Addams' Apple features a handful of comics with the Addams Family, but the emphasis is upon NYC not the Family so unsurprisingly not a good primer on the characters and backstory. One of the introducers (I forget whether it was curater Henry or artist Sante) observes the Family are alleged to live in the suburbs (implicitly a town in New Jersey from which Addams himself came), not the city itself, and merely visit the city. While I always realised the house and surrounds would not fit into any borough I knew, still I thought it part of the schtick that they somehow were located in the city proper, perhaps down an anonymous cobbled alley. (Admittedly: I only ever "knew" the romanticised caricatures of Manhattan and Brooklyn.)

Addams' Family aside, I liked there were several comics I didn't get, as they evidently referred to NYC lore of which I was ignorant. This interpretation is suggested by some comics I did understand, such as lyrics from show tunes and the idea they are pervasive to NYC culture.

In fact, I surmise that it was the influence of Addams and other works like his that "created" the fabled culture of NYC itself, as much as it "reflects" it. That's not something I'll ever be in a position to argue with any persuasive force, and probably difficult for anyone. But an idea the book left with me, and that leaves me satisfied now I've read it. ( )

Addams' Apple: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams is a wonderful collection for both the humor and the glimpse at the recent past. We are all familiar with The Addams Family franchise and those characters certainly make plenty of cameos here, but the collection is so much more.

Addams managed to create situations that were both fantastic (as in fantasy) and relatable. The cover is an excellent example, there is no giant hand beckoning to the man if this represents reality, but most of us (and a large percent of New Yorkers) can relate to what the man might be feeling. But there are as many anxieties that beckoning finger can represent as there are readers looking at the cartoon.

The juxtaposition of something so obviously out of place in modern day (well, at the time) Manhattan with the "yeah, whatever" response (or non-response) of those around gives the reader pause. It is in that pause that some of the underlying meaning or intentions present themselves. By forcing us to pause we are made to try to make sense of what we see. There were a couple that simply flew over my head, and I lived in Manhattan for a short time quite some time ago. So not every cartoon will likely speak to every reader. But there are so many gems here that it is well worth the time and effort. Not to mention the drawings themselves are wonderful examples of what can be done with simple lines and shading.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss. ( )

Charles Addams is the rare cartoonist whose renown has survived him. This is largely due to the Addams Family franchise - tv, film and Broadway musical at very least. Addams’ Apple is a new collection of cartoons focusing largely on New York City and its endless possibilities for his delightfully off-kilter juxtapositions.

Addams could take any normal scene in an office, a store, on the street or at home, and add just one element that would change it completely. A window washer outside an office tower window, standing in a gigantic gorilla palm. A man happily leaving a repair shop with a windup key in the back of his head. And of course, the Addams family, with Uncle Fester releasing a huge bird of prey while his neighbor releases his homing pigeons.

The collection spans about 50 years, and even the fashions don’t change much, as Addams has a man in 18th century dress climbing into a hansom cab and asking to be taken to Delmonico’s – and make it fast, while Manhattan traffic doesn’t even blink.

What stood out to me were the environmental cartoons, way before their time – the sun melting the New York skyline, archaeologists discovering the spire of the Chrysler Building, high tide all but submerging the office buildings, and a toy tanker leaking oil into the Central Park sailboat pond.

But I think my favorite of this set is the man on a This is Your Life kind of tv show, who is about to be reunited with the wife he left 15 years ago – and she is holding a gun.

A short sweet book.

David Wineberg ( )