I assume most that are reading this are already familiar with the What the Duck comic strip. If you’re not, you can read them at WhatTheDuck.com or in the Photography News section of the Corner forums. Aaron Johnson’s minimalist style and dry, satirical dialogue lead us through a variety of adventures in the world of professional photography. The main character is, of course, a duck, as are all the photographer characters in the strip. Everyone else (clients, models, etc) however, are human. Strangely, this seems completely natural. While design/creative amateurs and professionals will particularly enjoy the scenarious and humor throughout the strip, you don’t have to be a pro to be entertained. Even if you simply own a camera, you’ll easily relate to a variety of the humorous situations.
What the Duck started just over 3 years ago (wow, has it been that long??!), and as far as I can tell, all the strips in the full-color, 128 page book, have been previously published on whattheduck.com. There are, however, a number of new drawings for each of the “chapter” headings. You can check out a limited preview here in Google Books. Each drawing looks WAY better in print versus online (obviously). What the Duck: A W.T. Duck Collection
(graciously given to me by the author, Aaron Johnson), features hundreds of strips on 8.8 × 8.4 inch pages (paperback).
I have 3 signed-and-framed What the Duck strips in my office (pictured below), so obviously I’m a big fan. What the Duck: A W.T. Duck Collection was supposed to go on sale starting today, but I noticed Amazon was selling it last week. You can now pick it up from Amazon for less than $10, so there’s really no reason for you not to pick up your own copy. If you own a camera, consider it your next “must-have” accessory. Buy your copy today!
