- JIM AND SILENT BOB
By Dawson Fearnow
Growing up, every little boy just knows that he will have a ‘cool’ job like a jet pilot, gun slinging cowboy. the fourth Beastie Boy or even a member of the A-Team. Then reality comes along along bites him in the ass. Now he sits slaving away in a tiny cubicle (i.e. animal fattening pen), an insignificant cog in a faceless organization. However, it’s refreshing to know that some people have accomplished their childhood dreams and are giving “The Man” the finger.
Tempe (Arizona) artist, Jim Mahfood is one of these fortunate few. Not only is he a comic book artist and a damn good one, but at the tender age of twenty-three, he has already published several independent comics, written and illustrated his own book for Marvel’s Gen X series, and recently illustrated the original Clerks comic. Clerks is based upon the characters created in Kevin Smith’s breakout movie of the same title. Although stores were wary about stocking a black and white product, the Clerks comic book was an instant success and the first printing flew off the shelves. In less than a year, the book has gone to fourth printing with over seventy thousand copies in circulation worldwide. Now Smith and Mahfood have collaborated on the new Clerks: The Holiday Special comic, that will be released the second week of December in comic stores nationwide.
Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy) is another who’s forged his own destiny and like Mahfood, is obsessed with comics. In fact, Smith hawked his childhood comic book collection – in order to fund the movie Clerks. Smith also maxed out more than a dozen credit cards in order to raise the $27,000 needed to complete the film. At the Sundance Film Festival, – Clerks was picked up by Miramax and went on to gross 2.8 million dollars which means Smith’s little black and white film earned a staggering 100 times the money it cost to make.
After establishing himself as one of the most successful young writer/directors in Hollywood, Smith returned to his love of comics. However, everything he creates is tied together somehow, and all of his films share characters and make references to each other. So, it was only natural for him to write a comic book about the movie that started it all. He wrote a hysterical storyline continuing the plight of Quick Stop employee Dante, his friend Randall and the infamous duo Jay and Silent Bob (a.k.a. Kevin Smith). Smith needed someone to illustrate his words.
Enter Mahfood, at the time he was working with Bob Schreck, a respected comic industry veteran who had worked for publishing powerhouses like Marvel before he and his partner broke off to form their own label called ONI Press in 1997. Mahfood had shown his work to Schreck at a comic expo in 1993, and like Yoda to Luke Skywalker, Schreck told him he wasn’t ready yet. However, when Shreck saw Mahfood’s work at another expo four years later, he knew that Mahfood had developed into a comic Jedi Knight. Fortunately ONI had recently teamed up Smith’s production company, View Askew, to publish a Clerks comic book, and Mahfood was tapped for a shot at the big time.
Although Smith was hesitant to let a relatively unknown artist illustrate his story, Mahfood was persistent and eventually won the job. He was given a collection of stills from the movie and pictures of the actual store, which he used to create characters and backgrounds for Smith’s text. After months of hard work and enough mail between Tempe and Smith’s office in New Jersey to make a post man go, well…postal, the book was published in early 1998.
Creating a sequel was just as demanding because Kevin Smith is hard at work on a new film called Dogma, staring his old buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. In fact, it was Smith and his partner Scott Mosier’s cozy relationship with Miramax that was instrumental in getting Good Will Hunting funded and both received some production credit on the film.
Dogma is the final chapter in a trilogy of work for Smith, which makes sense because aside from comics he is also obsessed with Star Wars. First, Clerks dealt with working, then Chasing Amy talked about love, and now Dogma completes the tale with a discourse on religion. Mahfood, who visited Smith on location in Pittsburgh and actually appears in one scene, says that this should be Smith’s most complex and stunning movie. Thanks to the runaway success of Chasing Amy, Smith was given a large budget which enabled him to perform complex camera movements and create intriguing visual. Images.
However, he hasn’t forgotten the smart dialogue is what made his previous movies so original, and Dogma has this in spades. The film will premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and even the usually reserved Smith is predicting a possible Oscar nomination for Affleck. Finally, thanks to Smith’s trademark quick wit and love for offensive material, everyone is expecting loads of protest from those annoying Bible thumpers of the religious right.
Don’t expect any moral revelations from the Clerks holiday book. Instead, it is filled with a solid dose of side-splitting humor and observations a lot sharper than Seinfeld’s dated ‘Ginsu Knife’ jokes. Watch as Dante — who muttered the battle cry of all underpaid workers when he said, “I’m not even supposed to be here today,” — and Randall (“thirty seven dicks”) discover that Santa Claus really lives in New Jersey, well maybe.
Considering Clerks’ humble origins, it has created an incredible following. For those who want more than a movie and some comic books, Smith has responded with a series of T-shirts and even a collection of Jay and Silent Bob fridge magnets. Not enough, you say, well watch out because coming this Christmas are Jay and Silent Bob dolls. Each one is about eight inches tall with replaceable hands so you can have your Jay flashing the bird, holding a sixer o’ beer or a big fatty blunt. No kidding. It’s about time we had same toys for big boys. Jay and Silent Bob have also been lighting up the small screen with a series of comedy shorts on MTV, and recently Smith was hired to write and direct several commercials for Nike. When the original actor dropped out, Smith turned to his buddy, Jason Mewes (a.k.a. Jay), and the duo created some genuinely funny ads.
Our man Mahfood isn’t exactly sitting on the dock waiting far his ship to come in. He is in the process of drawing new concert tees for the upcoming Mighty Mighty Bosstones tour. He is also publishing Scud: Tales From the Vending Machine #4. A continuous series of comics, created by his friend Rob Schrob, about Scuds. Not those shitty Gulf War missiles, but assassins that you buy from a vending machine, who kill whomever you program them to and then self-destruct.
Early next year, Mahfood will be partying like it’s 1999, when ONI publishes a four issue series with his own characters, the Grrl Scouts, who are just like ordinary Girl Scouts except for the guns, violence and a distinct lack of chocolate mint cookies. He’s also designing album covers, including one for a new compilation CD called, Reinventing the Rock Star, which is coming soon to a record shop near you. Mahfood has agreed to work for D.C. Comics’ Vertigo division, which concentrates on more mature books. This new series entitled, Shock Treatment, is a horror comic and will be his first full color project. Oh, yeah he also does his Stupid Comics in some rag called Java. Finally he is known on the local level for creating ‘live art’ during the Bombshelter DJs shows.
So for all of you burnt-out corporate types who chucked aside your childhood dreams in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, maybe you can learn from the success of these two artists. Go to work tomorrow, tell your boss to eat shit and moon your co-workers an the way out the door. Unless you are an employee of the United States Postal Service, then you should gently put down this magazine, take multiple deep breaths and maybe just quit over the phone. And far goodness sake, please take your finger off the trigger.
Got Something To Say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.