Customer Reviews

Spent

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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

"Spent" is basically a graphic novel about masturbation. Masturbation about himself, about money, about comics, and literally. The book divides itself into 3 sections. The first is about a trip to a comics store Joe has with Seth, the author of "Clyde Fans" and the "Palookaville" comics, which ends with Joe and Seth quarrelling over an obscure comic and Joe purchasing porn in a cafe, then worrying over the girls in the videos.

The second is about a lunch between Joe, Seth, and Chester Brown, the author of the "Little Man" strips and "Louis Riel", and a discussion over comics awards, their work, and then the gentle ribbing of Joe by the other two.

The third is a monologue Joe has with the reader as he potters about his house, giving us a brutally honest view of his life. The small rooms, the porn addiction, the lack of drive to create comics - his true love, and finally a reveal on his previous "autobiographical" books where he reveals the ending of "The Poor Bastard" is fictional, and "Fair Weather" is largely made up as well.

The book contains Joe Matt's best work, both written and drawn, and the book was very readable. It's not a book that's going to change the world as it's a book concerned solely with the author's world view only. That said, the fascination Joe has with his life translates into an engrossing book, despite the disgust you might feel toward the author's habits. Also, being a big fan of Seth and Chester Brown, it's great to see them depicted by one of their friends and to see what they're like.

The book is also brilliantly produced, high quality hardback, quality paper used, another great D&Q production. It's not a graphic novel on the scale of "Maus" or "Blankets" but it's a great read from a likeable guy. Let's hope he puts down the tissue box long enough to put together another book soon.

This book kind of works well with Matt's two previous book, as a dire warning about how it's easy to paint yourself into a corner unless you remember to grow as a human being. However, read on its own it's pretty depressing. Unless Matt can find a way to widen his scope, the world probably won't be desperately looking forward to any further books, but it DOES work as a suitable conclusion (or dead end?) to this series.

Indie comics have been a breath of fresh air with the likes of Clowes, Seth, Hernandez Broz, Doucet and many others. But as with any field there eventually becomes a ton of absolute crap as publishers try to meet demand for more material. Joe Matt has been the beneficiary of this because he has published two hardcover books that are the worst of the worst. The danger of indies is that they will become mere confessionals; and if that one would hope that they would have something to say. They can be depressing or dark or edgy or anything - they need however to give some insights that move a reader beyond one's own world. Matt is like a poor man's Chester Brown; whereas Chester is a completely self absorbed narcissist who lacks emotions, he couches it in psuedo intellectual blather and outstanding art skills. Matt takes the reader through his obsession with porn and his self-absorbed, abusive relationships with women. Is one suppose to feel sorry for him, feel amusement or be merely entertained? None of these are possible because Matt lacks an interesting narrative. So he jerks off to porn and is emotionally abusive. Okay, where's the narrative? None exists. So, is it a work of comic art at the basic level of art and form? Nope - this is what you'd get from someone who can draw at a basic level with no visual interest. His pictures are just uninteresting. He's riding the wave of indies but hopefully that wave has crested. Avoid this rubbish.

In a weird way, what disappointed me about Joe Matt was not his baldly honest and funny objectification of women and "Orientals" (me being both) but the black hole Spent was.

As other reviewers have smartly put it, this book was a let-down because there was no revelation, action or change in Joe Matt. But let's face it; we don't read Joe Matt hoping for him to emerge as some uber-man, we read him to relate, to feel good about our own pathetic moments, and even point our fingers. Peepshow and Poor Bastard were essentially the same story as Spent, but seemed as if "more happened" because they generally spanned over a greater period of time. Even if the character of Joe Matt didn't change from the beginning to the end of the book, we (or I!) did. There was a sense of satisfaction after reading each previous book because there was a narrative arc completed.

And that's the problem with Spent. A bunch of things happen: Joe tapes porn, Joe haggles a book with Seth, Joe gets upset about someone moving his toothbrush, but there's no cohesion. Finishing Spent, I'd neither learned or unlearned anything about Joe. This book could have simply not existed.

Which is too bad, because as laughably despicable a character Joe Matt is, there was such fun in reading him. Joe Matt the author is clearly a smart storyteller and brilliant artist, but surely he could have said more in this book. However, I definitely do not care to meet him in person! His MySpace page, as someone else pointed out, lacks the charming filter his artwork provides. To see him in life makes it all too real--his fetishes are no joke. As much as I chuckled over his episode with his Asian roommate, it's not as funny to see his half-dressed Asian female fans prancing about. They willfully play right into his desires, which is just wrong on too many levels.

I highly recommend Peepshow, Poor Bastard and Fair Weather instead, in that order. Happy reading!

The good thing about "Spent" is that the graphic art is wonderful. The lines are nice and crisp, and Joe Matt clearly is a talented artist.

The bad thing is that - whether intentional or not - the protagonist Joe that he presents to us in "Spent" is such a dreary, pathetic drag. He is addicted to dubbing his favorite moments from porno films onto blank tapes (he's got hundreds upon hundreds of hours of tape as a result), addicted to saving money and watching it accrue interest yearly (he therefore becomes a somewhat reclusive miser, deathly afraid of spending any money despite the fact that he's got tons in the bank). He will spend money on long-sought-after collector's items that his friends want, if only to sell it back to them for several times what he paid. He spends too much time brooding over his torturous childhood (and it apparently wasn't that bad - simply your same-old-routine of young boy is nerdy and watches "contraband" porn and wishes girls liked him and boys didn't tease him so much).

I can spot the protagonist's self-deprecation in "Spent," and for the most part, I can appreciate that it has its place there. Certainly people like him thrive on such behavior. That's fine. I can understand that. But the lead here is such a unlikable guy, I found myself hoping it would pleasepleaseplease get better, or end more quickly than it did.

I am also willing to concede that, as a woman who was relatively popular in school, I simply may not be able to relate. For that reason (and because of the nice artwork), "Spent" gets three stars from me.

Joe Matt has one great work under his belt, that being his first book, Peepshow. Each page was an experiment with how to most efficiently or interestingly use one page to tell a story. None of his following efforts have measured up. What's amazing is that it takes him two years to produce a new comic and the last few issues have just involved him pitying himself, walking around his apartment or jerking off. This is the product of a man who's best work is long behind him. Spent is a completely accurate description of Joe Matt.

I am not the biggest fan of what some would call alternative comics and this work is a prime example of why. There is nothing more to this than a supposedly grown man to busy feeling sorry for himself to do anything else. He has aspirations to become a great writer/artist but spends his time whining about how he never completes anything. If he took that energy and applied it to his work he wouldn't have a reason to feel sorry for himself. I really felt like my time was wasted by reading this. Do yourself a favor and pass on it.