The literary world is filled with talented writers who use their skills to enlighten and entertain and bring new ideas in the world. Fante Bukowski does not. He’s in it for the fame, to make a quick buck, and to somehow prove that you don’t need talent to be recognized as a genius of letters. But what makes Noah Van Sciver’s trilogy of Fante Bukowski comics such a pleasure to read is that while they do take keen and harsh stabs at the publishing scene today, there is a good measure of empathy along the way. Yes, Fante, as Van Sciver renders him, is a lout, a cad, and a gadfly, but he’s also someone with dreams; he’s not totally lost to his own delusions of grandeur.
And now, all of Fante’s (mis)adventures to be understood as the scion of haute literature will be collected in one volume.
Fantagraphics and Van Sciver announced that The Complete Works of Fante Bukowski is scheduled in Spring 2020. A listing for the collection was posted on Amazon before official confirmation. But on social media, both Van Sciver and Fantagraphics confirmed the release. The official Fantagraphics Facebook page issued a brief statement reading: “Get ready for the authoritative, complete collection.”
Color me excited! The three individual releases of Fante Bukowski have bee among my favorite independent comics of the last decade or so (with the third book listed among my favorite comics of 2018). It will be interesting to see all the books, with their different trim sizes and designs, fit into one volume.
The first three volumes of Fante Bukowski are available now.
