A Million Little Pieces of Close to Home #[nn]

John McPherson's *Close to Home* has always had a gift for finding the absurd lurking in everyday life, and this 2006 Andrews McMeel collection puts that talent front and center. The cover cartoon alone sets the tone perfectly: two hospital workers stand beside a pair of beds where four heavily bandaged patients are suspended in elaborate slings, with the deadpan caption, "These are the four guys who were in that skydiving accident." Surrounding that central gag, dozens of torn comic strip fragments scatter across a blue background — a playful visual promise of the laughs packed inside.