This is a common complaint about this book - that the story is loathsome and vapid and meaningless autobiography - and it generally misses the point, which I believe is what Joe Matt intended.  The person responsible for the BlogTO review has probably only recently begun reading graphic novels and likely has only a passing acquaintance with underground comics.

Here’s the thing about ‘Spent’.  It’s a story that nobody wants to read.  It’s a long story about an oblivious, self-obsessed, vain, needy, arrogant jackass of a comic artist and his lazy, porn-fueled bouts of self-doubt usually occurring in his sketchy rooming house apartment. 

Sounds like a blast, right?  I’m sure D&Q are having a hell of a time keeping up with those urgent orders from book clubs nation wide.

But, like many a great book before it… the story is just a story.  Or there is no ‘story’, this isn’t Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ for crying out loud.  The story of Spent is the vehicle Matt uses to tell us about the world around us - specifically Toronto in the 90’s but it’s fairly universal stuff if you can imagine or extrapolate beyond the frames on the page.

It’s all set-up, subtext and commentary.  And it’s very good at all of these things.

This is an important book because it challenges the reader to see ‘Spent’ - and others - not just as some bastard subcategory of acceptable literature but as a vital, humorous work of art that speaks to the world at large.

But Joe Matt would never give you a story that isn’t at first completely repellent.  That’s just his style and to dismiss the work because your first impression is disgust is both typical and unfortunate.