Fante Bukowski: the greatest writer who ever lived or a deluded Don Quixote-esque halfwit with the worst pen name in history fruitlessly chasing literary fame and fortune on zero talent? Definitely the latter. In this third and final book, Fante Bukowski catches his first break: a commission to ghostwrite a Disney star’s memoir. Also – revealed at last! – Fante Bukowski’s secret origin.
I had no idea Noah Van Sciver would produce more than one Fante Bukowski book, let alone three, but I’m so glad he did as they’ve all been fantastically funny! And I hope this isn’t really the end either – I could honestly read a Fante Bukowski book every year.
A Perfect Failure starts a bit slow and had me worried that it would be disappointing – Fante Bukowski’s “secret origin” isn’t all that and the table-setting, while necessary, is dull – but, once he gets his Disney commission, the narrative picks up and gets better and better from there. His absurdly dark and grimly inappropriate take on what should be a light and fluffy memoir was hilarious!
I wondered at first why there was so much focus on Norma, his performance artist bestie, but I loved how proper nutso that storyline got by the end. Ditto Fante Bukowski’s landlord Antonio – the reveal of who he was had me genuinely laughing out loud – and I enjoyed Van Sciver and fellow comics creator John Porcellino’s self-deprecating cameos at the zinefest.
Everything about that final act in Colorado had me laughing, from the gun room to the dad-joke-machine doctor to the hipster clones. And I loved how bonkers the final twist was – what an absolutely crazy story! Brilliant.
Noah Van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski series has been anything but a failure. I highly recommend these actually funny, slice-of-life comics starring a hopeless, yet effortlessly likeable, protagonist. Fingies crossed Van Sciver decides to come back sometime in the future to tell more wonderfully barmy stories starring this lunatic!
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