The Poor Bastard

by Joe Matt

I've never really been too interested in reading the work of the holy trinity of underground Toronto cartoonists - Seth, Chester Brown, and Joe Matt.  I'm not really sure why (I loved Brown's Louis Riel, and plan to read it again soon), but I've really avoided their autobiographical work as being a little too masturbatory (literally and figuratively).

Not wanting to always stick with my snap judgments without at least sampling the work I've judged, I decided to give The Poor Bastard a try.  I was right of course, there is a lot of masturbation going on, but there is also a funny and decidedly insensitive nature to this comic that I really enjoyed. 

The book is basically Matt's life, as he argues with and mistreats his long-suffering girlfriend, eventually driving her away completely.  After that, moves into a rooming house, and proceeds to try to find a suitable replacement for her, although his insane need to judge and belittle women keeps him from finding anything even resembling happiness.  It's a sad tale, made even more so by the fact that I, as a reader, couldn't always tell if he was making fun of himself a little, or was trying to justify all of his actions, as he frequently does in conversation with fellow cartoonist Seth, who fills the role of loyal friend and lone voice of reason.

I enjoyed this book, but I don't know if I liked it enough to start tracking down the rest of the Joe Matt library.