Holy Economics, Batman!

I like economics.  I also like comic books.  So, when a publisher sent me a copy of The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume One: Microeconomics, I was expecting to be mightily pleased.  Expectations, meet Reality. What an utterly dismal and depressing book.

How does it depress me?  Let me count the ways:
It isn't funny.  At all.  The best joke in the whole book is having a Pirate introduce the subject of Maarrhginal analysis.  (I'll pause while you compose yourself from the hysterical laughing in which you are currently engaged.)  But, I was being deceitful two sentences ago--that is not the funniest joke in the whole book.  It is neither funny nor a joke.

The art is horrid.  Truly wretched.  The four color graphs of cost curves in the standard intro textbook are more interesting to gaze upon.

The organization is a mess.  I cannot imagine that anyone could actually learn anything about economics from this book--it jumps from the most basic ideas to rather complicated ideas like some jack rabbit on hot asphalt.

There are a couple of really odd things about this book:
1. The publisher obviously intends for professors to assign this book as a supplement to the standard intro textbook--which is why they are sending me a free copy.  But, it is organized all wrong for that purpose--the material is in a thoroughly unconventional order, and thus by the time one gets to chapter 3 in the standard textbook, the reader needs to have read the whole cartoon book, including coverage of all the material that won't show up until double digit chapters in the standard text.  I cannot see how this book can be used as a supplement.  Why didn't the authors simply mimic the standard textbook organization?

I assume the publishers are just hoping that book will be assigned by lousy, humorless professors who never understand why their students think they are boring.  Such Professors will see "Cartoon Economics" and think, 'Wow.  My students are too benighted to understand me, but they do like cartoons, so I will assign this book and then they will learn something and then they will like me."  It's not going to work.  Students, even the worst students, are going to hate this book.

2. The book is written by Grady Klein (the artist, who one only hopes mailed this in because he realized the book was going to be a failure and thus wasn't worth this time) and "Yoram Bauman, Ph.D., The World's First and Only Stand-up Economist" (yes, that is his name on the cover of the book).  So, we know the book is supposed to be funny.  So, again, our boring, humorless professor will assign this book thinking, at least students will laugh at something in this class.  Again, I have a hard time thinking that anyone, anyone, will laugh.

Yoram Bauman can be moderately funny, by the way.  He has a bit where he makes fun of the most popular intro textbook (Mankiw's).  If you are an economist, you can watch it here or read it here. If you aren't an economist, I have no idea if it will be amusing or not.  Bauman clearly wanted to spin that clip into something that might actually earn him some money, but, alas, he picked the wrong format.  (And, by the way, to get those links, I Googled him, and saw another YouTube clip where he gives a routine at a stand-up comedy club--painful.  I won't link to it so that you aren't tempted to endure 8 minutes of painful attempts at humor.  Bauman is apparently a one-joke guy.)

An utter disappointment.  Now, I'll have to go read some Batman comic books.  (And for those who appreciate the title of the post, you'll enjoy this.)  Well, I'll get to Batman after I finish Hayek.