Spent

Source: The List (Issue 586)
Date: 20 September 2007
Written by: Miles Fielder

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Joe Matt

The confessions of a self-justified jerk-off continue in this follow-up to The Poor Bastard, which collects the next four issues of Matt’s ongoing comic Peepshow. If anything, Spent (as in ejaculated and knackered) is an even more brazenly confessional and thus far filthier read than the previous collection.

Chapter one details a meeting with his porn video supplier; two, his home dubbing session of the hardcore material; three, an extended argument with cartoonist pals Seth and Chester Brown over the author’s addiction to it; and four, a climactic 20 handjobs-in-a-day masturbation marathon. All of which would be unpalatable stuff were it not for the often priceless black humour and genuinely angst-ridden insight the thirtysomething cartoonist brings to the story of his life so far. Meanwhile, Matt’s clever way with meta-narrative (which, in his defence, heavily embellishes upon his real life) and underground-style artwork are coming on leaps and bounds. This jerk-off’s not spent yet.

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