The Poor Bastard

Rating:
Summary: Grim, hilarious and compulsively readable
Review: Joe Matt is at it again. No, not self-abuse, unless turning yourself into a comic book character qualifies as such. Matt's published another confessional, book-length collection about the life of one Joe Matt. Unlike Peepshow, which I went back and re-read after reading this one, there's not much youthful ebullience and stylistic experimentation in Poor Bastard. Nevertheless, like all Matt's stuff, the book is compulsively readable.

The style and the subject matter are pretty straight ahead. No longer using a zillion small panels and experimental styles, The Poor Bastard begins with the last stages of the relationship between Joe and Trish, who are unrelenting and grimly out of phase with each other. After Trish inevitably breaks up with him, Matt is plunged into a hellish, self-conscious existence pondering his hang-ups, aging body, mortality, inability to meet women, obsession with porn...

It's a familiar story. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy feels trapped, treats girl like cr*p and takes her for granted. Girl breaks up with boy and moves on. Boy can't get over it. That doesn't sound like a prescription for a successful work of art, but Poor Bastard succeeds. Matt pulls it off with his all around excellent 'tooning and storytelling. He has a fantastic sense of pace. Good book.

Rating:
Summary: A sincere not-so-sincere comic autobiography
Review: Joe Matt's "The Poor Bastard" is really a one-of-a-kind autobiographic work because instead of narrating past-events it is almost a diary of current events, where the author is not afraid of telling us even the most embarassing details of his and his friends' life! If you thought that ED TV was a great idea for a film... well this is the real thing! Since this is a collection of a serialized work, as the book goes on you even have a chance to see the angry reactions of the people that Joe Matt exposed in the book as they read about themselves. And in the process you will discover that maybe Joe wasn't honestly telling you ALL the truth after all... Joe Matt is an ego-maniac, cheater, liar and egoistic creep but oh-so human.... and you may find yourself relating to this "poor bastard"'s everyday misadventures. Buy it, you won't regret it. And if you do you have my e-mail address to complain!

Rating:
Summary: A sincere not-so-sincere comic autobiography
Review: Joe Matt's "The Poor Bastard" is really a one-of-a-kind autobiographic work because instead of narrating past-events it is almost a diary of current events, where the author is not afraid of telling us even the most embarassing details of his and his friends' life! If you thought that ED TV was a great idea for a film... well this is the real thing! Since this is a collection of a serialized work, as the book goes on you even have a chance to see the angry reactions of the people that Joe Matt exposed in the book as they read about themselves. And in the process you will discover that maybe Joe wasn't honestly telling you ALL the truth after all... Joe Matt is an ego-maniac, cheater, liar and egoistic creep but oh-so human.... and you may find yourself relating to this "poor bastard"'s everyday misadventures. Buy it, you won't regret it. And if you do you have my e-mail address to complain!

Rating:
Summary: Like watching a video-taped recording of someone's life
Review: Joe Matt's _The Poor Bastard_ is one of the most entertaining comics I have ever laid eyes on. Painfully honest, funny, and engaging, Matt chronicles his relationships with women, one of his fans, his friends, and his sexual fantasies. _The Poor Bastard_ beautifully portrays the anguish of human relationships. _The Poor Bastard_ is a book well-worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Like watching a video-taped recording of someone's life
Review: Joe Matt's _The Poor Bastard_ is one of the most entertaining comics I have ever laid eyes on. Painfully honest, funny, and engaging, Matt chronicles his relationships with women, one of his fans, his friends, and his sexual fantasies. _The Poor Bastard_ beautifully portrays the anguish of human relationships. _The Poor Bastard_ is a book well-worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: next best thing i've ever read
Review: this book along with joe matt's peep show (the best stuff i've ever read) changed my life. it's so incredible funny and brilliant.