For his second novel, The Funnies, J. Robert Lennon creates a priceless set-up for a comic novel, and then somewhat perversely—and just as successfully—turns it into a touching story about coming to terms with one's family. Tim Mix, son of the recently dead cartoonist behind a comic strip that bears a strong resemblance to The Family Circus, finds himself troubled by his father's will. Left nothing tangible, Mix inherits the strip, and the guaranteed income attached to it, on the condition that he shows the ability to carry on his father's creation by the end of the summer. A high-minded art-school graduate, Mix is forced to come to terms with a real family that's greatly at odds with the cherubic tykes loved by his father's audience, while forced to work within the strictures of an innocuous daily comic. Though comedic moments are plentiful, Lennon tactfully refrains from going for easy laughs, taking seriously his narrator's task of re-creating his family, both on and off the drawing board. The author has a great knack for set-pieces: An extended sequence taking place during his hometown's annual celebration of its most famous resident—replete with costumed versions of himself and his brothers and sisters—stands out in particular. But by keeping things firmly grounded in recognizable human experience, Lennon turns a great comic set-up into a novel that's short on easy laughs, but long on observant moments and lasting impact.