millenial, a third of the comics went right over my head and seemed like inside jokes for a small group of people with a very specific background. Another third just wasn't funny or relatable and out of the last third only a couple got me to actually smile, which is a really poor result for a comic book.

Siegel's drawing style is extremely simple which can be an advantage but I just didn't click with it. The signature nose seemed rather off-putting to me and constant depiction of butts got quite annoying.

Overall it was a quick read and I enjoyed the author's written stuff much more than the drawings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not only did I learn about his endeavor of drawing 500 comics in just as many days but also about his life as a touring musician as well as his frustrations and criticism of culture, politics and especially social media. While reading the book, I recognized that a lot of what I was reading echoes my own opinions, frustrations and concerns. To see these concerns presented in a satirical and enjoyable manner while also the accompanying text being very well-written and thorough, showed me that the book is much for more than what we see on the cover. I would thoroughly recommend it and will seek out his work in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. All views are honest and given voluntarily.

I knew of this artist before I requested to review this book. I have seen some of these pictures on Instagram, via my explore feed, and I’ve even shared a few of them. So, I went into this book thinking I’d pretty much like what I’d see — I was right! Most of the pictures/comics/illustrations (sorry, terminology is eluding me) were quite clever, or at the very least relatable. I didn’t like the butt jokes, and there were a few that didn’t click with me, but 9/10 did and I think it was a cool way to collect all of these drawings together and commemorate a unique experience. Moreover, I really think that the relatability is what would drive the success of a book like this. It’s something you’d flip through and within 20 mins probably finished, but a fan of this artist and it’s humour would find it a useful buy.

All in all, I liked it. Also, my fav illustration was the undateable heart with ice cream and Netflix.

This is an amusing, enjoyable look at life through comics. The topics are both insightful and humorous.

Many thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for an advance review copy!

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started with I Hope This Helps. I have never read comics by Tommy Siegel. I must say that I loved reading this funny and weird comics which mainly poke fun at the social media addicted millennial. A few of them are political and most of the Americans will get the joke. I chuckled at myself after reading some of the comics.

This is a set from the challenge of 500 cartoons for 500 days and touches upon a lot of topics such as anxiety, social media addiction, music, life, culture,coping mechanisms etc. There was unexpected insight on a lot of topics, and the art style stood out a lot and is easily recognizable.

A welcome distraction and a source of relief during hard times!

I walked into this thinking I was up for some funny and self deprecating comics that potentially dealt with anxiety and existential dread in the modern era.

Which was true to some extent.

Except... I didn’t find anything in this book humorous or worthwhile. The comics were just ok and felt more like flip book of Tommy Siegel’s favorites as opposed to ones that really fit the point of the book. A shame really, since the cover promises 500 but I honestly remember none except the one of the Pringles man crawling out from a Pringles can. Only because Siegel kept referring to it and had a picture of himself in the same pose.

Which again, where does that fit in with being helpful to “curing 21st century panic”?

Secondly, the comics are broken up by long and sightly passages of text that read more like Siegel reminiscing on how he came to draw this or that based on an idea that his bandmate gave him rather than anything remotely resembling a helpful guide. Often times repeating or going on about things I just didn’t care for. But ultimately it’s those skimable essays that save this book since every once in awhile he drops a piece of knowledge and experience to dealing with being a creative on social media. But in another five months that tidbit is likely to be obsolete. So maybe not so worth it after all.

For the most part I felt like so much of this missed its mark and is presumably a better fit to readers that already know and enjoy his success online.

This book is nothing more than a collection of lighthearted doodles with some explanations for the story behind them. Some jokes are better than the other but overall, I enjoyed my time reading it. There isn't much to be sad about it. I was meant to put a smile on your face and it definitely does so. Don't go into it expecting "extremely helpful guides" because the title itself was meant as a joke.

A great an uplifting graphic novel with funny and inspiring quotes and graphics that are very boosting during these times. This was a fun book and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Cartoons for surviving 2020...my cynical soul approves. I have never followed any of Siegel’s previous work, but will be looking for more in the future.