If you're not familiar with my comics, there's a link to them under my "favorite books". Basically, I have four books -- 1) "Peepshow: The Cartoon Diary of Joe Matt" 2) "The Poor Bastard" 3) "Fair Weather" and 4)"SPENT" All four books are currently in print.
I've also begun work on my next project which will be a self-contained graphic novel about leaving Toronto (after 13 years!), moving to LA, a major relationship, and lots of other stuff, including my meditation retreat and HBO experience. I'm hoping to have this completed in about a year. (Haha ... I know ... "good luck" .. thank you.)
I don't really know what else to say. I consider making art the greatest challenge any of us could ever face, and I consider books to be the most valuable objects on the planet.
One of my greatest pleasures in life is sitting around reading old newspaper comic strips that I've trimmed and glued into scrapbooks because no one's reprinted them yet. Strips like "Gasoline Alley" and "Little Orphan Annie" are right at the top of my list.
What else can I say ? I'm like an old man -- I get car-sick easily and I enjoy sitting around and playing cards or chess.
I collect Halloween-themed Pez and old viewmaster reels ... including breath-taking 3 dimensional models of such cartoon favorites as: Peanuts, Huckleberry Hound and Disney's Jungle Book. These things are seriously beautiful and I urge you to check them out ... the viewmaster reels that is, not the Pez. Speaking of Pez though ... anyone looking to trade Frankenstein, Wolfman (both are white), or The Creature from The Black Lagoon for original artwork, please contact me.
I'm in perfect health, I neither drink nor smoke and I'm completely scared of drugs. My life is virtually stress-free by choice and my energy level is usually pretty high, except after .. uh .... y'know.
And while I'm not independently wealthy, I am fortunate enough to be able to spend every moment of every single day doing exactly what I want .... which is basically how Bob Dylan defines a successful person, and I'd have to agree. I really love my life. I strive for simplicity in almost all things. And apart from comic strip or comic book collections, I'm almost devoid of materialistic impulses.
For the past year, I've been recommending a book, "The Power of Now (A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)" by Eckhart Tolle to nearly everyone I encountered. But then Paris Hilton got out of jail and began endorsing it as well .... so now I'm a bit less enthusiastic about it. What I am excited about though is Buddhism. The more I read about it, the more sense it all seems to make to me on a deeper, intuitive level. And while I do feel screwed for having been raised Catholic, I am grateful for --- well, let's just say I'm the type who believes that everything happens for the best ... and by "best', I mean "for a reason."
And for the record -- I do not own a computer, cell phone, car, credit card or cable tv. I just don't need these complications in my life. Fortunately, I live near a fantastic public library where I can and do use their computers for free .... all by the generous donation of Leonardo DiCaprio!! (How random, huh?) But that's the extent of my computer use -- no more than an hour a day.
And thank you everyone for all the nice comments as well as your continued support of my work. It means the world to me ... seriously. And please forgive me if I seem unwilling to answer personal questions. Doing so would inhibit the production of my comics, and God forbid, we can't have that.
Alright .. I guess that's all. SO LONG,SUCKERS !!