#000442
Unicorns Are Jerks: A Coloring Book Exposing the Cold, Hard, Sparkly Truth
Theo Nicole Lorenz
*Unicorns Are Jerks* is exactly what its subtitle promises: a coloring book 'exposing the cold, hard, sparkly truth' about everyone's favorite mythical horse. Theo Nicole Lorenz's premise is a small comic delight—eighteen line drawings of unicorns behaving badly: texting in theaters, farting in elevators, eating your leftovers, generally being insufferable while remaining maddeningly cute. It rode the adult-coloring-book wave of the early 2010s but stood out by being genuinely funny rather than merely soothing. Lorenz, who holds an MFA and makes coloring books and comics out of St. Paul, has a knack for pairing sweet, colorable art with a wicked little joke. There isn't much to analyze here and that's the point—it's a gift book, an hour of silliness with a box of pencils. As irreverent novelty humor goes, it's charming and well made.
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The author
Theo Nicole Lorenz holds an MFA in writing from Hamline University and makes coloring books and comics in St. Paul, Minnesota. The work sits at the playful intersection of illustration and comedy—art you complete yourself, built around a running gag.
The book
First appearing in 2012 and later issued by Sourcebooks, Unicorns Are Jerks offers eighteen full-page drawings that skewer the sparkly mystique of unicorns by showing them doing thoroughly obnoxious, all-too-human things. It arrived amid the adult-coloring-book boom but distinguished itself through humor, and proved popular enough to spawn a follow-up coloring-and-activity book.
How to read it
There is nothing to over-think—this is a novelty gift and an invitation to spend a happy hour with colored pencils. Its wit is in the concept and the drawings, and it delivers on both. Reviewers singled it out as what an adult coloring book should be: irreverent and fun rather than merely calming.
For more context
It belongs to the 2010s adult-coloring phenomenon and to the broader vein of subversive, meme-adjacent humor books.
Sources - Amazon listing - Internet Archive
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Theo Nicole Lorenz
- Publisher
- Sourcebooks
- Place of publication
- Naperville, Illinois
- Year
- 2012
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado