You’ve got to hand it to Kevin Smith, when CLERKS came out over ten years ago, he made geeky slackers cool. He also made a decent career for himself telling stories about stoners and other reprobates, not only in film but also in cartoons and comics. A self-confessed comic-book fan he not only turned CLERKS into a comic-book series but also turned his alter ego, Silent Bob and his constant (non-gay) companion, Jay, into superheroes – of a sort. Anyone familiar with Smith’s canon, will know that Bluntman and Chronic were a comic series created by Banky (Jason Lee) and Holden (Ben Affleck) in CHASING AMY and reprised in JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK. Outside of the films the Bluntman and Chronic comics became a reality courtesy of some mighty fine artists at Oni Press.
Now all the View Askew comic tales published by Oni, which also includes Chasing Dogma, have been gathered together into a single bumper omnibus collection from Titan Books, called Tales from the Clerks. With art by comic luminaries like Jim Mahfood, Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Michael Oeming, Mike Allred, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, and stories by Smith, it is filled with all the dick and fart jokes and stoner humour you’d expect. There’s even an unpublished story – the missing scenes from CLERKS 2 that show how Randal and Dante got their jobs at Mooby’s.
For those of you who like Smith’s movies, or miss the heady days of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics, this volume is a fantastic collection of filth, laughs and great artwork. In addition to the reprinted stories there is a supplementary section of artists’ sketchbooks and cover designs, along with liner notes from Ben Affleck and Alanis Morissette. It’s all good juvenile, adults only humour.
Tales from the Clerks is available now from Amazon at 50% off retail price.