A Brief History of Palookaville #16

I was reading my copy of Clyde Fans Book One, and for some reason I looked back to read the indicia and noticed, for the first time, that it said that this book included contents from issues 10 through 15 of Palookaville. I looked at my single issue copies of the comic book, which I'd laid out preparatory to reading the "complete" Clyde Fans, and the first single issue I had was #17.

What?

I'd spent four years (since the publication of the final Clyde Fans Palookaville, which was #23, published July 2017) thinking that I had read the Complete Clyde Fans. Had I really missed an issue? I checked and re-checked. I scratched my head. I walked in circles.

Yes. I had missed a piece of Clyde Fans, and I'd never even noticed.

I got to work right away. Amazon had a copy for $32.93. It wasn't in stock at Mycomicshop, and Mile High Comics seemingly hadn't heard of it. I went over to eBay. There were a few copies, there, some as pricey as $32.93. (Hmmmm.) And then I found a copy for $1.00 + $5.00 shipping + 36¢ tax =  $6.36.

Fri 6/18/2021 10:34 PM: Order Confirmed

Wed 6/23/2021 12:24 AM Order Being Shipped

Fri 6/25/2021 5:42 PM: Order delivered

Just finished reading it.

This was first of the four part Part Three. It focused on an older Simon taking care of his ailing mother, and only had a brief appearance by Abe. In many ways it was a parallel to the first part of Part One, wherein the older Abe wandered through his house, monologuing. The mother was suffering from dementia, and it vividly brought back memories of my mom in her last years. It wasn't easy to read, that's for sure. But it was powerful and I was caught up in it. Looking forward to reading issues 17 through 23 now (all of which I have in my possession), and thus finishing The Complete Clyde Fans for the first time ever. 

Very exciting.

There was a time when I thought that Alan Moore had written the greatest Graphic Novel of all time with From Hell. Then there was a time when I thought that Jeff Lemire had written the greatest Graphic Novel of all time with Essex County. Etcetera. But now I feel sure that the greatest Graphic Novel of all time is Seth's Clyde Fans. It gets down to the heart of the matter (where the will gets weak and the thoughts seem to scatter). In some ways, it's Beckettian...or even Krasznahorkian. Because while there is some plot, it's clearly not the focus of the story. It's about character, it's about thought. Seth kinda sorta refers to this in an advertisement in the back of Palookaville #16:

"THIS COULD BE JUST AS BORING AS IT SOUNDS." 

"THE EXCITEMENT KNOWS NO BOUNDS!"

The mark of a great mind is the ability to mock him/her self, I think. Self-abnegation is the key...but it's a fine balance, too, of course, since once this tips over into self-destruction, you've lost your way as surely as have the supremely confident / arrogant.

Also, I found it interesting that the second of these advertisements was for Clyde Fans Part Two, which was said to be "AVAILABLE SOON." Because that never happened. 

Okay. I'm off to Palookaville #17. See you there, I hope.

P.S. Shout out to greatthings129, the eBay seller who gave me such a great deal & took care to package this item so carefully that it arrived in pristine condition.