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jackwatt's review
2.0
These stories did nothing for me. I have enjoyed a lot of Smith's work, including his Green Arrow run and the Clerks movie, but to me, it feels like the kind of juvenile humour that worked for the film doesn't work in a comic book.
jonh's review
4.0
There are two things in particular I like about the Clerks franchise:
1. Its authors make no pretense about its level of filth. Clerks is a scuzzy, scuzzy world with scummy, scummy people. And as the property's become more popular, Smith and his crew has maintained that level of scuzziness, instead of toning things down to appeal to a broader audience.
There are some sick, sick moments in this book: a lot of it misogynistic. And I can't say I "enjoyed" those moments in the conventional sense, but within context, reading about reprehensible people doing reprehensible things, it fits. For me it's like watching a film by John Waters or Harmony Korine or Todd Solondz. Relatability takes a back seat to the observation and study of deplorable characters. (Also, GoodReads? Relatability is a word. Check your spellcheck, please.)
2. Every incarnation of Clerks takes full advantage of its medium. The cartoon series draws attention to the fact that it's a cartoon, and does things that can only be done in a cartoon universe. Likewise, there's an extended bit in Clerks. (The Comic Books) where Jay and Silent Bob are hanging out in a comic book, talking about how they're hanging out in a comic book. For a meta-literary nut like me, moments like that are pretty delightful.
It took a couple of jump-starts for me to get into this, simply because I was out of the habit of reading comics with big honkin' text boxes. Given enough attempts, however, and Clerks proved an awesome read. There's a comfortable rhythm to the pop culture discussions. Even as it's breaking up action sequences, it feels organic, right at home.
Basically, if you like Clerks, you'll like this. I do, and I did.
1. Its authors make no pretense about its level of filth. Clerks is a scuzzy, scuzzy world with scummy, scummy people. And as the property's become more popular, Smith and his crew has maintained that level of scuzziness, instead of toning things down to appeal to a broader audience.
There are some sick, sick moments in this book: a lot of it misogynistic. And I can't say I "enjoyed" those moments in the conventional sense, but within context, reading about reprehensible people doing reprehensible things, it fits. For me it's like watching a film by John Waters or Harmony Korine or Todd Solondz. Relatability takes a back seat to the observation and study of deplorable characters. (Also, GoodReads? Relatability is a word. Check your spellcheck, please.)
2. Every incarnation of Clerks takes full advantage of its medium. The cartoon series draws attention to the fact that it's a cartoon, and does things that can only be done in a cartoon universe. Likewise, there's an extended bit in Clerks. (The Comic Books) where Jay and Silent Bob are hanging out in a comic book, talking about how they're hanging out in a comic book. For a meta-literary nut like me, moments like that are pretty delightful.
It took a couple of jump-starts for me to get into this, simply because I was out of the habit of reading comics with big honkin' text boxes. Given enough attempts, however, and Clerks proved an awesome read. There's a comfortable rhythm to the pop culture discussions. Even as it's breaking up action sequences, it feels organic, right at home.
Basically, if you like Clerks, you'll like this. I do, and I did.
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