Minimum Wage Volume 1: Focus on the Strange by Bob Fingerman

Minimum Wage

by Bob Fingerman

Freshly separated Rob Hoffman is trying to reassemble his life. Only 25, he's going through a divorce, his finances are in ruins, and he's forced to move back in with his mom. All around him things are changing. The Internet is about to erase his number-one source of men's mags. But the Internet also offers a new angle on dating, and so begins Rob's adventures as a singleton.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Ebooks, Humor, Fiction

Paperback

First published October 8, 2014

About the author

Recent releases are From the Ashes, a satirical "speculative memoir" set in post-apocalyptic New York (IDW, March 2010) of which The Onion wrote, “As a blitz of astringent satire, an unabashed love letter to his wife, and a love-hate manifesto aimed at the whole human race, From The Ashes is a gem; as an addition to the often-staid canon of post-apocalyptic pop culture, it’s a revelation… A“

In August 2010 my second novel, Pariah (Tor Books), a Pinteresque zombie tale, was released. It rec'd a starred review from Publishers Weekly and an A- from Entertainment Weekly and was Fangoria's Book of the Month selection. The mass market pocket edition came out in 2011.

My most recent release is the deluxe oversized hardcover collection Maximum Minimum Wage, from Image Comics (April 2013), which made Entertainment Weekly's Must List and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Set in the late ‘90s (or early ‘00s, it’s unclear), Rob’s 25 and going through a divorce. He’s a porn cartoonist for men’s mags which are dying off thanks to the internet. Rob decides to try internet dating and meets several women. That’s the “story”.

I think this is supposed to be a comedy but reading Minimum Wage is about as funny as a death march. The only reason I think it’s a comedy is because it’s the only possible reason scenes this random would be included. For example, Rob and his fellow cretins, I mean “friends”, go to da club. They gibber at one another while hitting on some girls. The scene ends. Rob goes to the porn mag’s offices where his editors gibber at one another. The scene ends. Rob meets some more cretins where they objectify women over hamburgers, blathering on in a dreary verbose manner. The scene ends. I get the feeling my sides were supposed to be splitting during these scenes but I wished all the characters would die instead.

This is a painful comic to read, it’s so bad. Bob Fingerman’s cartooning style is horrible. The panels are crammed to bursting with far too many characters (all drawn in a caricature style for some reason) with way too much dialogue, most of it redundant and awful to read. Here’s an example. Rob’s rat-faced friend asks him to come over to help him find a missing piece from a model kit (another pointless scene that has nothing to do with anything) which, again I’m guessing, is meant to amuse the reader but instead annoys with brain-thuddingly awful dialogue. This is all one monologue from rat-face:

"DUDE! Dude? Dude. Calmness. I said I need your eyes. I have nae wee glasses, laddie and cannot see where the missing pieces went. I felt around like Blind Pew. Oh. Feelin' around. Oof. Those ABS. Is Kobba ripped? I bet you're ripped, six-pack stylie. Eight-pack. Am I right? Let's get nude and wrestle. Joshing. Only. Just fuckin' with Kobs to get a rise. Anger rise, not bone-yobba-pork sword rise. Fuck it. Whatev's. I can buy another kit if you no wanna look-see for the missing pieces."

It’s written like this for 130 pages. The character is also apparently not dain bramaged like I was after reading this comic.

A story would’ve helped but I’m not sure Fingerman’s capable of such a thing. Instead scenes happen for no reason. Bob Fingerman, I mean “Rob”, out of nowhere gets a job working a hand puppet at a public access show leading to him boffing an actress he liked when he was a kid. Maybe the puppeteers job is established in previous books as I gather this book is part of a series but this is my first (and last!) Fingerman comic so I couldn’t tell you. Later he gets a gig drawing Prix, a pathetic parody of TMNT. But mostly this book is about sex sex sex as Rob sleeps with one “kerazy” woman after another. Yeah, they’re weird, Rob, not you, you repulsive sod.

This book feels like a relic from the ‘90s and not just because that’s when it’s set but because the way the characters stand around making pop culture references feels very ‘90s like a weak Kevin Smith parody. There’s also the glorification of “the slacker/loser” crap that was so “in” back then. Fingerman’s not only nostalgic about the past when he was a young man and presumably drawing porno cartoons himself (that would explain the overt sexuality of this comic and cornball depictions of the sex), but he hasn’t developed as an artist/writer. He’s perpetually stuck in the ‘90s. This book was published in October 2014.

Reading Minimum Wage: Focus on the Strange was a singularly miserable experience. Obnoxious characters/dialogue/non-story/art-style, it’s just terrible on so many levels, I’m not sure who on earth would find this drivel entertaining or funny. Absolute garbage – avoid!

[Gavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

***I will keep doing INDY WEEK stuff, as I don't have any FF on hand, and the library I've read all of them***

A Whiny main character who's moved back in with his mother after his split/impending divorce from his wife.

A 25 year old protagonist who's friends are all fucking morons who think having sex or a regular girl will solve all the problems.

Emo before emo, as in woe is me I'm so down and sad but that's art man.

Rather offensive homophobia runs rampant in this book as well, numerous times characters make fun of male friendships being "homo" or whatnot. Being very sure to avoid anything which might make someone else think you're gay, being REALLY worried about complete strangers and their opinions.

Oh and of course, the casual racism. Cab drivers wear turbans; all Jewish girls are actually sluts who love Bacon; and so on.

Oh and there's a lot of sex.

So if you're 15, this might appeal to you. But if you've ever actually touched a boobie? I think you might be beyond this.

All the women are portrayed as weirdos and in a negative light, and even though the main character has sexual relationships with 3 different women over the course of a few months, they all seem to be the ones who are made to look like the strange ones, but he, the loser who needs to move out of mom's place, isn't?

I just don't want to read about schlubs. No schmucks, no losers, no pre-definition hipsters, or neurotic obsessives. All his friends are mostly dicks, and his best friend is more interested in getting laid by a former TV star than anything.

This just screams early 90s, when it might have passed for edgy or artsy; here it just seems lame and one-dimensional.

[Elle Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm gonna start you off with a warning, this book is for mature audiences only.

Okay, warning time over, this book written by Bob Fingerman (not sure if that's his real name, because if it is that is hilarious, considering the content of the book) and follows Rob Hoffman and the pitifullness of his life as a recent divorcee.

His friends are crazy, his rebound love life is depressing, but makes for great fodder and his job as pornagropher, I mean cartoonist just makes it funnier.

Rob is a hilarious character that over analyzes everything, is way too stuck up in his own head and is still very hung up on his ex.

The way his friends rib him is also funny, my favorite quote from one of these scenes was "AND I SHOULDN'T MURDER YOU WHY?", which after you read you will vote it your favorite quote in the conversation.

Anyway, if you buy one comic this week make it this one, the graphics are all drawn in bluish tin and only occasionally are there any scenes in color. Just one more thing, Fingerman, seriously, Fingerman, after the puppet scene that is just so hilariously wrong, right, I don't know but still Fingerman. Still laughing.

Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

“All I do is assess every female I see”. A point well made by the main character that accurately sums up the gist of this book.

[Ming Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this graphic novel, great grahics, great sense of humour in the story line, very much like real life for many people that i have known during my life time. I have allot of this authors work in my collection, very entertaining story lines. Everything you could possible imagine.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite enjoyable. adult problems, love life, work, living situation from a guys point of view.

[Nicholas Karpuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there is one thing that always made growing up as a nerd in the 90's, it was my inability to properly quote media.

The 90's were a heyday of referencing. Tarantino, Kevin Smith, and the Simpsons made it easy for impressionable minds to pick up the habit of dropping pop culture references into every conversation apropos of nothing. I always mangled the quotes, and nothing triggers a nerd's need to correct more than a paraphrased reference.

This book starts out with all the tired hallmarks of the era. Losery protagonist with women problems, "edgy" motor-mouthed buddy who's always trying to give unsolicited advice (can we retired this character, along with unsolicited advice in general?), and a cast of characters that all seem to engage in excessive verbal gymnastics.

It felt like a lot of content in that era all has the pervasive notion that all a slacker needs to get his life together is the love of a good woman. Having observed plenty of slackers who got girlfriends, I can say that they remained the same, which usually ended up with the girlfriend breaking up with them eventually. The better order of operations would be to get your shit together, then try and find a partner, but I can only speak for what worked for me.

Maybe the ending addresses this, the way the movie Swingers did. I may never know, because about a third of the way through I gave up, because beyond any other issues, I just hated the way most of the characters talked. All the deeply referential, highly affected speech patterns left me cold. I don't like these people, and beyond the blather it all seemed so mundane, as though the solution to lacking plot was to ratchet up the dialogue.

Like a lot of the stuff I consumed in my teens, this just makes me sigh and wish the characters could just get it together.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Freshly separated Rob Hoffman is trying to reassemble his life. Only 25, he's going through a divorce, his finances are in ruins, and he's forced to move back in with his mom. All around him things are changing. The Internet is about to erase his number-one source of income: men's mags. But the Internet also offers a new angle on dating, and so begins Rob's adventures as a singleton.

I had two attempts at reading this and just found it really hard to get into and have to admit I stopped reading just after halfway.

Maybe the problem was reading it as a digital edition on the computer: the illustrations and text are really cramped and it is somewhat of a struggle to get through page after page of black and white panels. Pretty much each page is full of action and dialogue and I found it very hard to read.

As another reviewer wrote, a lot of "American-isms" in this story and I think maybe I suffered also from being from the other side of the world and simply missed some of the jokes because of that.

I would like to have another go of this when I can find a physical copy. It may be a far better read.


Paul
ARH

[Alex Sarll]

It's not like Image don't publish other autobiographical comics, some of which (eg Phonogram) I love. Yet this still somehow isn't what I expect from them. Perhaps it's because those other books, at whatever remove, feel part of the comics 'mainstream', where Minimum Wage is much more of a Robert Crumb, alternative comics affair. Which is to say, the male leads all look really seedy and the women are all pneumatic cartoons. Because it's the 21st century, the creator's avatar occasionally questions his own obsessions, but it never manages to shift his art style for long. This sounds like I really hate Minimum Wage, which I don't, but it is part of a genre whose appeal fundamentally escapes me.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

[Jell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the art and the story was a bit slow for me (though I know it's a series). The lead character Rob is very relateable though.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost and Sort of Found

Our hero, Rob Hoffman, is in the last stages of a sad divorce, living back home with Mom, hanging out with the same old friends, and navigating through what's quickly becoming a dead end career. He's also newly returned to the dating scene. In style, I guess Rob and this book qualify as sort of next generation Harvey Pekar and a newer version of "American Splendor".

At this point, based on that summary, I still wouldn't know if there's anything at all appealing or entertaining going on in the book. To end the suspense, I think there is. At the top of the list you would find Rob's friends. They are funny and supportive, and this is the most authentic and engaging buddy stuff I've read in a long time. They are also a continuing Greek chorus, commenting on the action, providing reality checks, and talking and acting like real people, which keeps the whole project grounded. Rob's older co-worker Jack is particularly perceptive and witty, and I'd buy a whole book featuring him without a second thought.

It helps that Rob isn't a whiny funny/loser type. He has a lot of insight about himself and life, and is a sympathetic character because he isn't consumed by insecurity and neediness. He's affable and honest. He's pulling himself together, and who won't root for that?

The drawing starts out a bit messy, busy and crowded, but once you become familiar with the characters and we get out of crowded nightclub scenes it's easy enough to distinguish characters and settings and you aren't distracted by the graphic part of this graphic novel. Fingerman has a slightly exaggerated old-school style that seems a little stand-offish at first, but it actually adds a lot of personality to the characters as drawn and becomes more and more engaging as you get used to it. (The sketchbook bonus at the end gives you some insight into how the author decided on exactly how the characters would be drawn and it's very interesting if you like the technical and creative side of illustrating.)

Just as a grumpy aside, I'm not quite sure why I should be impressed by the blurby dropping of names like Margaret Cho, Patton Oswalt, David Cross and Trey Parker, but I guess the idea is that if certified cutting edge hipster taste makers like them like this book then I better like it too. Well, all that sort of thing does is annoy me, so the fact that I still liked this book despite that must be a testament to its appeal.

So, grown up situations and humor, some real heart, a generous and forgiving soul, a few laughs, some rueful and hard won truths, and an almost sweet-tempered examination of the modern urban life. Not a bad combination.

Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Minimum Wage Volume 1: Focus on the Strange' by Bob Fingerman does indeed focus on the strange. With a plot like a Judd Apatow film, it's definitely an R-Rated comic.

Recently separated, and soon to be divorced, comic book artist Rob Hoffman is looking to restart his life. He's living with his mom and trying to get his life back together with better jobs and a renewed dating life. His friends aren't especially encouraging, and the dating scene is discouraging at best, and pretty strange at worst. Another strange encounter happens with Rob and a childhood idol that is bizarre. Will Rob find happiness, a steady job and someone to love? You'll just have to read for yourself.

It's an underground comic in the spirit of Pekar and Crumb among others, but it's got it's own strange humor. The art kept me turning pages. It's very cartoony, but detailed. It was reminiscent of the cartoon work in Mad Magazine that I remember, and I really liked it. The story is pretty crude and isn't for everyone (me included), but it's still a well made work.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributor, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had found the first three issues of the new Minimum Wage series by Image before I found out about the initial series in the 90s. After now reading the gorgeous hardcover Maximum Minimum Wage, I went back and checked out the first volume of the nu-Minimum Wage trade. Picking up in 2000, we find Rob recently divorced, and adjusting back to the single life. The usual shenanigans we're familiar with ensue, featuring characters from the initial 10 issue run.

While I don't think these 6 issues collects were quite as strong as the first run, I still absolutely loved this trade. It's really great to see an updated style that still feels like you're picking up where the 90s series left off. I was happy to see the character Matt toned down slightly, his previous personality having been a little over the top for my taste. Can't wait to see where Rob and the gang go next.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up randomly at comic con this year just because I liked the title. I enjoyed it. The otherworldly scenes that are in color threw me off a bit and I didn't really understand how they fit into the story but those pages might just be lost on me because I'm not familiar with the references. One thing I really liked was the attention to detail in the artwork. There's one scene showing the West 4th Street subway and it looks exactly how it does in real life with the basketball court and the McDonald's. idk it's small but I smiled when I saw it. Overall it was enjoyable but I'm not sure if I will keep up with it b/c I have a few other comics that I'm more interested in at the moment.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

My heart sank a little at seeing, early on in this book, the main character talk about making a comic about their life – have we not had enough of such sub-Pekar nonsense before now? Luckily enough there is a lot more to this – the very enjoyable plot of the man's faltering love life is certainly more to my taste than the banter between the friends, at least. You also have to take on board your feelings as to the style – huge banners of linked, over-lapping dialogue balloons acting as gutters above every image, but I liked the imagery. It's no work of genius, but it does have a lot that appeals, and if there are many readers who knew the previous iteration of this series they will certainly be lapping this up, right up to the great combined punchline cliffhanger.

[Bert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd heard lots of praise for Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage, especially when Image Comics released Maximum Minimum Wage, though I never read that series. And based on the quality of this new series, which sees Fingerman returning to this subject 15 years later, I doubt I will.

Because this is basically a comic in the style of Pekar and Crumb, and its subjects and themes run along those same lines. And quite frankly they're tired and cliched. It's almost like this comic is a relic from another time -- and in a way it is, I guess -- as if its creator hasn't noticed how the world has changed in the past decades. There is this odd nostalgic feel to an era that judging from this comic wasn't that great at all.

[Oscar Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read the original series (first series from the 90's) and I hate to day it, this doesn't hold up. The first series was brilliant in capturing the art scene zeitgeist in the East Village, to homophobia in Bay Ridge, to finding an affordable apt. in NYC, to the low paying world of independent comics (I've been there), all wrapped up in an unlikely love story. I remember laughing my face off on some scenes where Bob captured the truly bizarre things you see in NYC. He had a great knack for dialog. I'll never forget the little kid saying "cog suggah".

Anyhow, this ain't it. I'm sure some of there characters are as thinly veiled as Bedelia Brunch, but I'm not sure. There's some good bits but after reading this, I find my self comparing it to the original series.

[Paul Allard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of a soon-to-be divorced twenties porn illustrator in the big city, rediscovering sex and relationships.

The artwork was quite fun and well-conceived.

Not really my bag, this, as I did not understand a lot of it as a good deal of it is written in US slang – difficult for us non-Americans – so I probably missed out on a lot of the jokes and references. I did not really engage with this and gave up about a third of the way through it. This was with the digital edition which is quite busy and hard to read on the computer. So apologies to the authors: I probably did not do it justice.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one in floppy format. It was nice to catch up with the characters, and Fingerman is still a master at making the mundane life entertaining. It helps that I can identify with the character attempting to date and what not after a divorce.

Good stuff, I'm looking forward to the second arc.

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Focus on the Strange" continues the slice of life journey Rob. Unsure whether or not the series required another arc, but it's enjoyable enough to warrant reading. Feels a little drawn out at times, but the tortured artist protagonist and his uncouth friends are reasonable enough. Art style feels slightly too clean for this, unlike "Maximum Minimum Wage" where there was a bit of grit.

[tlev 4242 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was...painful. It focuses on an unpleasant man and his unpleasant group of friends as they struggle through life. The art style was passable, but the layouts, where each panel had way too much going on in it is where this really fails. I'm not sure though if I would have enjoyed this more if it was easier to read. Perhaps not, as I found the characters unlikable and the storyline boring.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a huge comic book fan, but this was great. It was a dark and witty tale that I found myself laughing out loud to. The author does a great job reaching his audience. I will be reading more from him in the future.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it but some things were lost on me because of the slang and references that were used. I love the akward situations Rob finds himself in, some made me laugh out loud.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed following his brain around.

[Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bob Fingerman definitely wants the world to think he is very good at sex.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some fun moments here, but it felt like it would just go on and on. Just wasn't into it, I guess.