An Askew View 2

In the year 2002, An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith was the first book to gaze at the cinema of one of New Jersey's favorite sons, the independent and controversial auteur of Clerks (1994), Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). Now, a full decade after that successful original edition, award-winning author John Kenneth Muir returns to the View Askewniverse to consider Kevin Smith's second controversial decade as a film director, social gadfly, and beloved media "talker." From Jersey Girl (2004) to the controversial Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), from the critically derided Cop-Out (2010) to the incendiary and provocative horror film Red State (2011), An Askew View 2 studies the Kevin Smith movie equation as it exists today, almost two full decades after Smith maxed out his credit card, made Clerks with his friends, shopped it at Sundance, and commenced his Hollywood journey. In addition to Kevin Smith's films, An Askew View 2 remembers the short-lived Clerks cartoon (2000) and diagrams the colorful Smith Lexicon.

John Kenneth Muir is the award-winning author of 24 books on film and television, including the Music on Film books This Is Spinal Tap and Purple Rain, as well as The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004) and The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007). He is the creator of the Web series The House Between (www.thehousebetween.com). Muir's blog, Reflections on Film and Television (http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com), was named one of the "Top 100 Rim Study" blogs on the Net in 2010. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.