Clowes, Daniel

Ghost World

Dan Clowes described the story in Ghost World as the examination of "the lives of two recent high school graduates from the advantaged perch of a constant and (mostly) undetectable eavesdropper, with the shaky detachment of a scientist who has grown fond of the prize microbes in his petri dish." From this perch comes a revelation about adolescence that is both subtle and coolly beautiful. Critics have pointed out Clowes's cynicism and vicious social commentary, but if you concentrate on those aspects, you'll miss the exquisite whole that Clowes has captured. Each chapter ends with melancholia that builds towards the amazing, detached, ghostlike ending.

One of the best-selling and critically-acclaimed graphic novels of all-time telling the story of two supremely ironic, above-it-all teenagers facing the thrilling uncertainty of life after high school. As they attempt to carry their life-long friendship into a new era, the careful dynamics of their inseparable bond are jolted, and what seemed like a future of endless possibilities looks more like an encroaching reality of strip malls, low-paying service jobs and fading memories.

Already one of the most heavily-publicized graphic novels in history, this new edition (featuring new covers by Clowes) should make the book more popular than ever. With lengthy write-ups in Time, Newsweek, Publisher's Weekly, Details, Vogue, Jane, and many others, press interest in the book and film promises to be higher than ever this spring.

David Boring

It's impossible to write about Daniel Clowes's work without using the word "ennui." But his is a joyous ennui, if such a thing is possible, one that relishes the boredom of everyday life with a Zen enthusiasm. The title David Boring reflects his self-aware humor and captures the essence of an ordinary man living through a larger-than-life story. The main character lives with his best friend, Dot, in a large city, each looking for love and meaning. David in particular is trying to understand his father, whom he knows only through an obscure comic book called "The Yellow Streak." Murder, obsession, sex, and war are all just distractions as he tries to construct a sensible portrait from the odd bits and pieces he finds in his travels. Clowes finds little miracles everywhere he looks--so many, in fact, that they seem hardly to interest him. This detachment perversely makes David Boring deeply compelling and worthy of serious attention from fans and newcomers alike. --Rob Lightner

Meet David Boring: a nineteen-year-old security guard with a tortured innner life and an obsessive nature. When he meets the girl of his dreams, things begin to go awry: what seems too good to be true apparently is. And what seems truest in Boring's life is that, given the right set of circumstances (in this case, an orgiastic cascade of vengeance, humiliation and murder) the primal nature of humandkind will come inexorably to the fore.

"Boring finds love with a mysterious woman named Wanda, loses her and sort of finds her again. He also gets shot in the head (twice) and stranded on an island with his brutish family. Meanwhile, the world may or may not be ending soon. And did I mention that much of this is hilariously funny?" -- Time


From the Hardcover edition.

Pussey!

Economical pull drawer transfer files feature sturdy construction with double-thick side walls to permit up to five-high stacking and back locks to prevent tipping. Front stacking locks included. Contains at least 25 percent post-consumer material. Plastic strap handle.

Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron

Some consider this comic book novel obtuse; others find it deeply intellectual. Whatever the reaction, it's hard to refute its daring originality and smooth artwork. Described as "a terrifying journey into madness," the story revolves around Clay Loudermilk as he stumbles upon the mysteries behind a snuff film. Soon he's involved with increasingly bizarre characters who hang in the air like stale cigarette smoke. Fans of movie director David Lynch who aren't already tipped to Daniel Clowes's popular work should take note.

Daniel Clowes's first book remains a modern classic 15 years after its debut in Eightball #1, the comic book title that made Clowes a household name in comics circles. This surreal graphic novel is couched within a noir-ish detective structure and rich with recurring psychosexual motifs and imagery. The story follows a deadpan Candide named Clay Loudermilk, on a search for a former lover through a landscape that several critics have favorably compared to the works of David Lynch, Fellini, and Luis Buñuel, with elements of Dragnet and Russ Meyer films added for good measure. Clowes rigorously employs a dream logic as Clay spirals down a spare, unsettling wasteland, meeting three-eyed prostitutes, mutant waitresses, angry men with hair plugs, and orifice-less dogs with secret messages tattooed on their skin. As Clay attempts to untangle the vast conspiracy he finds himself a part of, Velvet Glove becomes a vivid and fantastic examination of futility, self-loathing and paranoia, and a masterpiece of postmodern fairy-telling,

Like A Velvet Glove returns in 2005 as Clowes and film director Terry Zwigoff put the finishing touches on Art School Confidential, the follow-up to their 2001 Academy Award-nominated film, Ghost World (based on the bestselling comic book of the same name). To be released in the late summer of 2005, Art School Confidential is sure to introduce an entirely new audience to Clowes's work, just as the Ghost World film did (pushing sales of the Ghost World graphic novel over 150,000 to date).

Twentieth Century Eightball (20th Century Eightball)

Trailing the success of the movie based on Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World (1997) comes this collection of shorter stories from his alternative comic book Eightball. Many of the pieces are tirades, albeit entertaining ones, about things Clowes despises (perhaps the comic should have been called Hateball). "On Sports" details his contempt for professional athletics, and "Art School Confidential" is an expose of pretentious, talentless poseurs. This approach is carried to its logical peak in "I Hate You Deeply," a litany of the "types" that annoy Clowes, from "fashion plates" to "crybabies, whiners, and sensitive people." Clowes puts his misanthropy in abeyance for slice-of-life stories in which he ruminates during a stroll around his neighborhood or fantasizes about his fellow passengers on a subway. Worthwhile enough, these earlier stories merely presage Clowes' far-more-impressive recent work in which cynicism is presented more subtly, leavened with sympathy, and voiced by well-developed characters. If these pieces lack the heft of Clowes' longer, more ambitious efforts, the best of them are still masterful miniatures.

Ice Haven

At long last: Daniel Clowes is back at Pantheon, with a brilliant new graphic novel already hailed by Time as “another of his hilariously slightly off-center worlds that have a vague sense of dread about them. Kind of like where you live.”

Welcome to Ice Haven! “It’s not as cold here as it sounds,” declares Random Wilder, our reluctant guide to this sleepy Midwestern town. He’s also its would-be poet laureate. Would-be, that is, were it not for the "Florid banalities” of his archrival, Ida Wentz, published ad nauseam in the Ice Haven Daily Progress. Among Wilder’s other fellow Ice Havians are the lovelorn Violet Van der Plazt and Vida Wentz; the detective team of Mr. and Mrs. Ames; the adorable interracial moppets Carmichael and Paula; disaffected stationery salesgirl Julie Patheticstein; the Blue Bunny, newly sprung from prison and the bitterest rabbit in town; and poor little David Goldberg, missing for more than a week now…

While Dan Clowes has gotten a nod from the mainstream — an Oscar nomination for the screen adaptation of Ghost World - his work remains wonderfully idiosyncratic and imaginative. The lives of the men and women of Ice Haven are woven into a multi-layered tale that, while it owes a debt to Our Town, is ultimately based on and inspired by… Leopold and Loeb. No kidding.

Only Daniel Clowes could do it and, luckily for us, he has.

Caricature

Dan Clowes follows his amazing graphic novel, Ghost World, with an equally stunning collection of nine short comics stories. His characters drift through the world in detached desperation, and they seem all the more real for it. Take the caricature artist, Mal Rosen, of the first story. His encounter with a young girl at an art festival plays out like a series of small self-discoveries, leaving him hollow and empty like a fresh exhalation. In this same sad, insightful way, all of these tales are coming-of-age stories--there's the boy who is too old for trick-or-treating ("Immortal, Invisible"), the 18-year-old virgin trying to create a new tough-guy persona ("Blue Italian Shit"), and the image-obsessed Mona Beadle from "Green Eyeliner," which originally appeared in Esquire. --Jim Pascoe

The bestselling author of Ghost World collects his acclaimed short stories from Eightball and Esquire in softcover for the first time.

The dramatic short stories included in this first softcover edition of Caricature have drawn comparisons to Nabokov for their complex naturalism and sense of humor. Anchored by the title story, considered the first great apotheosis of Clowes' seminal Eightball underground comic book series, Caricature also includes eight other stories, including "Green Eyeliner"—originally published in Esquire as the first work of comics to be featured in the magazine's fiction issue (and commissioned by then-editor Dave Eggers)—"Gynecology," "Blue Italian Shit," "The Gold Mommy," and more.

Clowes has been the most successful alternative cartoonist of his generation, and interest in Caricature should be significant. The film adaptation of Clowes' best-selling book, Ghost World, directed by Terry (Crumb) Zwigoff and starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi, will be released in summer 2001 by MGM/UA and has garnered advance critical praise. A new edition of the Ghost World graphic novel and the screenplay of the film—written by Clowes and Zwigoff—are both being published by Fantagraphics in conjunction with the film, while Clowes' last novel, Pantheon's David Boring (2000), was heavily promoted in 2000 with a national tour.

Will Elder: The MAD Playboy of Art

The co-creator of MAD and Little Annie Fanny finally gets the career retrospective he deserves.

Will Elder is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of the second half of the 20th century. And one of the funniest. He is best known for his artistic partnership with Harvey Kurtzman on all their most highly visible collaborations throughout their careers: MAD magazine, Humbug, Goodman Beaver, Trump, and Little Annie Fanny. At long last, Elder is getting the book he so richly deserves: Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art, a gigantic coffee table book collecting his best work from more than a half a century of drawing and painting.

The book will reprint a representative sampling of the work well-known to aficionados, including stories from the original MAD comic, independent efforts from Humbug, Help!, and Trump magazines, and Little Annie Fanny pages reproduced from the original, painted artwork. Above and beyond the known is the relatively unknown, obscure, or unpublished work, such as pages and spreads from a variety of magazines in the '50s and '60s that Elder contributed to (such as Pageant and Saturday Evening Post), the infamous Norman Rockwell painting parody slated for the 3rd, unreleased issue of Trump, hysterical gag sketches, celebrity caricatures, oil paintings done for his family, and more.

The book includes commentary by Hugh Hefner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, Terry Gilliam, William Stout, and Jerry Garcia, who describe the impact that Elder's work had on satire and comic at in the second half of 20th century America. Elder himself comments on individual pieces, and Daniel Clowes, the author of Ghost World, supplies the introduction.

Ghost World: A Screenplay

Edited and designed by Daniel Clowes, and co-written by Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff, The Ghost World Screenplay is more of a scrapbook of the making of the film than simply a published screenplay. Of course, the 125-page screenplay is included, and is presented as an exact fascimile of the original script. This is the original script as written before filming, and as such includes several scenes and dialogue (over 30 pages of material!) not included in the final cut.

The script is wrapped around a beautiful original cover by Clowes, as well as a new comic strip on the inside front cover, featuring Ghost World's Enid and Rebecca. Also included is a lengthy color section designed by Clowes and featuring never-before-seen photos and other unique ephemera from the making of the film, including illustrations created for the film's sets by Clowes, and illustrations from Enid's sketchbook in the film, created by Sophie Crumb (daughter of cartoonist R. Crumb).

Along with the release of both the Ghost World film from MGM/UA, and the re-release of Clowes' Ghost World graphic novel from Fantagraphics, The Ghost World Screenplay is sure to be a must-have for the legion of devoted fans who have made Clowes the best-selling alternative comic book artist in the world. Also, this special screenplay edition is presented in the same size as the graphic novel, making it a perfect bookshelf companion for one of the best-selling and most critically-acclaimed graphic novels of all-time.

#$@&! The Official Lloyd Llewellyn Collection