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Fante Bukowski #1
Fante Bukowski
Noah Van Sciver’s latest graphic novella drops in on the life of the self-styled, aspiring young writer, Fante Bukowski, as he delusively makes his way to literary fame and fortune, one drink at a time. Living in a cheap hotel, consorting with the debased and downtrodden, searching for that golden idea that will rocket him to the success he yearns for as the great American novelist, and to get respect from his father once and for all. But, there’s just one problem: Fante Bukowski has no talent for writing.
80 pages, Paperback
First published July 22, 2015
10 people are currently reading
499 people want to read
About the author
Noah Van Sciver
90 books207 followers[copied from: http://nvansciver.wordpress.com/about/]
I am THE one and only Noah Van Sciver, cartoonist/comic strip artist and illustrator. I’m best known for my alternative comic book series Blammo and my weekly comic strip 4 Questions which appears every week in the alternative newspaper Westword. My work has appeared in The Best American comics 2011, Mad magazine, Sunstone, The Comics Journal, MOME and numerous comics anthologies. I’m currently hard at work on my first graphic novel The Hypo which will be published by Fantagraphics books upon its completion. I’m a cancer and I hate seafood, and adventure.
I am THE one and only Noah Van Sciver, cartoonist/comic strip artist and illustrator. I’m best known for my alternative comic book series Blammo and my weekly comic strip 4 Questions which appears every week in the alternative newspaper Westword. My work has appeared in The Best American comics 2011, Mad magazine, Sunstone, The Comics Journal, MOME and numerous comics anthologies. I’m currently hard at work on my first graphic novel The Hypo which will be published by Fantagraphics books upon its completion. I’m a cancer and I hate seafood, and adventure.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
February 23, 2024
Years later, I still laugh at this guy.
Hilarious comics portrait of a loser who has read all of John Fante and Charles Bukowski, changes his name and becomes a "writer" wanting to get famous as soon as possible. Except he has no talent except for drinking in dive bars. Is this starting to sound familiar? It is, I know. He actually meets a girl who gets him in touch with an agent who recognizes Fante as the hack he is.
Is this funny? What I am describing sounds pathetic, right? I dunno, but on a few occasions I laughed aloud reading this comic about Bukowski, whom I guess I was a little at one point, and whom I recognize in a lot of creative students who want to be writers but never actually do any writing. But Van Sciver is never mean about Fante. He is never mean about any of the self-deluded guys he describes in Youth Is Wasted, or Saint Cole. It's almost as if he were describing the worst tendencies of himself and others in his generation. He makes fun of Fante more than any of his other characters, so this one is going for laughs more than any of them, but I never resent Van Sciver for trashing him. He's not playing superior to him. He's not mean, as painfully clueless as Fante is.
The book is peppered with quotes by actual famous and successful writers, as if to say: Do something else, Fante, and by the way, change your name back to a less silly name. And in the end, ala the approach big superhero publishers have to include some alternate covers from other great superhero comics artists, Van Sciver invites portraits of Fante from various indie artists such as Jesse Jacobs, John Porcellino, Joseph Remnant and others. Hilarious idea.
Has early Jeffrey Brown style about it, which I like very much, seems appropriate for an indie comic artist writing about a struggling indie writer, and this comes in a small book format that I also love. Very funny.
One of the reasons I enjoyed reading this little book is that I used it as I sometimes use some comics to break u p my reading of Actual Famous Writer books. I am reading the splendid and Serious and Seriously Great novel Home by Marilynne Robinson, a pinnacle Fante could never aspire to, and Van Sciver wouldn't want to aspire to even if he could do it.
Hilarious comics portrait of a loser who has read all of John Fante and Charles Bukowski, changes his name and becomes a "writer" wanting to get famous as soon as possible. Except he has no talent except for drinking in dive bars. Is this starting to sound familiar? It is, I know. He actually meets a girl who gets him in touch with an agent who recognizes Fante as the hack he is.
Is this funny? What I am describing sounds pathetic, right? I dunno, but on a few occasions I laughed aloud reading this comic about Bukowski, whom I guess I was a little at one point, and whom I recognize in a lot of creative students who want to be writers but never actually do any writing. But Van Sciver is never mean about Fante. He is never mean about any of the self-deluded guys he describes in Youth Is Wasted, or Saint Cole. It's almost as if he were describing the worst tendencies of himself and others in his generation. He makes fun of Fante more than any of his other characters, so this one is going for laughs more than any of them, but I never resent Van Sciver for trashing him. He's not playing superior to him. He's not mean, as painfully clueless as Fante is.
The book is peppered with quotes by actual famous and successful writers, as if to say: Do something else, Fante, and by the way, change your name back to a less silly name. And in the end, ala the approach big superhero publishers have to include some alternate covers from other great superhero comics artists, Van Sciver invites portraits of Fante from various indie artists such as Jesse Jacobs, John Porcellino, Joseph Remnant and others. Hilarious idea.
Has early Jeffrey Brown style about it, which I like very much, seems appropriate for an indie comic artist writing about a struggling indie writer, and this comes in a small book format that I also love. Very funny.
One of the reasons I enjoyed reading this little book is that I used it as I sometimes use some comics to break u p my reading of Actual Famous Writer books. I am reading the splendid and Serious and Seriously Great novel Home by Marilynne Robinson, a pinnacle Fante could never aspire to, and Van Sciver wouldn't want to aspire to even if he could do it.
November 23, 2015
Kelly Perkins is a 23 year old wannabe writer who’s changed his name to Fante Bukowski after the two writers he idolises, John Fante and Charles Bukowski. He’s doing everything right too: he’s grown a beard, he lives in a run-down hotel, he drinks in dive bars, he writes on a typewriter and yellow legal pad. Because that’s all you need to be a writer, isn’t it - live the cliched writer’s life? Except he’s missing talent. The flashy literary agent character, Bigsburgh, sums it up succinctly: “Ugly loser writer struggles for fame and fortune”.
Noah van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski is the funniest comic I’ve read all year. Bukowski’s a pathetic dipshit who says and does idiotic things a bit like Dan Clowes’ Wilson, another brilliant creation. Like many great comic characters, Bukowski’s unaware that he’s a moron. He writes garbage poetry like “Everyone who has power is a jock” and expects agents to be beating down his door with publishing deals (I love that he’s obsessed with mysterious “jocks” keeping him down from achieving success for some reason - what a lunatic!).
Watching this guy write one bad thing after another, rage about his obvious genius going unrecognised, and scheming to get published is very entertaining. Van Sciver takes the stereotypical idea of the novelist and skewers it perfectly, along with John Fante/Charles Bukowski’s stories too (Perkins/Bukowski mirrors those novelists’ protagonists’ lives so faithfully, the comic ends up reading like a self-aware version of one of their books).
It also has quotes from great writers at the start of each chapter which actually gives good writing advice, helping the reader/potential writer take a different path to Fante Bukowski’s. That’s the kind of reader that’ll really love this comic, the ones who are/aspire to be writers, because they’ll recognise the struggles and misconceptions of writing and have hopefully moved past/learned from them; but it’s also broad enough to appeal to anyone.
Bukowski’s dealings with Bigsburgh the literary agent, his conversations with Audrey, his brief girlfriend and an actual published author, and that gun/bong scene at the end were so funny, especially that last one. And while I was laughing at Bukowski, I did like him enough to want to see him succeed a little - even though of course he doesn’t (unless you count being published in a homemade poetry mag)!
Noah van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski is so much fun. It’s genuinely hilarious, clever and Fante Bukowski himself is such a great punching bag of a character, van Sciver taking aim at poseur artistes and completely destroying them. Excellent writing and art, great story - definitely give this one a shot, it’s a hoot!
Noah van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski is the funniest comic I’ve read all year. Bukowski’s a pathetic dipshit who says and does idiotic things a bit like Dan Clowes’ Wilson, another brilliant creation. Like many great comic characters, Bukowski’s unaware that he’s a moron. He writes garbage poetry like “Everyone who has power is a jock” and expects agents to be beating down his door with publishing deals (I love that he’s obsessed with mysterious “jocks” keeping him down from achieving success for some reason - what a lunatic!).
Watching this guy write one bad thing after another, rage about his obvious genius going unrecognised, and scheming to get published is very entertaining. Van Sciver takes the stereotypical idea of the novelist and skewers it perfectly, along with John Fante/Charles Bukowski’s stories too (Perkins/Bukowski mirrors those novelists’ protagonists’ lives so faithfully, the comic ends up reading like a self-aware version of one of their books).
It also has quotes from great writers at the start of each chapter which actually gives good writing advice, helping the reader/potential writer take a different path to Fante Bukowski’s. That’s the kind of reader that’ll really love this comic, the ones who are/aspire to be writers, because they’ll recognise the struggles and misconceptions of writing and have hopefully moved past/learned from them; but it’s also broad enough to appeal to anyone.
Bukowski’s dealings with Bigsburgh the literary agent, his conversations with Audrey, his brief girlfriend and an actual published author, and that gun/bong scene at the end were so funny, especially that last one. And while I was laughing at Bukowski, I did like him enough to want to see him succeed a little - even though of course he doesn’t (unless you count being published in a homemade poetry mag)!
Noah van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski is so much fun. It’s genuinely hilarious, clever and Fante Bukowski himself is such a great punching bag of a character, van Sciver taking aim at poseur artistes and completely destroying them. Excellent writing and art, great story - definitely give this one a shot, it’s a hoot!
February 13, 2016
Not the most original caricature of a struggling young writer (father issues, alcohol, money problems, lack of talent, illusions of grandeur), but I guess that's part of the point: Fante Bukowski idealizes his favorite writers John Fante and Charles Bukowski to the point of assuming their names and imitating their less than healthy lifestyles. As you can imagine, he makes for an easy target, and the jokes thus get a bit obvious at times. Still, Van Sciver's self-deprecating, no-holds-barred approach wins me over every time: it's just so refreshingly unpretentious and merciless!
February 4, 2024
“As a favor to Audrey, I’ll read your book “Bukowski”. We can meet again in a few days and I’ll give your book an honest critique.”
“And if you like it you’ll be my agent?”
“Be your agent? What exactly do you want? What are you looking for?”
“Easy!
1. A big time book deal.
2. Apple stock.
3. Emma Stone.”
Me too Fante. Me too.
A book about the ever-present trials and tribulations of struggling writers. This one likes Bukowski so much that he changed his name.
Also, look at the front cover for this. You’ll never guess whose (real) body they superimposed Fante’s head on. No, that’s not why I picked it up. I just noticed it, I promise.
“And if you like it you’ll be my agent?”
“Be your agent? What exactly do you want? What are you looking for?”
“Easy!
1. A big time book deal.
2. Apple stock.
3. Emma Stone.”
Me too Fante. Me too.
A book about the ever-present trials and tribulations of struggling writers. This one likes Bukowski so much that he changed his name.
Also, look at the front cover for this. You’ll never guess whose (real) body they superimposed Fante’s head on. No, that’s not why I picked it up. I just noticed it, I promise.
April 24, 2022
June 2016: Ugh I love Noah Van Sciver why'd I never hear of him before you jerks never tell me anything
February 2020: Comics like these and the freedom to enjoy the ever-loving hell out of them time after time after time is what I am here for, my whole bag.
January 2021: I larffed like I’d never read these gags. 5 stars. What a tender and closely observed lampooning this is.
April 2022: This is such a comfort comic for me. I read it and I feel filled with the fire of art! GRATE art :D It’s horseshit and it makes me want to buy tacos.
February 2020: Comics like these and the freedom to enjoy the ever-loving hell out of them time after time after time is what I am here for, my whole bag.
January 2021: I larffed like I’d never read these gags. 5 stars. What a tender and closely observed lampooning this is.
April 2022: This is such a comfort comic for me. I read it and I feel filled with the fire of art! GRATE art :D It’s horseshit and it makes me want to buy tacos.
September 13, 2015
Noah Van Sciver's sense of humor is apparently throughout most of his comics, but it's on full display in Fante Bukowski. There are some scenes that had me laughing out loud, such as when Fante gets picked up while hitchhiking toward the end of the book. My only regret with this book is that it wasn't longer. By the time it ended, and I just wanted more. I hope Van Sciver will revisit this character, as there's a lot of potential here for further adventures.
October 19, 2016
I couldn't stop laughing. Everything about this book is perfect. Extra-credit for the superb packaging.
August 22, 2015
Being a writer is easy, right? Fante Bukowski thinks so. He's got all the makings of a great author: a beard, a typewriter, and some cheap wine. The only problem is that he's not very good at writing. And he can't get anything published. And he's out of ideas. And money. "Fante Bukowski" is another knockout book about a lovable loser from the prolific Noah Van Sciver.
A master of the hilariously painful and the painfully hilarious, Van Sciver's acerbic wit is on full display in this novella. Some pages even had me laughing out loud. Everything about the book feels like a loving throwback: the cliched writer's life, the comix-y art, and even the book design itself, with its old school graphics and yellow-tipped pages (like a classic copy of "The Catcher In The Rye" or something). Van Sciver obviously has a lot of affection for his subject. Besides being funny, his characters feel fully realized, with rich backstories, and come off as absurdly plausible. I really enjoyed the book and I'm excited that he's continuing Bukowski's adventures in a second volume.
Don't be a jock; read "Fante Bukowski."
A master of the hilariously painful and the painfully hilarious, Van Sciver's acerbic wit is on full display in this novella. Some pages even had me laughing out loud. Everything about the book feels like a loving throwback: the cliched writer's life, the comix-y art, and even the book design itself, with its old school graphics and yellow-tipped pages (like a classic copy of "The Catcher In The Rye" or something). Van Sciver obviously has a lot of affection for his subject. Besides being funny, his characters feel fully realized, with rich backstories, and come off as absurdly plausible. I really enjoyed the book and I'm excited that he's continuing Bukowski's adventures in a second volume.
Don't be a jock; read "Fante Bukowski."
Read
February 26, 2016Van Sciver has a penchant for allowing humor and pathos to exist simultaneously in a story without one diminishing the other. This is an excellent example of that skill. Plus, I love the classic-pb-style size and cover art.
July 6, 2018
Noah Van Sciverin "Fante Bukowski" (Sammakko, 2018) kertoo 23-vuotiaasta kirjailijanalusta, joka asuu rähjäisessä motellissa, naputtelee kirjoituskonetta ja kittaa olutta kuten idolinsa jonka mukaan hän on myös nimennyt itsensä.
Fanten haave olisi saada rahakas kustannussopimus (sekä Applen osakkeita ja Emma Stone), mutta se on helpommin sanottu kuin tehty, sillä näkökulmasta riippuen joko maailma ei ymmärrä hänen suuruuttaan tai hänen parhaat tekstinsäkin ovat kiusallisia Milan Kundera -plagiaatteja. Lakimies-isän arvostusta ja kallisarvoista näkyvyyttä voisi tietenkin hankkia saamalla runonsa arvostettuun kirjallisuuslehteen, olkoonkin että sen levikki on vain kaksikymmentäneljä kappaletta.
Sarjakuvan myötähäpeästä kumpuava huumori on sen verran viiltävää, ettei albumia pysty lukemaan yhdeltä istumalta läpi, vaikka se verrattain lyhyt onkin. Noah Van Sciverin nimi täytyy painaa mieleen, sen verran oivallinen lukukokemus tämä oli.
Fanten haave olisi saada rahakas kustannussopimus (sekä Applen osakkeita ja Emma Stone), mutta se on helpommin sanottu kuin tehty, sillä näkökulmasta riippuen joko maailma ei ymmärrä hänen suuruuttaan tai hänen parhaat tekstinsäkin ovat kiusallisia Milan Kundera -plagiaatteja. Lakimies-isän arvostusta ja kallisarvoista näkyvyyttä voisi tietenkin hankkia saamalla runonsa arvostettuun kirjallisuuslehteen, olkoonkin että sen levikki on vain kaksikymmentäneljä kappaletta.
Sarjakuvan myötähäpeästä kumpuava huumori on sen verran viiltävää, ettei albumia pysty lukemaan yhdeltä istumalta läpi, vaikka se verrattain lyhyt onkin. Noah Van Sciverin nimi täytyy painaa mieleen, sen verran oivallinen lukukokemus tämä oli.
September 29, 2020
It was brief!
It was painful. Met folks like him. Saw bits of my 19 year-old self in him. But mostly just enjoyed watching a dude down on his luck trying to make it in the world.
Of course he’s not really down on his luck. He’s basically a trust fund kid who chooses to be dirt poor.
But man, I remember thinking more about being a writer than actually writing. Seeing this guy made me feel a little bit better about the turd I used to be.
It was painful. Met folks like him. Saw bits of my 19 year-old self in him. But mostly just enjoyed watching a dude down on his luck trying to make it in the world.
Of course he’s not really down on his luck. He’s basically a trust fund kid who chooses to be dirt poor.
But man, I remember thinking more about being a writer than actually writing. Seeing this guy made me feel a little bit better about the turd I used to be.
April 26, 2021
Magnífica edición en castellano por La Cúpula. Pocas hojas pero un muy buen gramaje, a todo color, excelentemente traducido por Rubén Lardín. Este comic tiene momentos hilarantes. Se hace corto y uno se queda con ganas de leer la segunda parte que seguro caerá. Para mí Noah Van Sciver no sólo es un descubrimiento que llevaba con más de dos años queriendo leer, si no que es el Harvey Pekar del siglo XXI. Este comic hace muy bien todas las cosas y además es barato. Sinceramente, me encanta.
April 24, 2021
Weird that this seems like an overdone parody; that of the "brutal, working class" writer, but I think this is because there's quite a few people I've met who are just like Fante Bukowski... so I feel as if this joke has been done before, but only because I've seen it played out in real life a few times.
March 7, 2021
Funny. But hits a bit close to home!
August 29, 2017
There is something about books about writers, whether self-referential or not, that doesn't appeal to me. This one isn't terrible though, maybe because it seems to poke fun at that type of story.
Fante Bukowski is a "writer" that is on the verge of losing basically everything. Having never been published, he mooches off his parents to be able to continue this lifestyle, while making meager attempts to create something worth publishing. There are some entertaining interactions with fellow writers and agents.
I think the thing that made this one fall short for me is that it is just too pessimistic. Anything that seems to be going well for Fante ends up slipping away. I didn't enjoy the art much either. Despite these personal shortcomings, it is told well. That alone saves it from being a throw away book.
Fante Bukowski is a "writer" that is on the verge of losing basically everything. Having never been published, he mooches off his parents to be able to continue this lifestyle, while making meager attempts to create something worth publishing. There are some entertaining interactions with fellow writers and agents.
I think the thing that made this one fall short for me is that it is just too pessimistic. Anything that seems to be going well for Fante ends up slipping away. I didn't enjoy the art much either. Despite these personal shortcomings, it is told well. That alone saves it from being a throw away book.
September 11, 2020
I talked about this one in my "Top 50 of the 2010's" video :
https://youtu.be/qa3TxAF5UtU
https://youtu.be/qa3TxAF5UtU
January 10, 2021
it's 80 pages. me explaining it to you, you could be halfway done. so fuck it.
March 7, 2021
Келли Перкинс, 23-летний парень, выглядящий на все 35, увольняется из адвокатской конторы отца, берёт себе псевдоним, состоящий из фамилий любимых авторов, и начинает делать всё, чтобы стать легендарным писателем: жить в занюханном отеле, пить дешёвое пойло, стучать на печатной машинке (в эпоху смартфонов) и исписывать блокноты бездарной поэзией. Со дня на день агенты и издатели начнут охотиться за его неземным гением, а пока Фанте Буковски ждёт озарения, чтобы написать свой первый роман.
Ожидал что-то вроде "Уилсона" Дэниела Клоуза, местами ядовитую, местами печальную сатиру обо всём на свете, получил скорее "Неуклюжую" вариацию Джеффри Брауна, на редкость коряво нарисованную и полную бесконечного нытья и нелепых ситуаций, за которые становится лишь немного стыдно. Единственная по-настоящему смешная сцена была ближе к концу, где отчаявшегося Буковского подвозит абсолютно безумный парень.
Может, надо самому быть мечущемся в творческом кризисе человеком, чтобы оценить это произведение, не знаю. Хорошо, что не стал брать нашу локализацию. Вот небольшое превью.
Ожидал что-то вроде "Уилсона" Дэниела Клоуза, местами ядовитую, местами печальную сатиру обо всём на свете, получил скорее "Неуклюжую" вариацию Джеффри Брауна, на редкость коряво нарисованную и полную бесконечного нытья и нелепых ситуаций, за которые становится лишь немного стыдно. Единственная по-настоящему смешная сцена была ближе к концу, где отчаявшегося Буковского подвозит абсолютно безумный парень.
Может, надо самому быть мечущемся в творческом кризисе человеком, чтобы оценить это произведение, не знаю. Хорошо, что не стал брать нашу локализацию. Вот небольшое превью.
August 21, 2019
If I had to describe the plot of this book in one sentence, it would be “an entitled man thinks the world should fawn over his terrible writing.”
Full review on my blog.
Full review on my blog.
March 10, 2020
You will love hating Fante Bukowski, the neighborhood pretentious windbag! Van Sciver has a great comic style and is a terrific storyteller; fans of Crumb, Bagge, and Derf will get a kick outta this series.
December 9, 2020
Loved this. It is hilariously painful. I kept thinking of writer friends I would gift it to and would turn a page and go, nope, they'll think this is a jab at them. It's bang on brutal. Simple, short, great fun. Definitely getting more from Sciver.
September 28, 2017
A joy to read. Small and quick with lots of laughs.
October 5, 2020
Exhaustive look at an exhausting character with enough laughs and an interesting cast told in a loosely engaging style that held my interest in the tome.
July 30, 2017
This was hilarious and relatable to anyone trying to pursue a "dream." Definitely gave me A Confederacy of Dunces vibes.
February 12, 2022
A very funny comic about desperately wanting to be a writer. Life formed reading mimicking beatniks and watching the legends fuck up theirs.
An extremely Sammakko book. And short as hell, but a sweet and a funny treat.
An extremely Sammakko book. And short as hell, but a sweet and a funny treat.
February 22, 2017
No joke, I picked up this short graphic novel because it had fallen off a shelf at the Library, and that seems oddly appropriate. It's the tale of a 20-something self-styled writer who has the double disadvantage of overestimating both his talent AND his motivation; someone who makes all the wrong sacrifices to become an artist. Reading his awkward interactions with agents, writers, and bar patrons made me want to laugh and cringe at the same time. Surprisingly well-paced (and ended) for such a small work.
March 31, 2020
Funniest thing I've read in a while
December 5, 2015
Better than other stuff I have read by Sciver, but still the same faggy existential angst comic written by a "failed artist" who should have grown up years ago but fails to realize his shortcomings and rather focuses on churning out the usual maudlin cliche' stories. Falls pretty flat with nothing to say really, but there are some humorous parts. I think the quotes make the book, which is pathetic. However, ironically, being pathetic is the new "success", so I guess, this is a success? Anyways, three stars for slight improvement. It had a good start and then just trailed off into nothing really; which ironically, is something?
On second thought, two stars, fuck Sciver....
I don't know anymore...I quit trying to understand the literary world and "art" anymore...I need a beer.
On second thought, two stars, fuck Sciver....
I don't know anymore...I quit trying to understand the literary world and "art" anymore...I need a beer.
April 14, 2018
Fante Bukowski is the kind of delusional misanthrope who might find himself at home in a Daniel Clowes story, a self-styled down-and-out writer without writing talent. I used the term "incompetent confidence" in a presentation this week, which could just as easily be stated as confidence incompetence or the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and it's a pretty good descriptor for this loser. Imagining himself to be a celebrated outsider artist, he can't understand why the world won't recognize him as such. The loose artwork and comic strip pacing benefit the material, and there's some fine satire of the 21st century literati and intelligentsia.
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