Q&A – Various

4 out of 5

Cute.  It’s a great idea, and blessed DIY in construction, but a tad less dedication to randomness would’ve made this perfect.

Q&A is a small pamphlet of illustrations by a handful of Uknowns or Knowns, depending on your arty traveling circles, but probably Known to you if you’ve sought this book out.  (And probably known to you as a TMNT fan, since several guys come from that world.) On the left-hand page is a question, maybe or maybe not matched to the picture, and on the right an answer, same rule.  Artists illustrated a mix of both sides.  The guys lettered their pages, so we’ll assume they knew the Q or A and let their imagination work in whatever way.

Next: The pages are stitched together randomly, excepting the left/right concept.  Not only does this make each book unique, but obviously it also makes the questions and “their” answers random.

But here’s the rub: None of the Q’s and A’s match anyway, and some of them are vague enough to neither be question, or answer, or could be both.  And there are a few too many of the “can you tell me directions to somewhere?” questions, or purposefully witty answers.

And if the book were trying to be clever, this would annoy, but I don’t really think it is.  I think it’s just a fun concept with some great artists and a satisfyingly hand-made approach, lacking in some dashes of consideration for how the final product could’ve been sharpened.