The Complete Eightball 1-18: Issues 1-18

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Of course, some fans of Clowes discovered his work through “Ghost World”—a serialized story that appeared starting in Issue 11 of Eightball after “Like A Velvet Glove…” wrapped up. If you haven’t seen the film based on the comic, “Ghost World” focuses on two cool young women during the summer after they graduate from high school. Clowes uses his sharp dialogue and characterization skills to present their conversations, thoughts, desires, and caustic and often hilarious judgements of others as they go about their lives. Published in 1997 as a graphic novel, Ghost World is Clowes best attempt at presenting female characters as more than objects of desire or derision. And it’s brilliant. The 2001 film (directed by Terry Zwigoff) deservedly won Clowes an Academy Award nomination and if you haven’t seen it, you really should. Thora Birch is charming as Enid Coleslaw and Steve Buscemi is always a joy to watch. Five more issues appeared from 1998 to 2004. These later numbers concentrated on single, long-form narratives ( David Boring, Ice Haven, and The Death Ray, all later published as graphic novels) and are not included in this volume. ↩ This is a masterwork in its ability to stay with stories, telling them over years, or simply telling a fantastic story that touches on something in the reader's core. The stories within vary so much there's bound to be a gem in here that will capture your imagination.--David Brooke Clowes offset cynicism with sympathy as he cast an outsider's eye on members of society some might classify as 'the dregs.' As the anthology developed, Clowes proved himself a master of the short story in comics form…" — Jake Austen - Chicago Tribune

Once you finish your current project—the one you said you didn’t want to discuss—is there anything you’re looking forward to doing? Do you have some wish like, “I want to go play the kazoo in a band,” for example? Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Devil Doll, The Laffin' Spittin' Man, Young Dan Pussey, What is the Most Important Invention of the Twentieth Century?Comics] are in a sense the ultimate domain of the artist who seeks to wield absolute control over his imagery. Novels are the work of one individual but they require visual collaboration on the part of the reader. Film is by its nature a collaborative endeavor… . Comics offer the creator a chance to control the specifics of his own world in both abstract and literal terms.

Some of the humor remains laugh-out-loud funny, but it perhaps isn’t surprising that some of it has not aged well at all, and will likely make today’s readers cringe. Sometimes it’s remarkably prescient, such as the prediction of a future in which nothing is new—it’s simply endless re-making and re-mixing of past entertainment. It always depresses me to see the stuff that hipsters have on display in their apartments," he broods, surveying a collection of kitschy toys. "It always seems so childish and unoriginal, but it's really not much different from my stuff." He might as well be talking about psychic baggage. Clowes is as hard on himself as he is on everyone around him — or most people around him. The exceptions are bullies and people who buy into the American consumerist mythos. In The Hearth’s Happy Life, Kathy Ng Morphs Octopus Porn into Visions of Destruction—and Renewal By Kally Patz but I was sure that he was right and that I’d been crazy all along…. To read that many in a row, this overwhelming tidal wave of Christianity coming at you—it’s an amazing experience. Here was this comic dealing with life and death. The absolute most important thing. I mean, he was pulling out all the stops, there was no soft-pedaling, he was just ramming it down your throat. Never before had I been affected like that by comics. This is a two-volume, slipcased facsimile edition of the Daniel Clowes comics anthology; it contains the original installments of Ghost World, the short that the film Art School Confidential was based on, and much more.

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Impressive later works like “Caricature” and “Gynecology” distill the earlier misanthropy into compulsively readable noir-tinged narratives. They have the meandering magic of a Cheever story like “The Country Husband” or “The Day the Pig Fell into the Well”: populated with curious characters who enter and exit without fanfare, told in a voice bursting with regret yet also ecstatic with the sheer talent expended in the telling. In May 2001, two months before Terry Zwigoff’s film Ghost World hit theaters, The Comics Journal ran a long interview with Clowes, whom it had similarly featured in 1992. This time, he got to do the cover. Rather than a single illustration of the kind he’s done on occasion since for The New Yorker, Clowes turned it into a mini graphic memoir. In panel 1, he’s invited to be the subject of an interview. (“Why did I agree to that?” he wonders in panel 3. “I hate The Comics Journal.”) Later, Clowes reads the results with dismay; yet by the last panel, he’s somehow agreed to do the cover illustration. “What’s wrong with me?” he says at his drawing board, composing the comic we’ve just read. Can you talk about one of the cohesive elements you see now in your work that you may not have seen at the time?

Well, now the work certainly seems to reflect a very cohesive world view. But, yes, some things did shift. At the time, I was trying to figure out what I felt about things, but also say what I knew about the world; all my little pronouncements, which I was doing facetiously. I knew that I didn’t really know anything, but on some level I felt like I did. And then, over a certain amount of time, I realized I truly didn’t know anything, and at a certain point I realized I didn’t even want to go out on that limb and make any kind of statement—just look at questions and not deliver any answers. Even though most if not all of the work has been collected in various editions over the years, the earliest issue of Eightball I've ever owned is 19, the first of three issues dedicated entirely to 'David Boring'.Daniel Clowes writes either the funniest sad comics or the saddest funny comics in the world.--Sam Thielman Eightball is a comic book by Daniel Clowes and published by Fantagraphics Books. It ran from 1989 to 2004. The first issue appeared soon after the end of Clowes's previous comic book, Lloyd Llewellyn. Eightball has been among the best-selling series in alternative comics. Do you feel like your work has become more personal over the years? As you built a persona as an artist, have you been able to push the line you were talking about—whether readers get it or not? Clay lodges across the street from his quarry: Interesting Productions, the secretive entity behind the tawdry film. Through binoculars, he spies a small, pipe-smoking girl at a desk, perpetually writing. (Going through her trash, he later discovers she’s simply drawing the same picture of a horse head, over and over.) When he gets inside, his fate is sealed.