Great Comic Books
you've never heard of
by Philippe Touboul
Part 1 - Cynicalman
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In France, we are SO lucky. Comics here are considered an art form, not some third-rate entertainment for brats and future delinquents. As a consequence, comics are almost always collected in beautiful hardcover collections, lusciously printed and lovingly picked up by wealthy connoisseurs. So lucky...
But American comics are different. Or at least, they used to be. Until fairly recently, comics were seen as disposable art. Quickly printed, quickly read, and then thrown away (or better yet, exchanged against something else… like another comic, for example). Nowadays, Americans have just found out that the only people putting care and time in the production of comics are the artists, and that they are the reason why those comics have some redeemable artistic value. And lo, the age of the trade collection was born, with almost every comics, new or old, now getting their own series of almost lusciously printed books... The important word here being “almost”. |
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Some series of yesteryears are still waiting for the honor of a resurrection in a more permanent format. What I’m going to do here, in this column, is talk about some of them. The comics yet-to-be-rediscovered. This seems like the right place to do so. If you don’t agree… you know what? I don’t care.
And thus, without further ado, let’s talk about Cynicalman. Cynicalman is a stick-figure comic book written and drawn by Matt Feazell. Matt Feazell is well-known (among indie comics fans of the 80s) for two things: he drew (and still does) Cynicalman, and he is a talking character in the intro of Scott McCloud brilliant essay on comics, Understanding Comics.
After a healthy run of self-published mini-comics distributed locally, Matt Feazell’s stick characters appeared in a more prominent way in the pages of another Scott McCloud series, the unbelievably great Zot! published by Eclipse Comics… (thanks to this mischievous plot, this is how I discovered them, anyway). Matt Feazell had a backup feature in Zot! (a sci-fi romp, cleanly drawn and resolutely optimistic, completely out of place in the comics scene of the 80s). He drew the adventures of Zot and his friends in “dimension 10 ½”, using his peculiar art style and scorching humor to great effect. Soon, readers like myself discovered his main character, Cynicalman, and his brilliant supporting cast (Cutegirl, Stupidboy, Antisocialman, et al.).
Straight, to-the-point art. Straight, to-the-point humor. What’s not to like? Everything is great in this comic, and Cynicalman should be an icon of our time. And it’s not too late : Michigan-born and bred Matt Feazell still produces CM comics (a strip ran for several years in a local paper)… and some collections exist. I even have an old trade parperback published by Caliber Press (from Detroit) in 1995.
So hunt down Matt Feazel books, read them and have a laugh. Or not. You can be cynical about it. It may be the point. Or not.
Next time, we’ll talk about a color comic. With more lines in the drawings. Maybe even (Gasp! Shudder!)… a super hero comic?
And thus, without further ado, let’s talk about Cynicalman. Cynicalman is a stick-figure comic book written and drawn by Matt Feazell. Matt Feazell is well-known (among indie comics fans of the 80s) for two things: he drew (and still does) Cynicalman, and he is a talking character in the intro of Scott McCloud brilliant essay on comics, Understanding Comics.
After a healthy run of self-published mini-comics distributed locally, Matt Feazell’s stick characters appeared in a more prominent way in the pages of another Scott McCloud series, the unbelievably great Zot! published by Eclipse Comics… (thanks to this mischievous plot, this is how I discovered them, anyway). Matt Feazell had a backup feature in Zot! (a sci-fi romp, cleanly drawn and resolutely optimistic, completely out of place in the comics scene of the 80s). He drew the adventures of Zot and his friends in “dimension 10 ½”, using his peculiar art style and scorching humor to great effect. Soon, readers like myself discovered his main character, Cynicalman, and his brilliant supporting cast (Cutegirl, Stupidboy, Antisocialman, et al.).
Straight, to-the-point art. Straight, to-the-point humor. What’s not to like? Everything is great in this comic, and Cynicalman should be an icon of our time. And it’s not too late : Michigan-born and bred Matt Feazell still produces CM comics (a strip ran for several years in a local paper)… and some collections exist. I even have an old trade parperback published by Caliber Press (from Detroit) in 1995.
So hunt down Matt Feazel books, read them and have a laugh. Or not. You can be cynical about it. It may be the point. Or not.
Next time, we’ll talk about a color comic. With more lines in the drawings. Maybe even (Gasp! Shudder!)… a super hero comic?