Unlike his later fictional approach, most of these take the form of gag strips but the great linework, authoritative lettering and sophisticated social lampooning are all there. Love the lettering.
Then his roommate tells him that he found giant carnivorous worms under the sink. I know he's kind of kidding, but he's also kind of serious.That said, it's in a lo well, 20th century eightball is totally totally crass, more crass than I remember Clowes other stuff being. It ranges from social commentary, satire, outrageous tales to weird character deceptions. Included within are such seminal strips/rants as "I Hate You Deeply," "Sexual Frustration," "Ugly Girls," "Why I Hate Christians," "Message to the People of the Future," "Paranoid," "My Suicide," "Chicago," and over three dozen more. I remember living in Chicago in the early 1990s reading Clowes's Freudian analysis of American team sports in a free alternative paper called the Lumpen Times and I was Xeroxing it for friends and reading it over and over again, it was so wickedly good. In this collection (which, to be fair, is mostly old filler strips, so we're not seeing him operating at his full potential) he tends to resort to easy gross-out gags and non-narrative screwball fantasies, which gets a bit old. While I loved “Like A Velvet Glove” and would give it 5 stars since it tickled my sensibilities of Lynchian strangeness and Coen brothers bizarre dialog, some of the more artist-centric stories were less interesting for me.Dan Clowes's comic book series, Eightball, featured some of the funniest, acerbic satire and cultural criticism around. As a wrestler (high-school, not professional) friend once remarked, in reference to my misguided love of the motion picture "Almost Famous," "You liking this is like me watching a wrestling movie: I'd HAVE to like it." This is Clowes at his silliest, and therefore, his best.I love his more serious stuff and recognize why he's viewed as "important", but I can only take so much of it (and so much of the people out there who imitate him. The Village Voice proclaimed it "brilliant," and Art Spiegelman called it "curdlingly good." Still rife with Clowes' frustration and irritation at life, there's some great stupid throwaway gags as well (a Peanuts reference in 'I Love You Tenderly' always catches me by surprise, and makes me giggle like an idiot).
Right toward the end ("Eightball"), he does give a nod to the possibility that the world might not be totally shit, but honestly it's not enough to pick you up out of the mire.If you're already decided that ours is a crap world with no hope of redemption, you'll get no argument in Twentieth Century Eightball. I'm not the biggest fan of Clowes quirky/obscene ways--and yet, that is exactly the type of comic style I love, just not in his way. The characters facial expressions and emotions are captured really well. I remember living in Chicago in the early 1990s reading Clowes's Freudian analysis of American team sports in a free alternative paper called the Lumpen Times and I was Xeroxing it for friends and reading it over and over again, it was so wickedly good. It is not like American Splendor (which is great as well) it is a little more off kilter but really nothing amazing happens in the books. and Orgy Bound, but the book also includes eight new stories. Daniel Clowes is one of my favourite comics writers, and as much as I enjoy his heavier longform stuff, this collection of shorter frivolous strips is a joy. Daniel Clowes is one bitter man. I felt a little sad for him, actually, that he could be angry at so many things in so many ways. But if you haven't yet decided that the entirety of humanity is a waste of biomass, you'll find the book to be angry, grating, and to be completely honest: sad. One of my favorite graphic novelists, easily.
Most of Clowes' work appears first in his anthology Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an Academy Award-nominated American author, screenwriter and cartoonist of alternative comic books. )Love the art. This anthology collects all those funny stories in one volume, so no matter how heavy “Ghost World” or “David Boring” got these little zany bumpers kept you laughin’. Welcome back. There's some funny material in this book. Clowes has an appealing self-awareness but the early Eightball stuff leans heavy on vulgarity and lacks any real heart.One of, if not THE, definitive 90s alternative comics. This is a good book for anyone who's into alternative comics or you're looking for something different in the comic book medium.
As a wrestler (high-school, not professional) friend once remarked, in reference to my misguided love of the motion picture "Almost Famous," "You liking this is like me watching a wrestling movie: I'd HAVE to like it."
Crudely honest, borderline too perverse to read, but thoughtful and funny. Twentieth Century Eightball is an omnibus, "best of" collection of his comic panels from his Fantagraphic comic book series "Eightball" which was issued semiannually from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
It looks interesting and is just a teeny bit thought provoking. I know he's kind of kidding, but he's also kind of serious.well, 20th century eightball is totally totally crass, more crass than I remember Clowes other stuff being. It is not like American Splendor (which is great as well) it is a little more off kilter but really nothing amazing happens in the books.