The Further Adventures of One Page Filler Man

by Jim Mahfood

This is it! An all-new, all-ages original graphic novel from the warped mind of underground comics sensation Jim Mahfood (Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, Wha Huh?!). One Page Filler Man is super hero comics gone completely wrong! When Jim Mahfood needs to complete his new graphic novel, he enlists the help of One Page Filler Man, insane super hero and philosopher, and Randy, his little ice cream-loving sidekick. The two of them seek out adventure and wind up on the most surreal and hilarious adventure of their bizarre careers. This is the funniest book of the year people, so don't miss it!

Genres: Comics

140 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2005

About the author

Jim Mahfood, a.k.a. Food One, is an American comic book creator.

Reviews

[Matt Graupman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The track record for full-length movies based on “Saturday Night Live” characters is... well, it’s not good. For every “Wayne’s World” (or, to a lesser extent, “Wayne’s World 2”) there’s a whole slew of junk like “Superstar,” “The Ladies Man,” or “It’s Pat.” The same funny, talented people are behind and in front of the camera, so why is the success rate so low? It’s a matter of quality over quantity; what works for a three or five minute sketch becomes tired, forced, and unfunny when stretched to feature length. The concept gets spread so thin that it collapses. Some ideas just work better in a shorter format. So, moving on... let’s talk about Jim Mahfood’s “The Further Adventures Of One Page Filler Man.”

I love Jim Mahfood’s work, all of it, from his early graffiti-influenced underground comix minis to his wild present-day “visual funk” freak-outs. He’s one of the most consistently exciting and refreshing artists working today. “The Further Adventures Of One Page Filler Man” is an older book, his first full-length graphic novel in fact. Adapted from a recurring character he created for use in other creators’ anthologies, One Page Filler Man - along with his trusty ice cream-loving sidekick, Randy - is the hero you call when you need a quick couple of pages and you’re up against a deadline; in this book, he’s finally presented with the chance to fight a villain worthy of his abilities. Given the abundant space provided by a book of this size, Mahfood takes full advantage of the extra pages by unleashing his imagination, his pen, and his id. The result is a very uneven but fun adventure, packed full of “The Tick”-biting non sequiturs, surreal environments, and lunatic violence. Honestly, the story doesn’t matter much (which is good because the story is not... good, that is); “The Further Adventures Of One Page Filler Man” is just a showcase for Mahfood’s most crazy-creative drawings.

The best parts of “The Further Adventures Of One Page Filler Man” are, unsurprisingly, the collected short stories in the back of the book, the ones that introduced OPFM and appeared elsewhere. They’re energetic, irreverent, and don’t overstay their welcome; they get in, whip a few jokes around, and get out. Sometimes less really IS more (at least Mahfood’s art is front-to-back awesome, though).

[John Veitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are some of the things I particularly enjoyed about "One-Page Filler Man":

*The art style: rough and expressive, lending itself to great comical actions, poses, facial expressions etc.

*The story: seems to have been written and drawn without a plan in a stream-of-consciousness style, but where everything still follows on nicely from what came before.

*The tone: gag-a-minute funny, in a light-hearted and optimistic way, rather than the sort of lazy cynicism/nihilism that "independent" or "alternative" comedy can often fall back on.

*The little details and marginalia: lots of captions, labels and backgrounds fill up the scenes and add extra humour.

[furious · Rating 4 out of 5]

i just started this, but as i've said before (& will surely say again) any Mahfood is fucking awesome Mahfood. the man is pure genius. he made a comic based on the Slug/Murs album "Felt," for God's sake, what else do you need to know?

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first full-length Mahfood-written thing that was actually enjoyable. It's intentionally nonsensical, and maybe that's why it's better than the rest of his writing. Plus, it has ghost bums in it.

[Bill Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fresh meta giggles