Book excerpt: Psychologies magazine designates Voutch "therapy by laughter." * Voutch merges a luminescent art style with sardonic wit to create a one-of-a-kind critique of humanity. More About This is as Bad as it Gets French cartoonist Voutch offers a cartoon cocktail that's equal parts art, cynicism, humor, and tenderness. * Filled with snide doctors, newfangled technologies, relentless media, communication faux pas, unreasonable bosses, and dysfunctional relationships, this stateside offering of Voutch's most popular French cartoons leaves nothing lost in translation. * Employing the sophisticated art style gouache, which differs from watercolor in that its use of pigments is heavier and more opaque with greater reflective qualities, Voutch is as enjoyable to view as it is to read.