FIDO DIDO 101 or Living Life in...

FIDO DIDO 101 or Living Life in the Third Lane by Susan Rose and Joanna Ferrone (Topper Books: $6.95; unpaginated, paperback original). Fido Dido, a triangular-headed cartoon character whose vapid features grace T-shirts and other products, represents a triumph of merchandising over quality. Susan Rose’s minimal drawings are as expressive as smile-face buttons, and these Haring-esque cartoons feature by-the-numbers humor for people with black wardrobes who’d like to live in SoHo lofts. Fido now appears in the station breaks that interrupt Saturday morning kidvid on CBS, which pits him against more dynamic cartoon personalities, including the Sugar Crisp Bear and the Trix Rabbit.