That's Life, kid.

Today's "Edison Lee" is a good example of why some gags work better on Sunday. The dialog necessary to simply make the joke could be compressed into a daily, but the necessary cuts would seriously undermine the humor. The more expansive Sunday format allows for more give-and-take and a more natural conversation, as well as a more elaborate series of small punchlines, leading up to the final joke, which neatly sums up the whole theme of diminished expectations.

Meanwhile, the additional art allows John Hambrock to play with the graphics of the game itself and evoke tactile memories. They unfold the board, they look at the various props and, since nearly everyone has played "Life," it helps to take us back to the days when we played the game and, yes, when we believed it was all going to be that simple.

There are times that the preternaturally-wise-little-kid concept falls flat, and "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee" constantly dances along that line. But, on most days, it comes down on the right side, and this is most certainly one of those days.

Comments

[Ben Carlsen]

Although the Game of Life simplifies a lot of things, when I was a kid it did make many things more complicated than I thought they would be, what with all the money and expenses and family details and such.

[Mark Jackson]

I wonder if there's going to be a post-crash, post-industrial America version of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careers_%28board_game%29