The Doofus Omnibus

by Rick Altergott

A lowbrow cult favourite for almost twenty years now collected into book form for the first time! Though a long-time favourite amongst such cultural luminaries as Dan Clowes, R. Crumb, Terry Zwigoff and Simpsons executive producer George Meyer, this is Altergott's first book, collecting most of his oeuvre for the first time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156097494X
• ISBN13: 9781560974949
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.8" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

I laughed, I cried, I gagged

When I first ran across Rick Altergott's DOOFUS OMNIBUS, I wondered exactly what a duo of panty-sniffing creeps had to offer me. The unlikely answer is: quite a bit! Sure, this may look like lowbrow material... well okay, it is, but there's so much more here. The adventures of the repulsive Doofus (a dumpy unshaven man with bizarre fashion sense) and his even-more-repulsive pal Henry Hotchkiss (a dopey vagrant) occur in Flowertown USA, which looks like a pleasant place until you see the other goons who make up the town's seedy underbelly. In fact, combined with other losers such as the mulleted Relief Erickson, greasy Stink-Hair Stu, and the buxom trailer-trash Miss Juniper, it appears that the realm occupied by Doofus and Henry is the real Flowertown, with the handsome businessmen, upper-crusts, and joggers being part of a thin veneer. Altergott's writing on these strips is quite varied. Sometimes, they reveal universal truths; othertimes, dopey one-liners; and still others are outright disturbing. But they all work in the context of Doofus, who is not too far removed from Ignatius J. Reilly of A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. Other non-Doofus stories are included, such as "The 'Dude'" and "Sleep in the Grave". As for the amazing art, Altergott is clearly influenced by the best of MAD Magazine, especially Mort Drucker and George Woodbridge. As disgusting as his characters are, their filth and squalor are lovingly rendered.

Wish Altergott Would Publish More!

The Doofus Omnibus is just not enough. After reading this, my appetite was whetted for more. Sadly, there isn't much more Altergott in print. I'd love to see a movie of these characters. What crazy, dumb luck that would be! Better than finding a wheat penny! You'd be silly not to buy this book!! Trust me!

Hilarious and Outrageous Comix!

If you dig the more controversial work of Crumb and Clowes, Johnny Ryan's "Angry Youth Comix," Tony Millionaire's "Maakies," or the work of Sam Henderson and Ivan Brunetti, you'll find "The Doofus Omnibus" hilarious. A substantial collection of Rick Altergott's work over the past ten or fifteen years, it draws from out-of-print Doofus comic books as well as Peter Bagge's HATE and The Seattle Stranger,where Doofus was a long-running weekly strip.Altergott has created with "Doofus" Andersen an amusingly degenerate, beer drinking, panty-sniffing, porn-loving philosopher who lives in his mother's basement, though he seems well into middle age. His pal Henry Hotchkiss (who lives in a shack near Doofus' backyard) is a sub-normal, slack-jawed dope who shares with Doofus many of these proclivities, with the exception that he's the stupid one. So, in the course of their many adventures in the tiny burg of Flowertown, Henry Hotchkiss plays the fool as Doofus' sidekick, friend and confidant. The comic is carefully rendered in a style not unlike that of MAD magazine legend Jack Davis, giving it a unique, almost dated feel. The gags are over the top, obscene and hilarious. Take, for example, the strip where Doofus becomes a dog breeder: he tells Hotchkiss "I like to watch." But it's not all about the gross-out. Altergott's wit is sharp, and his use of language is even funnier than his ... jokes. Doofus is positively erudite, and the way he speaks stands in sharp contrast to his enthusiasm for beer, toy cars, and "underwear games."I recommend this book without hesitation for fans of adult and underground comix.