A Little More Than A Glimpse Of m@b
Aspiring Torontonian cartoonist savours life's in-between oddities
By Liam Lahey
There are two elements to the enigmatic comic book m@b (pronounced Matt B) that pierce through its black humour hilarity: all of the characters parlay a sense of melancholy, where life's quirkiest moments happen when one least expects it.
Thus, author Matthew Blackett - a.k.a. m@b - mirrors his life, his friends' experiences, and with regular frequency, his encounters with strangers and the destitute. This lends itself well to Blackett's twisted sense of humour, despite touching on the sensitive realities of the young, modern urbanite.
"It's all about me, so I guess I'm pretty self-centred," he laughed heartily while explaining why m@b is what it is. "Or perhaps I'm not creative enough to think up characters and make one of them represent me."
Blackett's gradual metamorphosis into m@b began as far back as his days in elementary school. But more directly, the author's true evolution can be traced to his initial efforts as a cartoonist at Ottawa's Carleton University campus newspapers - The Charlatan and The Resin - in 1993. Dubbed 50 More Pounds, Blackett said his early efforts to portray by caricature his school chums' frat-house misadventures flopped simply because he was, "trying way too hard". It wasn't until he heeded the advice of an established 'tooner that he honed his own, unique style.
"This is embarrassing. I read a story on Jim Davis, (author of Garfield)...who said, if you ever wanted to get into the cartooning business you should go to journalism school because it helps with your writing," Blackett said of his decision to attend Humber College in Toronto the following year.
The first m@b comic made its debut by default. While teaching computer graphics to Humber College's budding journalism students - a job Blackett took following his graduation from the college in 1997 - he penciled an image of a friend, drunk at a party, with one hand plunged deep into the toilet. In the second frame, the toilet-plunger glances back over his shoulder only to make eye contact with his roommate, who stares back in confounded silence while the party rages on in the background. In the final frame, with his hand still firmly planted inside the toilet bowl, the first character utters, "My poo is in there". Hardly the stuff of syndicated comic greatness, but beyond the mainstream and anyone lacking a sense of humour to begin with.
"Somehow that sparked the whole m@b thing," he explained. "It was the only cartoon I had drawn in four months, so I showed it off...and then m@b began."
The introduction of The Digital World Of m@b has made a serious cybersplash. Blackett said his Web site is enjoying approximately 2,000 hits per month. And since he's generally out-of-pocket with each printed issue Blackett hinted he may go digital full time.
In the current m@b, My Head is Floating Away from My Body (#10), one of the opening panels quickly sets the tone: an image of m@b sitting innocently on a subway car, while an unkept man paces angrily back and forth in front of him. Suddenly, the man yells to no one in particular, "I'm gonna fuck America in the ass!" It's the author's dark humour and honest frankness, that has endeared him to a growing legion of readers from Toronto to Vancouver.
From SceneandHeard.ca
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