Peepshow

Presenting the complete collection of Joe Matt’s legendary autobiographical comic book series — a masterpiece of modern humor. 

Few comic book series can claim to have influenced a generation of cartoonists, comics fans, and comedians the way Joe Matt’s Peepshow did during its fourteen issues from 1992 to 2006. With an often alarming and always hilarious compulsion to confess, Matt found no aspect of his life that wasn’t more grist for the humor mill: his dysfunctional (and sometimes abusive) relationships, his Catholic repression, his horrible social skills, his addiction to pornography, his masturbation habits, etc. Yes, the character Joe Matt was usually an insufferable outsider, but in the hands of Joe Matt the writer/artist, his life was depicted with an eye and ear for human folly that rivalled R. Crumb, as well as an entertainer’s instinct and sense of comedic timing to rival Larry David, and it made Peepshow one of the most essential reads of its era.

This book collects for the first time the entire original fourteen-issue series in one hardcover volume, as well as the posthumously-published fifteenth issue from 2024 (detailing Matt’s move to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue an ill-fated HBO adaptation of his work), each presented as painstakingly-restored facsimiles of the original issues. This definitive Joe Matt collection also includes other art and ephemera from the artist’s personal archives, including a hand-written introduction to a complete Peepshow collection that at the time was purely hypothetical and was only discovered after his death in 2023. Peepshow is rounded out with an insightful afterword by Diana Schutz, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame comics writer and editor, and longtime friend of Matt’s (and sister of Trish, Matt’s ex-girlfriend and key player in Peepshow’s cast).

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Peepshow

Presenting the complete collection of Joe Matt’s legendary autobiographical comic book series — a masterpiece of modern humor. 

Few comic book series can claim to have influenced a generation of cartoonists, comics fans, and comedians the way Joe Matt’s Peepshow did during its fourteen issues from 1992 to 2006. With an often alarming and always hilarious compulsion to confess, Matt found no aspect of his life that wasn’t more grist for the humor mill: his dysfunctional (and sometimes abusive) relationships, his Catholic repression, his horrible social skills, his addiction to pornography, his masturbation habits, etc. Yes, the character Joe Matt was usually an insufferable outsider, but in the hands of Joe Matt the writer/artist, his life was depicted with an eye and ear for human folly that rivalled R. Crumb, as well as an entertainer’s instinct and sense of comedic timing to rival Larry David, and it made Peepshow one of the most essential reads of its era.

This book collects for the first time the entire original fourteen-issue series in one hardcover volume, as well as the posthumously-published fifteenth issue from 2024 (detailing Matt’s move to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue an ill-fated HBO adaptation of his work), each presented as painstakingly-restored facsimiles of the original issues. This definitive Joe Matt collection also includes other art and ephemera from the artist’s personal archives, including a hand-written introduction to a complete Peepshow collection that at the time was purely hypothetical and was only discovered after his death in 2023. Peepshow is rounded out with an insightful afterword by Diana Schutz, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame comics writer and editor, and longtime friend of Matt’s (and sister of Trish, Matt’s ex-girlfriend and key player in Peepshow’s cast).

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Peepshow

Peepshow

Overview

Presenting the complete collection of Joe Matt’s legendary autobiographical comic book series — a masterpiece of modern humor. 

Few comic book series can claim to have influenced a generation of cartoonists, comics fans, and comedians the way Joe Matt’s Peepshow did during its fourteen issues from 1992 to 2006. With an often alarming and always hilarious compulsion to confess, Matt found no aspect of his life that wasn’t more grist for the humor mill: his dysfunctional (and sometimes abusive) relationships, his Catholic repression, his horrible social skills, his addiction to pornography, his masturbation habits, etc. Yes, the character Joe Matt was usually an insufferable outsider, but in the hands of Joe Matt the writer/artist, his life was depicted with an eye and ear for human folly that rivalled R. Crumb, as well as an entertainer’s instinct and sense of comedic timing to rival Larry David, and it made Peepshow one of the most essential reads of its era.

This book collects for the first time the entire original fourteen-issue series in one hardcover volume, as well as the posthumously-published fifteenth issue from 2024 (detailing Matt’s move to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue an ill-fated HBO adaptation of his work), each presented as painstakingly-restored facsimiles of the original issues. This definitive Joe Matt collection also includes other art and ephemera from the artist’s personal archives, including a hand-written introduction to a complete Peepshow collection that at the time was purely hypothetical and was only discovered after his death in 2023. Peepshow is rounded out with an insightful afterword by Diana Schutz, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame comics writer and editor, and longtime friend of Matt’s (and sister of Trish, Matt’s ex-girlfriend and key player in Peepshow’s cast).

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798875002304
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Publication date: 07/14/2026
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 7.75(w) x 10.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Joe Matt passed away in 2023 at the age of sixty. Born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, he spent most of his adult life in Toronto and then Los Angeles.

Diana Schutz is a Canadian-born comic book editor, serving as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years, followed by a 25-year tenure at Dark Horse Comics.

Sammy Harkham is an American cartoonist and editor, born in Los Angeles in 1980. He began making his own comics and created the zine Kramers Ergot, which has become one of the most influential comics anthologies published today.

Eric Reynolds is the VP/Associate Publisher of Fantagraphics Books. He has curated well over 4,000 pages of comics anthologies, between ten volumes of NOW, 22 volumes of Mome from 2005-2010, and several Free Comic Book Day anthologies for Fantagraphics. He lives in Seattle, WA.

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