Sequential Art? Graphic Novels? Comix? Just read the damn things already!

January 19, 2009 6:43 PM

ComixFilter | The First Post hosts the full versions of a few great graphic novels (some NSFW): Joe Matt's The Poor Bastard • Marisa Acocella Marchetto's Cancer Vixen • Rosalind B. Penfold's Dragonslippers • Rich Koslowski's The King • A slew of Tony Millionaire's Maakies strips • And, since it's his birthday, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum
posted by not_on_display (24 comments total)

Joe Matt deserves his own FPP. He's something else. (And very NSFW)

Great find.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:56 PM on January 19, 2009

Seriously, who masturbates like that?
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:02 PM on January 19, 2009

Lots of guys. You shouldn't because it can sensitize you to WAY more pressure than normal penetrative sex can provide, but it's not unusual. A variant of death-grip masturbation.
posted by Justinian at 7:15 PM on January 19, 2009

This is really cool, but I don't really recognize this pit and the pendulum. I guess that's a silly complaint in light of this excellent post, but...
posted by es_de_bah at 7:47 PM on January 19, 2009

Cool post, although I wish there were better navigation. Scroll. Click Next. Scroll. Click Next. Scroll. Click Next. I just acquired tendinitis.
posted by wastelands at 8:17 PM on January 19, 2009

Calling a book of illustrations with speech and thought balloons a "graphic novel" is like calling a rap song a "verbal symphony." There is no shame in reading and enjoying comic books. But if they are novels, then Baby Got Back is a concerto.
posted by flarbuse at 8:24 PM on January 19, 2009 [2 favorites]

i'm reading the poor bastard right now; thanks for putting this up.
the damn comic is good, but i feel really creeped out by it.
and i unfortunately know why...
posted by artof.mulata at 8:30 PM on January 19, 2009

I fucking love Maakies.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:59 PM on January 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Poor Bastard is an asshole!!! Can anyone confirm whether it's definitely autobiographical?
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 9:36 PM on January 19, 2009

Joe Matt is a perfect example of why I love and hate autobio comics.
posted by The Whelk at 9:51 PM on January 19, 2009

The Poor Bastard is an asshole!!! Can anyone confirm whether it's definitely autobiographical?

Well...

"He's told stories about getting a handjob from a prostitute in a Times Square porno theater, and has documented how his longest, most stable relationship ended as a result of his selfishness and inability to stop consuming porn. (He also blackened his girlfriend's eye during one argument, though as drawn by Matt, that was partly self-defense.) "
posted by hellojed at 9:57 PM on January 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

Can anyone confirm whether it's definitely autobiographical?

In his later book, Spent, he mentions that he embellished some of the details (like giving his girlfriend a black eye).

Love me some Joe Matt. He lives in my neighborhood, apparently, though I've never spotted him.
posted by hifiparasol at 9:58 PM on January 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

Agh, I should mention the quoted item is #9 on the list.
posted by hellojed at 9:58 PM on January 19, 2009

I jsut finished The Poor Bastard. Loved it. The art was clean andI actually feel sorry for Joe. He's so sad.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 10:43 PM on January 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

i know it's late, but i just have to say that as pathetic as poor bastard is marisa marchetto's 'cancer vixen' is poignant. i can't stop reading it. i'm going to oversleep. i'm screwed.

not_on_display you have ruined my night; i will never get to sleep at this rate.

thanks.
posted by artof.mulata at 1:34 AM on January 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Okay, I'm halfway through The Poor Bastard and I am loving it. I see some of myself in the comic (though not to the same extremes, of course), and I think that's why it works. All of us have these same neuroses and insecurities once in awhile.
posted by wastelands at 2:30 AM on January 20, 2009

Midnight last night when I came across this post, I had to get up at 6am... but I couldn't stop until I read all of The Poor Bastard....
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 4:39 AM on January 20, 2009

I fucking love Maakies.

Fucking seconded.

*dook dook*
posted by languagehat at 5:52 AM on January 20, 2009

languagehat: *dook dook*

X)< I AM AN ALCOSOLDIER!!
posted by not_on_display at 8:12 AM on January 20, 2009

That third-eyed enlightened rat in Maakies I ran across yesterday still has me laughing. Turns out it can happen, too: Rusty the rat achieves a higher plane....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:16 AM on January 20, 2009

Calling a book of illustrations with speech and thought balloons a "graphic novel" is like calling a rap song a "verbal symphony." There is no shame in reading and enjoying comic books. But if they are novels, then Baby Got Back is a concerto.

Spectacular troll! You sound just like a completely ignorant moran craving to start an argument. Bravo!
posted by FatherDagon at 8:32 AM on January 20, 2009

Whatever else you say about Joe Matt, you can't accuse someone who draws himself with an O-face like that of Mary Sueism.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:52 AM on January 20, 2009

Spectacular troll! You sound just like a completely ignorant moran craving to start an argument. Bravo!

You must be new here, right?

Anyhoo...

I was prepared to hate until I sunk my teeth into "Poor Bastard." That comic read like a book to the point where I hated the guy, wished he'd die, then felt sorry for him and started rooting for him. Very good stuff!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 4:38 PM on January 20, 2009

I read the entirety of Poor Bastard without stopping - and one of the others is Maakies?!

Great!

Calling a book of illustrations with speech and thought balloons a "graphic novel" is like calling a rap song a "verbal symphony."

So your name for this graphic work of narrative fiction that's the same length as a novel is...?
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 6:31 PM on January 20, 2009