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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
aptly named, October 23, 2007
This review is from: Spent (Hardcover)
Having been a big fan of Joe Matt for many years, this collection came as a big disappointment to me. After reading it I've been forced to reluctantly conclude that in his last work he's taking the reader for a ride. Unlike his other exuberant, imaginative efforts, this is a claustrophobic, abrasive work that consists entirely of tight facial closeups and repetitive dialog that is all-too-familiar from his previous efforts. Matt's character has already been long-established, and he takes it in no new directions in this volume. On the contrary, his close introspection on his inability to form intimacy and his addiction to pornography have no counterpoint in drama, dialog, or action. The result is solipsistic and boring.
This is a shame because as a long-time reader I have really enjoyed his previous work. The most emotion Spent got out of me was when Matt reflects on his previous efforts and confesses that he abandoned his planned ending to the "Fair Weather" arc of Peepshow. It would have involved a trip to the fair, but he gave it up because he was "too lazy to draw the crowd scenes." Looking back on that storyline (the name, they were building the fairgrounds throughout) I have to accept this, and it's simply depressing.
In this book Matt communicates to his readers in no uncertain terms that he has given up on his craft. He has become for this reader like the old friend whose destructive tendencies finally overcome your loyalty, and I feel something of that kind of disappointment reading this depressing work. After this read, Matt would have to completely reinvent himself to get my attention again.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exceptional cartooning, but to what end?, September 2, 2007
This review is from: Spent (Hardcover)
Joe Matt's work is truly dark. That word conjures images of the Crow or ... what's that really stupid one? Johnny the HOmicidal Maniac. But in fact it would be pretty cool to be the Crow: you look cool and you're either getting vengeance or laid. Spent is about the true dark moments of the soul, which are usually alone and in dingy settings. Knowing the history of how he got here makes this all the more effective: he couldn't appreciate Trish (who is now, incidentally, married and a successful animator) while he had her, always lusting after someone not interested in him. Now Trish is gone and nothing's sprung up to take her place except the porn they so often fight about. That scene where he's about to make the Crumb shirt his new ... errr... rag... that's so powerful. Reading though, I asked myself: isn't he afraid of Trish reading this?
Anyway, Matt is such a great cartoonist. His characters are fluid and alive he somehow makes thirty pages of a three guys in a diner or a guy wandering around his tiny bedroom interesting and compelling. And frankly, without Matt's talented, (deceptively?) simple cartooning, it would be difficult to make it through this very sad story.
It's a good thing he ended the story where he did, since approximately the next day he gets a call to turn his cartoon show into an HBO tv show and moves out to LA where young girls fawn over his 45 year-old carcass (don't believe me? Check out his MySpace page). What an unbelievable Deus Ex Machina: what hack dreamed up that illogical end to this pathetic character's story? Luckily Matt ends it where it 'll end for most losers: in their porn-cluttered boardinghouse bedroom.
My one negative thought on this was that I'd read the excerpt he did of Spent in the McSweeney's compendium a few years ago. It's like 6 pages: Matt edits his tape, finds the t-shirt, flashes back about Trish, tries to cheer himself up by planning on buying a slice of pizza, only to get seduced by the porn into not leaving his bedroom. Don't those six or so pages tell his story much better than this large graphic novel? WHat we get from the rest, though buoyed by his excellent cartooning, only takes away from that concision: do you care that Seth bullies Joe? I sure don't. Still, it's a pleasure to read in the hands of this virtuoso--you just don't want to *shake* those hands.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT., November 26, 2007
This review is from: Spent (Hardcover)
This book put a smile on my face. The voyeur in me couldn't put it down until I turned the last of its 120 pages. It's a breeze to read, and funny to boot.
I think its one of the best things I've read this year. It's just very entertaining & enjoyable. If summed up, the book shows little more than Joe talking to himself in his 1-bedroom dwelling, watching porn, and a few (real-world) conversations with his 2 cartooning friends Seth & Chester Brown.
But the WAY it's done is something else!
If you like R.Crumb's self-loathing comics, then I daresay you'll get a kick out of this book. I sure did. Joe's first collection of `Peepshow' (Called `The Poor Bastard') collects his life with his ex-girlfriend, and as such shows a more gregarious lifestyle (Well... as gregarious as Joe can get). This collection (Spent), shows his life `after' the relationship is over. He's alone, and aside from brief chats with a friend or two, is largely introspective and contemplative.
Joe's art & writing are refreshingly clean & simple. Though blunt & honest, Joe doesn't just point at the world and say "You are to blame!" - (far from it) - In fact he's constantly pointing the finger at himself. He recognizes that he's the reason for his lot in life, but knows himself enough to accept it. You get the feeling that Joe is his own 'shrink', and getting it out on paper helps him makes sense of it all. (Though publishing it for the world to see took some balls!)
'Spent' really is like reading someone's diary. A beautifully drawn and funny diary. For the price, you really are getting a lot in a hard-bound and well made comicbook.
I can't recommend it enough.
Bobby.N
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