Recently I bought Footrot Flats: The Dog Strips…, which is “The Ultimate Collectors Edition”. Not a lot of information about this book can be found online so I thought I’d share my thoughts on this excellent book.

This book was first printed in 2007, and reprinted twice in 2008. The print run seems to be pretty small, I found one description somewhere that described the 2007 print run as “FIRST EDITION 2007, LIMITED PRINT RUN, RARE”, and has a cost of AU$165. It seems that the 2008 print runs are quite small too (I found: “printed in limited numbers”), it’s hardly in stock anywhere and when it is, there’s usually only one copy. This rarity might have something to do with the hefty AU$99 price tag for my book, but then again it is a very hefty book. It’s a heavy hardcover book weighing 3.7kg (approx 9 pounds), jam packed with content.

Inside the book, there are just under 500 pages of comic strips that were selected by Murray Ball himself. He informs the reader throughout the book where he got his ideas for the comics, whether they be from events on his own farm, or from things that have happened to him and others in his life. Many of the background stories are hilarious, and often had me laughing out loud. Murray Ball could have written hilarious fiction story books equally as well as his Footrot Flats comics. Every character is explained in good detail, though I would have liked to have read a little more info about each of the Murphys and Cousin Kathy. Why would Murray want Cooch be in love with his cousin, instead of an unrelated woman?

Along with the comic strips are some beautifully printed full-page, full-colour comics. The whole presentation of this “Ultimate Collectors Edition” is outstanding. When you add up the large size and content of the book, the insightful (and often hilarious) background information by Murray Ball himself, and the beautiful, clear presentation of the book, the result is a very, very impressive book. Anyone who loves Footrot Flats should have this book, it’s a masterpiece.

I have avoided writing specifics about what is revealed in the book. You’ll have to buy the book to find out! I hope Murray Ball can earn good money from this book, he fully deserves it, so I don’t want to give away the answers that all Footrot Flats fans want to know. From inside the book cover it says:

Murray Ball, for the first time in print, tells the story of Footrot Flats: its (sic) inspiration, creation, development, and dilemmas. With the same wry humour that we have come to expect from the Footrot Flats cartoons, he comments on his life as a cartoonist, farmer, husband and father. Murray takes us behind the scenes of this internationally successful cartoon strip.

• Read about the REAL dog, Wal, Cooch, Horse and more.
• Find out the True story behind the dog’s name.
• See actual photographs of the Dog, Horse, the Goose, the cowshed and the Mohaka Gorge!
• What could have possibly have inspired the creation of Murphy’s croco-pigs?
• Whatever became of Bertie Rooster and Dicken the Chicken?
• Did a giant tree-eating hare really exist?

All is revealed in The Dog Strips.

Well what are you waiting for? You must buy this book! Order it: ISBN-978-1-86971-112-2

It’s a shame that the original series of Footrot Flats books are no longer printed and sold. I wish they could be all reprinted as I think of all the people out there in the world, who currently miss out on the vast entertainment they could experience if they could buy and read the Footrot Flats comic books. They don’t know what they are missing! I’d like to have new copies of my worn and bent, aging books. I’m sure many other fans would too, plus the odd book that they may have lost or missed the first time around.

I’m not sure why the old books are not reprinted and in all the book shops, it can’t be lack of demand. Otherwise why would people be paying more than $40 per book in used condition, from people online? A little marketing wouldn’t go astray either. I stumbled across “Footrot Flats: The Dog Strips…” by accident. Perhaps the limited run does not have enough profit  margin for advertising? There must be a market for many thousands of these books to be sold, it’s nice to see they are doing reprints of the limited print runs!