Matthias Schultheiss draws Charles Bukowski: The German-American Nightmare

Charles Bukowski: The “Dirty Old Man” of American underground literature. Blunt, brutal, cynical, lyrical. With him, the dishwasher does not become a millionaire, but ends up in the gutter.

Matthias Schultheiss: In the comic scene, he has a similar status as Bukowski in literature. His stories also show the world in all its depravity, he too is able to find beauty in dirt like no other.

Anyone who has ever heard of Schultheiss’ alcohol-pregnant experiences on the Reeperbahn or in the USA, who has read how Schultheiss communicates with Lambert as if he weren’t the cartoon character he invented for “Die Haie von Lagos” but his inner demon, has no doubt that Schultheiss and Bukowski are brothers in spirit.

When Bukowski, who was born in Andernach in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1920, completed his Germany reading in Hamburg’s “Markthalle” in May 1978, he said towards the end of the event: “You know, I come from Germany. Now I’m back here because I’ve written a few things. For me it’s like a miracle.” You can relive his memorable appearance in the documentary “Charles Bukowski in Hamburg” by Thomas Schmitt.

It has not been handed down, but I would like to imagine that there was a young Matthias Schultheiss in the audience (born in Nuremberg in 1946, studied and lived in Hamburg) and decided to continue this beautiful story of the son who has returned, or rather: to continue to draw it.

In the early 1980s, Schultheiss worked as a loader at the airport and drew comic versions of a total of eight Bukowski short stories during breaks. He drew for his life because his debut comic “Trucker” had not brought the desired success; he dashed as much as he could, not a millimeter without hatching, which was similar to the early work of Mœbius and Bilal. His painterly style, which we know from his main work, was yet to emerge.

Despite the precarious working conditions, Schultheiss did not skimp on the page layout and delivered anything but quick bulk goods. Architecturally well thought-out side compositions, for example when the panels are set at an angle and thus follow the spatial perspective of the New York elevated railway, alternate with illustrations that flow into one another, in which the picture frames have been blown up or left out completely.

In 1984, the result of his efforts was published by Heyne in two black-and-white volumes: “The Long Job” and “Kaputt in der City”.

For the new publication in the anthology by the Bielefelder Splitter-Verlag, also titled “Kaputt in der City”. (160 p., 35 €), Schultheiss has recolored his old pages. It makes sense that he didn’t use too many color gradients and effects, but rather worked relatively flat: “The drawings are already modeled with black and white lines and color is like writing “car” on a car,” explains Schultheiss.

The result is impressive. For example, if the character Henry Beckett surprisingly wakes up golden yellow with green spots in the morning, then the old edition only claims that, the new one also shows it. blood is red A detour to New Orleans glows shimmering and moist. In general, nocturnal lights in pubs and big cities, shimmering heat in the desert, all of this appears more atmospheric and lively with the use of colour.

One gets the impression that Bukowski is only complete through Schultheiss. Schultheiss omits text where the drawings are self-explanatory, in other places Bukowski’s prose develops its full force, inspired by the drawings. The cynicism becomes even more frightening, the warmth behind it even more touching. Bukowski and Schulheiss: That’s the German-American nightmare, that’s the proverbial punch in the eye.

Our author Bela Sobottke is a graphic designer and comic artist and lives in Berlin. He publishes provocative but warm-hearted genre comics like The Legend of Kronos Rocco.