Clerks: The Lost Scene #1

This one-shot from Oni Press gives Clerks fans a look at an unproduced scene from the groundbreaking indy director Kevin Smith. The premise is that Dante and Randall skip out on their jobs to go to the wake of a high school friend of the two. Dante reveals that he and the deceased girl used to date and that the last time the woman's parents saw him, the pair were in flagrante delecto. Things are terse with Dante there. But things go from bad to worse when Randall loses Dante's car keys in the girl's coffin!

First of all, this lost scene technically isn't lost.( The cost of the wake was too much for Kevin Smith. I guess $27,000 on maxed out credit cards can only go so far.) So, yes, the wake sequence does not appear in the movie. But for the 10th anniversary DVD release, an animated version of the scene was added to the film. This comic book was released 5 years prior for anniversary #5. So at the time of publication, this story was unproduced.

It's been a very long while since I have seen anything unedited by Kevin Smith. Having only been watching Comic Book Men (May it rest in peace, unless somebody wisely brings it back!), I forgot how crude and vulgar the View Askewniverse can be. This comic book is definitely unedited. 

I could have done without the repulsive introduction and conclusion by Jay and Silent Bob. I mean it's explains why it's a lost scene. But anything that comes out of Jay's mouth is stuff that would make a sailor blush. 

Kevin Smith, notorious in the comic book industry for his trouble with deadlines, pens the one-shot naturally. But why was Phil Hester used? The Flash artist is definitely a talent. But I would have expected Comic Book Man Walt Flanagan to do the artwork. Was Flanagan not available? Or was he overlooked by Oni Press who wanted a more bankable name? Maybe he was too busy checking the perfectness of the next batch of eggs he was planning on buying? 

That's a Clerks reference folks! Fans had better get that one!

The story itself was funny. The bookends were regrettable. Good art. Just not who I would've guessed was behind it. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.