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The Cartoon History of the Universe: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
''The Cartoon History of the Universe'' is [[Exactly What It Says
Written and drawn by Larry Gonick, this series of non-fictional graphic novels is basically a Cliff's Notes of history in comic book format. The first volume begins with the big bang, and subsequent volumes cover the evolution of life on Earth, the dawn of man, and into early human history. Volume 19 covers up to the Renaissance, after which the series changes its name to ''The Cartoon History of the Modern World.'' The final volume, published in 2009, reaches up to recent events in 2008.
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* [[All Crimes Are Equal]]: Averted in the sections covering the invention of laws and legal systems. He takes particular aim at Han Feizi and the the Chinese Legalists, who advocated this policy, showing exactly how well it worked for the Qin Dynasty (it led directly to their destruction).
* [[All Jews Are Ashkenazi]]: Averted, but frequently joked about, particularly through use of [[Yiddish
** Jews are frequently depicted saying "Oy" in response to various things.
** When Salome presents her case to [[The Roman Empire|Augustus]] (whom her brother Herod had made executor of his estate), she called Archelaus (Herod's eldest [[Offing the Offspring|surviving]] son) a "schnook" and a "schlemiel," words that would not appear in any language for a good thousand years at least.
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'''Pagan Woman:''' [[Creepy Monotone|Must...find...out...]] }}
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: One or two minor errors that stand out only in contrast to the enormous amount of research the author obviously ''did'' do. For instance, Gonick states that when Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas More, the Archbishop of Canterbury, protested and was assassinated. Apparently he has confused Thomas More with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was assassinated four centuries earlier when Henry II ranted, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?!" Thomas More was never Archbishop of Canterbury. He was Henry VIII's chancellor; when he balked at the break with Rome, he was stripped of his office and eventually tried and executed for treason, as recounted in Robert Bolt's play, ''A Man for All Seasons.'' However, Gonick will edit out errors from subsequent versions when they are pointed out to him.
* [[Doing in
* [[Dramatic Irony]]: Frequently. For instance, when Mohammed changes the qibla to Mecca
{{quote| '''Rabbi''': "I think we just made [[Understatement|three hundred enemies]]..."}}
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{{quote| '''Woman:''' Greater than the Internet?<br />
'''Man:''' Sex can make me forget about the Internet, but the Internet can't make me forget about sex! }}
* [[Jewish Mother]]: Referenced in the bit on the semi-legendary Jewish Queen [
{{quote| '''Judith, crying and with her hands in the air''': Why don't you ''win'' more often? Don't you ''care'' about ''me''?<br />
'''Ethiopian soldier''': God, I feel so guilty... }}
* [[Moses in
* [[Murder Simulators]]: Parodied in a section about the invention of chess. A mother watches her child capture a rook and laments, "These action games are ruining our youth!"
* [[Pet the Dog]]: Shown by a warlord standing over the corpses of enemy troops, but tenderly asking his wife if she's okay
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* [[Science Marches On]]. The earlier books, especially on human evolution, suffer from this.
* [[Screaming Warrior]]: Xiang Yu is portrayed as such, only speaking coherently on select occasions.
* [[Shout
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The series is a non-fictional summary of history, so it all falls under this trope. Each compendium provides a bibliography with encouragement by the author to check out his sources for further study. They are every bit as fun to read as the books themselves.
* [[Spell My Name
* [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]]: Gonick has a field day with this in the sections on 16th- and 17th-century England.
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