Fante Bukowski Two

Fante Bukowski #2

by Noah Van Sciver

This graphic novella catches up with aspiring young writer Fante Bukowski one year later; he’s attempting to establish himself in a new city’s literary scene, self-publishing his first zine, and coming to terms with his feelings for an old friend. Fante Bukowski yearns for success as the great American novelist, and to get respect from his father once and for all. But, there’s just one he still has no talent for writing. 

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comedy, Comic Book

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2017

About the author

[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.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fante Bukowski was one of my favourite comics of 2015 so I’m delighted that Noah Van Sciver has returned to the character for another brilliant book.

Set one year later, the pretentious, talentless fuck-up/wannabe “great writer” poseur Fante Bukowski is still on skid row plying his terrible words for no money. Besides dodging his heroin-addicted slumlord in his peephole-ridden den, Fante discovers zines (photocopied pamphlets) - decades after they were a thing! - and we catch up with how Audrey’s career as a novelist is doing too.

I love Van Sciver’s character because he’s such a mega-twat. It’s so entertaining watching this grouchy, pathetic knob trying and failing to make any kind of dent on the literary scene with his terrible ideas while living how his favourite writers did (copious booze, crappy rented rooms, no money) despite having a credit card from Mommy! The heroin addict slumlord and the hooker to the literary stars who pities him are two great new characters and all the scenes in the dingy motel were hilarious.

It was nice to catch up with Audrey but I felt like she got too many pages, especially when her storyline and character were fairly one-note and uninteresting after a time. Noah draws himself into the story too as her flaky, fame-hungry boyfriend for some reason - I guess the self-loathing must’ve taken over?

It’s also not as funny as the first book but I still enjoyed catching up with more of Fante Bukowski’s hopeless exploits. Recommended to indie comics/Noah Van Sciver/Fante Bukowski fans - here’s hoping Van Sciver continues returning to this character in the future!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a fan of Noah Van Sciver’s work, discovered a few years ago through his great books. A kind of alt style I associate with Jeffrey Brown’s work. Deliberately sketchy comix style going back to Crumb and others. And this guy knows how to write dysfunction males, let me tell ya. (I know, maybe you know enough of these in Real Life. . .). Sometimes the stories are sorta sad and moving, as in Saint Cole and Youth is Wasted; often he is self-deprecating as in My Hot Teen Date, but in Fante Bukowski he is hilariously satirizing self-important writers with no talent who drink themselves into a sense of false empowerment. The first volume of Fante Bukowksi was one of my fave comics of 2015, so I have been anxiously anticipating this second volume. And it does not disappoint, my friends, it does not.

Fante Two is set a year later, when he attempts to make a fresh start in Columbus, Ohio in a flea-bag motel to write his Great American Novel. But the central problem is that Bukowski only has his ego and beer, and still has no talent, so things get predictably worse. There are other things to satirize in this one: the heroin-addicted motel owner who steals Bukowski’s clothes to sell them. He satirizes the publishing industry that doesn’t give writers a fair shake. Van Sciver satirizes cartoonists, too, when VanSciver Himself appears as the (new loser) boyfriend of Bukowski’s ex, novelist Audrey Catron—he can’t carry her bag because he is afraid he might damage his drawing hand. We satirize zine culture , which Bukowski discovers decades too late as a way to become famous: He prints 20,000 copies of six terrible poems and tries to sell them to bookstores who are not interested.

Van Sciver at one point makes fun of Goodreads reviewers, which made me laugh aloud, but then I realized: Hey, wait just a minute, here, he’s talking about me! I’m coming after you, VanSciver! My aspirations to become Famous Goodreads Reviewer through attaining Best Reviewer #13 status (#67 in the world) can’t be denied!

If we only looked at Fante’s sadsack story (which is pathetic, let me tell you), we might just be stuck in the mud, repeating the jokes of Book One, but Van Sciver also catches up with Bukowski’s ex, Audrey, whose book of “serious fiction” will be destroyed by having Michael Bay rewrite it to focus on making it into an action film. The point for Audrey is that even if you DO get published, few people read, you still don’t make much money, and publishers use you.

I love how Fante finally is cut off from Mommy’s credit card; I love the hooker as a new character, who feels sorry for Bukowski, but also doesn’t really like him. Who could?! (Me).
Bukowski is one of the great lovable losers of comics, in my opinion (cf. Jeffery Brown, Every Girl is the End of the World for Me). Come on, VanSciver! Fante 3! Bring it on!

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second instalment in the life of Fante Bukowski, in which he goes around and tries to fit himself into the idea of what “a writer” is. He is resentful, completely shit at writing, and unbelievably funny. He thinks about old relationships and harasses people to buy his zine. 6 poems in there, and he wants 8 bucks. Or 5 bucks. He needs to pay rent, after all.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

So if when you were very young you read Bukowski all the time mainly because A Report Upon the Consumption of Myself was on a mix tape your friend made you in high school and hearing Bukowski read that beautiful loping low squalid harrowing thing over and over on stop-rewind-play at night as you fell asleep too drunk for what teens should be able to get away with regularly on the little silvery bedraggled cushionless couch you found on the side of the road and hauled home to sleep on in the fake-wood-paneled creek trailer inoculated you against the rest of his crimes and you became a fan for life regardless of the fact that in today's climate you really come off like the hesher dillbag you at some level basically are for still being such a devotee, you likely were also into collecting the Black Sparrow editions and likely you have what might be to some an embarrassing excess of those heavypapered little long out-of-print volumes, then the marveling exactitude with which this new Fante by Van Sciver is rendered to physically cohere for you as a living souvenir of a dead age and worldview whose antique awful beautiful shit corpses you keep tucked in a corner

will give your little dumb heart a bump

and what else is there really

but our ham hands

and our stupid hearts

bumping

for each other

while they can

any way they are able.

Also the colors will brutalize you they are so frikn luscious, and of course so funny and I just want to read a million more pages of these.

April 2022: haha whoah this review ^ is soupy as hell, I can’t even read it. Anyway I love those comics.

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Van Sciver. The cover design on the last few have been ridiculously great (bonus points for the pencilled in "rare 1st ed, OOP" on the inside cover). There's at least one joke on every page, but they don't feel shoehorned in or distract from the plot. Most importantly, you can tell he really enjoyed making this comic.

[Billie Tyrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much more of the same as the first book. Though Fante Buksowski getting fatter was an interesting visual touch. Not many fat protoganists in comics that I can think of, besides Garfield.

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Fante

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Fante, how I love thee.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thrilled to see this at my library's graphic novel room -- I found the first book there quite by accident (it had fallen on the floor, which was wildly appropriate!) I loved the mix of tragedy and comedy in the first volume about this oddly sympathetic a****** who dreams of being a writer, but can't acknowledge his own lack of talent. Volume 2 picks up a year later: Fante has settled into deeper squalor and growing desperation as he tries to break into the writing scene in Columbus, Ohio. Along the way there's great commentary about writers and editors, sometimes subtle, other times blatant. One glorious condemnation of those who want artists to give away their work for free for "exposure" made me want to cheer. A surprise character introduced around the mid-point of the book made me worry at first, but it added a fun bit of meta-fiction to the mix -- plus providing an odd way to make our main character seem sympathetic by comparison.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Fante Bukowski book was a fun romp in the life of a floundering starving artist author trying to make it in an "unfair" literary world. This volume continues the story and is over twice as long. The additional length is used by Van Sciver to develop the story more and really build the characters out, relying less on pointing out the ridiculousness of our main character but finding the humor in the absurdity of the literary world. Mostly I'm just glad that FB was able to resist the offer of that black tar heroin! Never sell out Fante Bukowski.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fante is back, and has become a disgusting hobo! Meanwhile, the girl that got away is finding success is not so awesome and has a skeevy boyfriend. Another fun read by Van Sciver, who earns big thumbs up by basing the skeevy boyfriend on himself (tee hee!!)

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this third in the series and that worked well because it brought back the Audrey Catron character who balances the Fante character nicely. This volume is full of writers giving Van Sciver plenty opportunity to skewer people throughout the lit world. Great fun again.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of failed writer Fante Bukowski fails to disappoint. I thought the book was really funny, but also does a good job of exploring the deluded psychology of Fante. Noah makes a cameo appearance too!

[Alanna Why · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a roast of amateur zinesters omg

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

In contrast to the first volume, this second collection of Fante Bukowski comics is a much sharper critique of the pretensions and bluster of the writing life.

Where the first volume was overly interested in its main character’s neuroses, this second volume places him within the context of a literary world that is obsessed with finding new and “authentic” voices. For those of us who closely follow (or participate in) the arbitrary whims of the literary marketplace, this second volume of Noah Van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski takes shots at all of us and brings us all down a few pegs. I can’t wait to jump into the next volume!

[Simon Sweetman]

I loved the first version of this - but this second volume is stronger, funnier, it takes all of the jokes and self-loathing from the first and runs at the wall harder, stronger. Fante Bukowski is that caricature of almost all writers...and all the better (worse) for it. Brilliant self-flagellation by proxy, Noah Van Sciver even inserts himself as a character this time, so it's both better and meta...

[Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we were introduced to Fante Bukowski, the vaingloriously incompetent wannabe writer in Noah Van Sciver’s first record of his exploits, I had to wonder, what more uproarious humor could Van Sciver milk out of Bukowski after his flight from Denver in search of a new life? A lot, apparently! Thankfully, Bukowski returns even sharper and more outrageous in Fante Bukowski Two, a hilarious, glorious send up of the writing world, from editors to comics to zines.

Finding himself in Columbus, Ohio, the heart of the American lit scene (it’s where such luminaries as Chabon, Lethem, and McCarthy all live now, none of whom Fante has heard of). Setting himself up a new seedy motel, pumping out 20,000 hand numbered copies of his magnum opus, a six page zine of his poems, Fante hits a dilemma when he finds himself, at long last, cut off from his mom’s allowance. Meanwhile, his former flame Audrey has hit the big time with her second novel and is embarking on a cross country book tour with her new boyfriend, upcoming graphic novelist Noah Van Sciver.

With all of the great literary references, the dream cameos from Ira Glass and the ludicrous film adaptations, Van Sciver’s droll comedy and eye for expressions are well showcased here. In spite of Bukowski’s writing incompetence, Audrey has some pretty trenchant thoughts on writing as well. All in all, I think anyone who has ever had any thoughts (or pretensions) of being a writer can attest, there is a lot of Fante or Audrey in all of us, at least sometimes.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuation of the Noah Van Sciver's fictional Fante Bukowski graphic novel saga. Amid the hardships of not being funded by his Colorado parents, our hero (or anti-hero) soldiers on in Cleveland Ohio amid his perceived perception of a jock ruled world wherein no one recognizes his apparent talent and his problems getting anyone to take an interest in his work. His self-esteem is high, while his talent for fiction and poetry remain null. An interesting side story is the remarkable rise of Audrey Catron, a fellow Coloradan who becomes a professional writer. Along the way, there is a subtle satire of what constitutes literary greatness and a zine scene that seems to have left long ago. (sometime in the 1990's). Fante Bukowski is a sadly clueless creation that's rather sadly lovable, and what most nonpublished writers might be afraid of turning into.

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe the cover feels like a gimme to van Sciver, but it was pretty funny. And van Sciver draws himself into the story, with more agent squabbling, will Fante Bukowski have a future career as a rapper?

Or will he burn all his bridges, hovels and opportunities with odd Audrey?

Mega sales skills again with another excellent gallery of cross-over artists, including Ed Piskor, one of my kids is a Cartoonist Kayfabe fanatic (Fabnatic?)

Bottom line, kinda intriguing how the story writing/drawing gains confidence here as the main character flounders for the same. Read this the same night as Book One, and then went to get Book Three the day after.

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leggere Fante Bukowski è al solito divertente con un retrogusto doloroso, perchè c'è tutta la volontà di arrivare alla fama, condivisa con chi pensa di "avere qualcosa da dire", e tutto lo spirito vacuo, autocompiacente e autocommiserante che chiunque abbia scoperto di non aver poi tanto da dire ha sperimentato.
Fra fanzine autoprodotte, circoli di poesia e una ex che ha avuto il successo che ti sarebbe piaciuto, questo secondo volume prosegue la strada del primo, con una comparsata dello stesso autore.

[Aryaan Misra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful amalgam of comic, narrative, poetry. I loved how Noah didn't hold back : from kinks to creativity, the book spanned all those themes without losing the central narrative. It captures a writers struggle so well. I haven't read part 1 or 3, and in fact stumbled across this one. I'm glad I did. The artwork is fantastic too.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half way thru I felt like I could get a year's worth of Facebook status posts out of quoting the dialog ... but I kept going and I felt like it would be inappropriate to try to extract humor out of that kind of downer. Thankfully, Van Sciver had no such scruples.

Five stars for the cover design.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fante Bukowski is very self-aware, very funny, and very Denver-centric (albeit there is a move to Ohio in this edition). I appreciate the dark tone and humor very much and I feel like I've known a few Fante Bukowskis myself.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follow-up look at the title wannabe writer as his ego and lack of self-awareness leads him to rock bottom. Plus, a parallel story of the rise of his ex-girlfriend's (introduced in the first book) writing career.

[John “Hoss” · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. I think Mr. Van Sciver’s work is good and he’s got a lot to say about art, the creative spirit, and an artist,creator’s integrity. Fante Bukowski is a flawed, parody character and I find his surrounding characters serve as a bit of a parody too. Worth the read.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book of this series and this one was a big improvement on the first. Fante is a great terrible character and Van Sciver's pokes at authors, writing culture, and the publishing industry are refreshing and hilarious.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fante makes good: sorta. The perennial loser and deluded egoist shows some signs of redemption but remains so focused on himself that it's easy to laugh at his struggles and see them as entirely his fault. Bold of Van Scriver to put himself in his book as a deluded and jealous lover.

[Brad Wojak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this follow-up, a very enjoyable read. LOVED the design.

[Stef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first; Black Sparrow binding was spot on!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tore through this like a rabid animal.