Break out the bongs, Blessed Be has arrived! Rick Altergott has been producing his unique (but definitely inspired by and to a degree derived from the classic Mad) brand of comics – at a painstakingly slow pace – for over three decades now. He's been working on Blessed Be in one form or another for something in the neighborhood of twenty years – but you can't rush quality, and we're here to tell you that it was worth the wait! Longtime readers will recognize some classic earlier Altergott-penned episodes from his and Ariel Bordeaux's early-aughts, two-person anthology series, Raisin Pie, reworked and repurposed here, all in the service of creating the definitive saga of Flowertown, U.S.A.
Blessed Be features Doofus & Henry Hotchkiss, along with their cohort of not-so-beautiful losers, and a host of other misfits, eccentrics and iconoclasts, as well as plenty of norms, several criminally minded individuals, and at least one dangerous lunatic, together with a notable number of independent, self-directed nubiles. All of these characters, taken together, work to delineate the chasm that yawns between the generations, between the wreckless and adventurous youths and the respectable and responsible elders that they must inevitably become if Flowertown is to flourish.
This 168 page, full color hardcover is packed with page after page of classic, old school comics that will be especially appealling to those in or close to Altergott's demographic. It is like getting a heaping helping of alt/indy/underground comic books all mixed together and served up right. Plenty of comic book satire full of attitude and sarcasm, but also sincerity and a struggle for meaning and a search for values in a crazy mixed-up world where just about everyone goes astray – some more than others. The interspersing of Jack T. Chick tracts through the mis en scène is a nice touch that adds to the frisson. Altergott manages to turn the classic comic book reading experience inside-out and show the working parts (or, if you prefer, to place the subtexts front and center) – in a manner somewhat akin to Herbie, only without the sexual repression.
Daniel Clowes gives Altergott – who is his contemporary – a ringing endorsement (see below), and that's not surprising, especially as, upon reflection, Blessed Be, while clearly – and deliberately – lacking the gravitas of Monica, does have a surprising (or, perhaps, upon reflection, not so surprising) amount in common with its themes and motifs, and shows Altergott and Clowes combing similar patches of the post-WWII American psychic landscape that shaped them both.
"Rick Altergott is the unsung genius of American comedy. An amazingly well-crafted conflation of queasy psychology, sub-moronic toilet humor, and fine art." – Daniel Clowes
We've posted a gallery of spreads from the book on Tumblr, HERE.
Then, get plenty of background on the creation of Blessed Be – and more – in John Kelly's just posted (29 May 2024), in-depth, TCJ interview with Rick Altergott, HERE.
