These 9 stories were published
previously between 1994 and 1998, mostly in Eightball comic. Clowes has a striking broad range in his
style, but there’s a uniformity to his lead characters: the title story
features a man who goes from fair to fair drawing caricatures of people; “Blue
Italian Shit” is told by a 33-year old man reflecting on his 18-year old self;
“The Gold Mommy” is a surreal tale about a man who is alone and doomed;
“MCMLXVI” is about a loser obsessed with 1966; “Like a Weed, Joe” is about the
summer of a teenaged boy, told by his later self; “Immortal Invisible” features
a lone teenager’s last night of trick or treating on Halloween; “Green
Eyeliner” is about a young woman reflecting on her life and how it got to be so
lonely; and so on. Those who have seen
the movie Ghost
World, which is based on Clowes’ comic of the same name, will already
be familiar with the themes. His
characters suffer from a sense of alienation from the modern world, and rightly
so, because they really do not fit in with other people. They are often ungainly or even grotesque,
and they are preoccupied with how their lives became so unhappy. The humor is wry, even sour, and Clowes’
world is cruel. Nearly always the main
characters have flaws in their character that make it hard to really sympathize
with them; they hurt others and reject their friends for no good reason. They are as self-deceived and twisted as
everyone else, even if they have better taste and more insight into what’s
wrong with the world than most other people. 

It’s Clowes’ ability to convey the
sense of his character’s disappointment with themselves that makes his work so
distinctive. But the self-narration by
his characters would amount to nothing without the artwork, which is what
raises Clowes’ work above that of most of his peers. Different stories are illustrated in different styles, and he is
inventive enough to keep his readers interested and amused by the images, which
makes it much easier to deal with the relentlessly depressing narratives. These unsettling stories are essential
reading. Highly recommended.

Link: Fantagraphics
Books

Categories: Fiction, ArtAndPhotography