Tuesday, September 14, 2010

BEHIND THE EIGHTBALL

Daniel Clowes needs no real introduction does he? Well In case you're too busy still wondering who the Red Hulk is let me fill you in on one of the most prolific comic creators of my generation. As part of My Nostalgia September I couldn't leave Clowes out in the cold. From EIGHTBALL, (the first dozen or so issues containing a number of short comedic stories featuring absurd characters such as Shamrock Squid and Grip Glutz and introduced us to Art School Confidential and Ghost World) to WILSON to ICE HAVEN. Clowes is regularly compared to David Lynch, mixing macabre surrealism with intelligent satire mixed with a modernist style.
LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON, which was a storyline in EIGHTBALL, became an obsession of mine so much that my band ELKBLOOD has used it regularly for inspiration in both lyrics and the imagery. To know Clowes characters is maybe to know a little about the man himself.
You might find some familiar pessimism of Pekar in characters like WILSON
but with Clowes you get a unhealthy dose of dark humor that might make you uncomfortable to the point where you'll either love it or hate it. Call me sick but I get it and praise Clowes for giving me something to identify with, I find it cathartic, comforting even. I relate reading a Clowes comic to falling asleep in a thunderstorm while listening to Metallica's Master of Puppets without a sleeping bag buried in the dirt, right? If you're a fan of ADRIAN TOMINE CRAIG THOMPSON, TOM NEELY or even JOHNNY RYAN then you owe it to yourself and your neighbors to check out Daniel Clowes in case you haven't. If you dont, DAVID BORING might be knocking on your door soon dont say we didn't warn you!

check out this great article with Daniel found at L'autre bande dessinée

http://www.du9.org/Daniel-Clowes,1109
and here's a preview of WILSON in case you haven't checked this out yet
http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/imagesPreview/a4b4b5cebd9151.pdf

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