Kinky and Cosy is a collection of comic strips by Belgian artist Nix. Kinky and Cosy are the main characters of the strip, a pair of 8-year-old, red dress-clad twins that pull pranks and make dirty jokes at the expense of their parents, teachers, and friends. These two strange girls are much too clever for their own good or for anyone else’s.
This book is all over the map. Some strips are funny and clever, while others are just downright bizarre and had me confused over why anyone would think the jokes were funny. Despite focusing on two young girls, this is a very adult book. There are strips making jokes about the theory of relativity, adult toys, violence, and alcoholism. The twins’ mother’s sexual frustration and odd ways of coping with that frustration is a major storyline throughout the collection. The book derives a lot of its humor from the ridiculousness of seeing 8-year-olds make jokes about adult topics, such as the Neo-Nazi classmate who says the Holocaust never happened or when Kinky and Cosy have drinks in a bar with some aliens.
The jokes are, for the most part, snarky, sarcastic, and clever. This collection very clearly has a European sense of humor. I found myself chuckling over most of the book. Nearly as often, however, I found the jokes strange and awkward. The plotline involving the mother falling in love with the recycling bin, for example, was a bit too out there – particularly since she falls out of love once she discovers there was an actual man talking to her the whole time. Some of the humor went a little too over-the-top for me and occasionally just wasn’t funny. It was hard not to be put off with a few of the more adult jokes.
The artwork is simple, colorful, and very cartoon-y. It suited the storylines perfectly. Kinky and Cosy look like very average, cute little girls, making their dirty jokes all the more shocking and funny. Interspersed with the illustrations are a few photographs of the author and a friend dressed up as various characters or being transformed from themselves to Kinky and Cosy. The photos are a fun break from the odd jokes, yet carry the same sense of strange humor.
The book ends with brain-teasing puzzles, poking fun at the puzzles normally found in the newspaper or children’s puzzle books. One asks you to figure out which students threw paper airplanes while the teacher wasn’t looking and which one threw an anvil at the teacher’s head. Most of the puzzles are overly complicated, which is hopefully a joke on the author’s part and not a sign that I’m becoming dumber. The book includes an answer key to most of the puzzles, but a few are not included, making me wonder if that was an accident or just a joke on the readers.
This collection is fun and funny, until it just got too weird for my taste. Kinky and Cosy are smart, cute, and a bit disturbing all at the same time. While many jokes may easily offend, the collection is a good time most of the way through.
Kinky and Cosy
by Nix
ISBN: 9781561636044
NBM, 2011
Publisher Age Rating: Adult
