McMurray, Mark – Dumb Jersey White Boy #3

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Dumb Jersey White Boy #3

If something has already been printed but you’ve never seen it, it’s as good as new to you, right? That’s my situation with this comic. Apparently everything in here has been reprinted in various places (a collection of rejected EXPO 2000 comics and True Life Funnies), but it’s all new to me. Mark says that most of these stories were originally “letters” to his brother living in Germany, and they all deal with his generally cranky and occasionally pitiable father. Everything except the sampled page is done is a loose sketchbook style, lettering and all, so if you only love comics for the neatness of their appearance you’ll want to move along. When it comes purely to the stories, however, he doesn’t pull any punches when talking about his father. Stories in here include a time when Mark’s parents were fighting (before they apparently divorced), Mark trying to visit when his father was recovering from surgery and eventually leaving because he couldn’t stand all the bitching, and a brief piece about dog vomit. On second thought that first story looks great too, so only the middle parts of the book are sketchbook style. Also included in here are actual sketchbook pages, so if you were looking for as realistic a portrayal as possible of his father, here it is. This is a buck, and his intro talking about later projects has me intrigued enough to see what else he’s come up with recently…