Joe Matt (September 3, 1963 – September 18, 2023) was an American cartoonist, best known for his

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

work, ''

Peepshow A peep show, peepshow, or, a peep booth is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the deve ...

''.

Early life

Joe Matt was born and raised in

Lansdale, Pennsylvania Lansdale is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a densely populated commuter town, with many residents traveling daily to Philadelphia using SEPTA Regional Rail's Lansdale/Doylestown Line. I ...

, a middle-class suburb of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He had three siblings. His mother was a housewife. His father held a variety of different jobs, including owner of a carpet store and a longtime stint working for

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

; in Matt's words, "he seemed to drift from job to job a lot." Matt credited his childhood lack of money with forming his later habit of cheapness. He attended Catholic school until 12th grade. Matt developed drawing skills by age five, and later said he considered himself an artist all his life. His mother encouraged him in this pursuit, having herself attended the

Philadelphia College of Art Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urb ...

before dropping out to raise her family. His earliest influences were

Charles Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz ( ; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'' which features his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is widely regarded as ...

's ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

'' and

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...

's ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...

'', which he would collect by clipping the strip out of the daily newspaper. Matt earned a degree from the

, majoring in illustration. After graduating, he attempted to gain a foothold in magazine illustration in New York, but failed. He started drawing comics in 1987 after getting a job at Philadelphia comic-book store

Fat Jack's Comicrypt Fat Jack's Comicrypt or Fat Jack's is a comic book store with locations in Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvan ...

and doing assistant work for his friend and college classmate

Matt Wagner Matt Wagner (born October 9, 1961) is an American comics artist and writer who is best known as the creator of the series ''Mage (comics), Mage'' and ''Grendel (comics), Grendel''. Early life, family and education Matt Wagner's childhood was spe ...

, the creator of ''

Grendel Grendel is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''Beowulf'' (700–1000 AD). He is one of the poem's three antagonists (along with his mother and the dragon), all aligned in opposition against the protagonist Beowulf. He is referred to as b ...

'' and ''

Mage Mage most commonly refers to: * Mage (paranormal) or magician, a practitioner of magic derived from supernatural or occult sources * Mage (fantasy) or magician, a type of character in mythology, folklore, and fiction * Mage, a character class in ...

''.

Career

In his autobiographical comic ''

'', Joe Matt examines his inadequate

social skills A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called socia ...

, his addiction to

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, his cantankerous and sometimes physically abusive relationship with his then-girlfriend Trish, and the lingering effects of his

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

upbringing. Matt began creating ''Peepshow'' in 1987. In 1992, his ''Peepshow'' strips were serialized by

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

under the title ''Peepshow: The Cartoon Diary of Joe Matt''. His work was later published by Canadian publishing house

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic con ...

. Joe Matt's work on ''Peepshow'' is part of the

autobiographical comics An autobiographical comic (also autobio, graphic memoir, or autobiocomic) is an autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the underground comix movement and has since become more widespread. It i ...

genre, kick-started by the confessional stories of

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired ...

and

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

. Along with these artists, his work frequently involves

soliloquies Soliloquy (from Latin: "talking by oneself") is a device often used in drama. Soliloquy may also refer to: * ''Soliloquy'' (2002 film), a 2002 film by Jacques Zanetti, starring Diahnne Abbott and Drena De Niro * ''Soliloquy'' (McCoy Tyner album ...

"to camera". ''Peepshow'' is part of a self-referential universe that includes Matt's contemporaries Chester Brown and

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

, all of whom have included each other in their books. In 2004,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

began developing an animated series based on ''The Poor Bastard'', a collection of stories from ''Peepshow'' #1 to #6, produced by Matt and David X. Cohen. However, Joe Matt later stated that "they came to their senses and changed their mind". The last issue of ''Peepshow'', #14, went on sale in 2006, and a collection of ''Peepshow'' #11–14 titled ''Spent'' was released in 2007. Seventeen years after the release of the final issue, a posthumous issue #15 was released in July 2024; inking of the four unfinished pages was provided by Chester Brown. Matt worked as a

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

for other comics to make ends meet, most notably on

superhero comics Superhero comics is one of the most common genres of American comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Supe ...

, a genre he disliked. Among his credits as a colorist are the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

limited series'', '' Fish Police'' and ''

Jonny Quest ''Jonny Quest'' is a science fiction–adventure media franchise created by Doug Wildey for Hanna-Barbera. It follows the character Jonny Quest, a young boy who joins his scientist father on various extraordinary adventures. The franchise sta ...

''.

Personal life and death

Matt lived illegally in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from 1988 to 2002. He later lived in the

Los Feliz LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Joe Matt died on September 18, 2023, of a heart attack, while working at his drawing desk. He was 60.

Awards

For ''Peepshow'', Matt was nominated for four

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

: for Best New Talent in 1990 and for the Award for Humor in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Matt was nominated for a 1989 Harvey Award for his coloring work on the Batman/Grendel series.

Bibliography

*''Peepshow'' #1–14 (

, February 1992October 2006) Four collections of Joe Matt's comics have been published as books, as well as a "jam" sketchbook: *''Peepshow – The Cartoon Diary of Joe Matt'', 1992 (Kitchen Sink)/1999 (Drawn & Quarterly), a collection of mostly one-page strips, usually dealing with a single subject, originally published between 1987 and 1991. *''The Poor Bastard'', 1996 (Drawn & Quarterly), which collects stories published in ''Peepshow'' #1–6. This book chronicles Matt's relationship and breakup with then-girlfriend Trish. *''Joe Matt's "Jam" Sketchbook '', 1998, Collaborations with

Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his ''Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (2012 ...

, Chester Brown,

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

Adrian Tomine Adrian Tomine (; born May 31, 1974) is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Optic Nerve'' and his illustrations in ''The New Yorker''. Early life Adrian Tomine was born May 31, 1974, in Sacramento, Califo ...

, Max,

Jason Lutes Jason Lutes (born December 7, 1967) such as unit portraits for the open-source video game Battle for Wesnoth (2006), a map for ''Dominions 3: The Awakening'' (2006), and website illustration for ''City of Heroes'' (2005). References External l ...

Dave Sim Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, known for his comic book ''Cerebus the Aardvark, Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political an ...

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

, Marc Bell,

James Kochalka James Kochalka (born May 26, 1967, in Springfield, Vermont) is an American comic book artist, writer, animator, and rock and roll, rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal. Largely autobiographical, Ko ...

Ivan Brunetti Ivan Brunetti (born October 3, 1967) is an Italian and American cartoonist and comics scholar based in Chicago. Career Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styles, Brunet ...

, Steven Weisman, etc., limited print. *''Fair Weather'', 2002 (Drawn & Quarterly), which collects ''Peepshow'' #7–10. In this book Matt chronicles an episode from his childhood in 1970s suburbia. *''Spent'', 2007 (Drawn & Quarterly), which collects ''Peepshow'' #11–14. In this book, Matt chronicles a story arc that documents his obsessive "editing" of porn videos.

References

Works cited

External links

Biography at Drawn & Quarterly
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matt, Joe 1963 births 2023 deaths Alternative cartoonists Underground cartoonists American comics artists American comics writers American graphic novelists American humorists Comics colorists Artists from Philadelphia People from Los Feliz, Los Angeles