Cynicalman ...The Paperback!

by Matt Feazell

Reprints material from the Cynicalman mini-comics series.

Genres: Comics

190 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Matt Feazell is an American cartoonist from Hamtramck, Michigan, primarily working in minicomics. He is best known for his wryly humorous The Amazing Cynicalman series and the simple "stick figure" art style he uses for it. Cynicalman appears in the introduction to Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics, in which Feazell's work is cited as an example of "iconic" art taken to its greatest degree.

Reviews

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some interest in mini-comics because I used to make them. Obviously, I didn't have the kind of success Matt Feazell did with Cynicalman, but I nevertheless understand the impetus and the process. So it was quite fun to revisit the format with Feazell's Cynicalman... The Paperback!, a tome that includes all 12 issues of that 1980s mini-comic, and at least as many pages devoted to other strips he drew in the same stick figure style, featuring characters in the expanded Cynicalverse, usually written by friends. It's a little off-putting to suddenly be reading about Stupid Boy, Antisocial Man, and Cute Girl, but they ARE connected to the larger piece and are equally amusing and unassuming. The reproduction quality on some of the earlier strips isn't too good (I'm not surprised), but things get better around issue 3, and one might take exception at the layouts leaving so much blank space at the bottom of every page (the comic wasn't in the same basic format), but the fact that ANY mini-comic would be collected is an achievement unto itself. I knew about Cynicalman because of the one professional issue published by Eclipse back in the day, but seeing the origins of the characters in "The Paperback!" took me back to my own efforts and, more broadly, holds the very cool message that anyone can tell their story no matter their level of craft. (Just say no to generative A.I.!)

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

a out-of-print collection of all my early minicomics 1980-1986