Like many people of my age, Chasing Amy is a film that takes up a special place in my heart. Not every element of the film is completely aged (there are few comedies of the era), but there’s still a lot to love about Kevin Smith’s male and female stories about realizing there is more to them than they’ve noticed. Before there is a broader vocabulary to explain human sexuality and its fluidity, chasing Amy still tells the humanistic narrative of love and charm as a ever-evolving spectrum, rather than an unchanging fact.
Within a decade, he is troubled by a story about a male X infant who gets caught up in an arrested development (some of the best written by Smith himself), and instead follows Amy, tackling both the toxic and vulnerable nature of 90s manliness. It tells the story of Holden McNeill, a man who can’t stop getting in his own way, and a woman who ultimately finds he can’t always try to perfect himself through other people. Holden eventually finishes the personal comic book he struggled to write, and in doing so finds a way to apologise to Joey Lauren Adams’ Alyssa (the philostical “Amy” in the film’s title).
My interest piqued when it became clear that the comic’s glimpse at the end of the film was finally becoming a reality. So, it’s a sad reason why I report that this comic book doesn’t work for me, even when viewed through the lens of nostalgia.
The latest in Smith’s Quick Tops anthology series, played like a cliff version of the film, offering a series of short, out-of-contest moments from eschewing many of the nuances of the flick, and even chasing after Amy. The entire scene has been reduced to a single page (or even a single panel), and the book will become uncomprehensible, especially if the film is not fresh in your memory. Some sequences are read like general missions, one example of which is a panel where Jason Lee’s Banky screams at Ben Affleck’s Holden. In the film, this is a button for Banky’s elaborate argument against Alyssa. In comics, that’s not the answer. There is no actual setup. The lines are displayed in a vacuum so it has no meaning unless the reader can recall the rest of the scene to fill the gap between the panels.
The entire book is read like this, and it is an inexplicable tactic, especially because of its metafiction function. If this seems to be an award-winning book he wrote to tell his story, then doesn’t he really need to tell the story? What would someone get from this book besides the idea that Holden had forgotten to write and draw a few pages?
Dark Horse
On a positive note, John Splengelmeyer has done a great job, with pencils, inks and letters feeling like a perfect approximation of the indie comic scene of the 90s. He matches the visuals of the film and offers a fun nod to Smith’s directorial choices and camera angles as well as the larger askewniverse. Overall, the acting characters are persuasive and vulnerable, the celebrity similarity is perfect, allowing Sprengelmeyer’s personal aesthetic to shine. I enjoyed the panel quite a bit early on in the matter where Sprengelmeyer rendered Holden as a pencil sketch and reflected the character’s artistic talent. A particularly lovely moment comes when Holden delivers a passionate monologue declaring her love for Alyssa.
It is also worth noting that Holden’s narration by Smith feels very natural and even poetic in many places. Holden reacts like a raw, exposed nerve throughout most of the film, so as a fan of the film, it’s great to know that there’s more to his ugly behavior than pure frustration or anger. Introduction adds some great shading to chase after Amy.
Maybe I have too many thoughts on this. Perhaps the book is like a heartfelt supplement to a film that has gone through many cycles of reevaluation over the years. As mentioned above, there are truly beautiful moments scattered around here. However, I can’t help but feel that this issue was a disappointment. In many ways, chasing Amy still feels like one of Smith’s most personal and humane works. I hope Holden comics feel that way. I wish Smith had taken this opportunity to look back at the original story. I would like to meet these characters again through a more modern lens (a brief glimpse of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot in 2019).
This book is closely tied to the film, so it is difficult to evaluate the book in its own terms. Certainly that’s strange. That being said, I look forward to future issues in this series. This issue didn’t work for me, but I still have a lot of love for the world and characters that Smith creates. He was one of my favourite guests while competing in the AIPT Comics Podcast. I truly believe that his work is a reflection of someone who feels everything very deeply and wears a heart on the sleeves of his jersey. So I hope the rest of the series will talk a little more to me a little more, as Smith aims to tell a more original story and give some of his late collaborators a loving send-off. Amy ran away, but I think there are still many reasons why she’s excited about the QuickStop.
Quick Stops Vol. 3#1 Review: Chase (and Lose) Amy
Quick Stop Volume 3 #1
Mileage can vary by looking at Askewniverse Superfans, but this reviewer has discovered that Kevin Smith’s latest comic is an adaptation that relies a little too much on its source material.
Holden’s narration is well written and may even provide a more emotional context for some of his actions in the original film
Sprengelmeyer’s artwork has been much more appealing, and while maintaining the artist’s own aesthetic, adapting the film accurately and throwing fun prosperity.
The script assumes you remember everything “crashing after Amy”, skips the entire scene and reduces others to a series of sequins
