Eightball Completo

Eightball #1-18

by Daniel Clowes, Érico Assis (Translator)

A obra-prima underground de Daniel Clowes que redefiniu a linguagem dos quadrinhos adultos

Nos quadrinhos de Eightball, Clowes expõe uma galeria de personagens deslocados, neuróticos, cruéis e hilários — todos moldados com precisão cirúrgica por seu traço elegante e um humor ácido que beira o desconforto. Das páginas de Eightball nasceram obras aclamadas como Ghost World, Como uma Luva de Veludo Moldada em Ferro, Dan Bucetts, Escola de Arte Confidencial, Caricatura e muitas outras histórias que se tornaram clássicos modernos das HQs e conquistaram leitores muito além do circuito independente.

Eightball Completo reúne, pela primeira vez em um só volume no Brasil, as 18 edições da icônica revista Eightball, escritas, desenhadas e publicadas por Daniel Clowes entre 1989 e 1997. Publicada originalmente pela Fantagraphics, a série é considerada um divisor de águas nos quadrinhos alternativos, abrindo espaço para novas narrativas visuais que rejeitavam os clichês do mainstream e ousavam explorar as contradições, angústias e esquisitices da vida adulta urbana contemporânea.

Clowes é mestre em dissecar o absurdo e a melancolia do cotidiano, explorando temas como alienação, fama, identidade, vazio existencial e a eterna busca por sentido. Ao mesmo tempo, Eightball é uma celebração (e uma subversão) da linguagem gráfica dos quadrinhos clássicos: colagens visuais, capas falsas, anúncios fictícios, metalinguagem e referências diretas à estética pulp dos anos 1940 e 1950, antes do rígido código de censura imposto pela indústria dos quadrinhos nos EUA.

A edição primorosa que a DarkSide® Books traz ao público brasileiro na marca DarkSide® Graphic Novel preserva toda a experiência original da publicação e foi elogiada pelo autor e pelo editor original do projeto, Eric Reynolds, que a consideraram “um trabalho realmente fantástico, muito impressionante”. Cada edição foi restaurada com fidelidade absoluta, incluindo capas, páginas extras e experimentações visuais. Com mais de 500 páginas, este quadrinho monumental é uma cápsula do tempo que testemunha o nascimento da novela gráfica moderna e o amadurecimento de uma das vozes mais influentes da arte sequencial contemporânea. A obra inclui ainda o livreto intitulado Quadrinista Moderno, em que Clowes apresenta sua verve ensaística e reflete sobre a importância e os desafios dos quadrinhos e suas peculiaridades, “no limite entre a seriedade pomposa e sincera e seu contraponto irônico”, nas palavras do próprio autor.

A antologia é um marco editorial e um item essencial para todos leitores e colecionadores de quadrinhos. Eightball Completo é um lembrete poderoso da força expressiva do meio, da coragem de romper padrões e da arte de contar histórias sombrias, estranhas e profundamente humanas.


Daniel Clowes nasceu em Chicago, em 1961. Formado pelo Pratt Institute, Clowes começou sua carreira nos anos 1980 e rapidamente se destacou no movimento dos quadrinhos alternativos americanos. Reconhecido com diversos prêmios Harvey, Eisner e o Pen Center Literary Award, o autor teve várias de suas obras adaptadas para o cinema, incluindo Ghost World, co-roteirizado por ele e indicado ao Oscar de Melhor Roteiro Adaptado. Clowes é considerado um dos autores mais importantes e influentes da história dos quadrinhos contemporâneos.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Humor, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix

544 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 1997

About the author

Daniel Clowes is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter whose work helped define the landscape of alternative comics and bring the medium into mainstream literary conversation. Rising to prominence through his long-running anthology Eightball, he used its pages to blend acidic humor, social observation, surrealism, and character-driven storytelling, producing serials that later became acclaimed graphic novels including Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Ghost World, David Boring, Ice Haven, and Patience. His illustrations have appeared in major publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and The Village Voice, while his collaborations with filmmaker Terry Zwigoff resulted in the films Ghost World and Art School Confidential, the former earning widespread praise and an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay. Clowes began honing his voice in the 1980s with contributions to Cracked and with his Lloyd Llewellyn stories for Fantagraphics, but it was Eightball, launched in 1989, that showcased the full range of his interests, from deadpan satire to psychological drama. Known for blending kitsch, grotesquerie, and a deep love of mid-century American pop culture, he helped shape the sensibilities of a generation of cartoonists and became a central figure in the shift toward graphic novels being treated as serious literature. His post-Eightball books continued this evolution, with works like Wilson, Mister Wonderful, The Death-Ray, and the recent Monica exploring aging, identity, longing, and the complexities of relationships, often through inventive visual structures that echo the history of newspaper comics. Clowes has also been active in music and design, creating artwork for Sub Pop bands, the Ramones, and other artists, and contributing to film posters, New Yorker covers, and Criterion Collection releases. His work has earned dozens of honors, including multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards, a Pen Award for Outstanding Body of Work in Graphic Literature, an Inkpot Award, and the prestigious Fauve d’Or at Angoulême. Exhibitions of his original art have appeared across the United States and internationally, with a major retrospective, Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes, touring museums beginning in 2012. His screenplay work extended beyond Ghost World to projects like Art School Confidential and Wilson, and he has long been a touchstone for discussions about Generation X culture, alternative comics, and the shifting boundaries between the literary and graphic arts.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This terrific collection includes the 18 issues of Eightball from 1989 to 1997, one of the greatest and most influential comic book titles of all time. For great detail and enthusiasm, read Eisnein's wonderful review. This slipcased two volume event comes for the 25th Anniversary of Eightball, each issue, most long out of print, exactly as they were originally published. I had read much of this in separate volumes, so it was a commitment (and a joy) to read or re-read, over 450 pages, including stuff from Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (one of my favorites), Ghost World (the classic, also made into a film, of course, his most conventional work), Pussey, My Suicide, Art School Confidential, and Pogeybait, and whatever else poured out of his brain.

Cynical, hilarious, it features a wild collection of losers and crazies, with something to charm and offend you on every page. Sometimes there's a touch of horror, sometimes it feels like some fever dream from the pulpy mid-fifties through mid-sixties, sometimes there's strange creatures. The cover says, "Welcome to my House of Dreams!" and that seems about right, sometimes funny dreams and social commentary, and sometimes nightmares, sometimes wisecracking. I love the fan letters. I love his dark sense of humor. I like how this work in alternative comics paved the way for so much else.

[XenofoneX · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seemed to spend a long time in limbo, with the release date being pushed back several times, but it definitely lived up to expectations. That wasn't a big worry, however, since it was being released by original Eightball publisher Fantagraphics, and Daniel Clowes himself was handling the design and providing new art. Still, I've seen simpler projects get fucked up, in delightful and surprising ways.

The slipcase was the first thing that pleasantly surprised me; the wraparound art depicting Eightball's dramatis personae of outcasts, losers and straight-up fucking psychos is perfect. But the slipcase also features art on the inside, a look inside the fleshy guts and mechanics of the comic. The art on the spines of the two books is a nice touch as well, with the title split on both.



Essentially, Fantagraphics used the actual issues of Eightball No. 1-18, exact facsimiles using the original covers, ads, and letter pages. Every scrap of Clowes-crafted ephemera is fascinating to see, and I found a surprising amount of material that was completely new to me, uncollected in any of the available collections. The paper and cover stock exactly emulate the original run, so Volume 1 begins using a basic, higher-grade acid-free newsprint, but a halfway through that first tome switches to a thick semi-gloss archival paper and card-stock covers.





P.S.: Awaiting the release, not so patiently, I decided to review the book before it came out. I've read all the stories, in multiple formats, so why the fuck not? What follows is a meandering discussion of Eightball, before finally receiving the book.

I'm looking forward to this release, another excellent idea from Fantagraphics, and the first book Daniel Clowes has released through his original publisher for several years. This is a deluxe boxset of hardcovers collecting facsimile's of the entire 'anthology'-run of 'Eightball' -- issues 1 - 18.



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'.

Clowes is a genius storyteller and artist, but his gifts include design as well [As with every other aspect of comic-crafting, however, Chris Ware has long since surpassed -- in terms of popularity -- his friend and laissez-faire mentor as a book designer. In 2000, when David Boring and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth were released simultaneously by Pantheon, Ware was a still just a distant rumble on the horizon, and Clowes was in the ascendant. Ghost World was being filmed by Clowes and Terry Zwigoff, and his (in my opinion) masterpiece was being published as a beautiful hardcover. Along with Ghost World, Caricature, and the book that would immediately it, Ice haven, David Boring represented the peak of Clowes' creative output to date. Within a few months, Ware's Jimmy Corrigan was being hailed as one of the greatest examples of sequential art ever created, and David Boring was largely overshadowed].

Every instalment of Eightball was an objet d'art disguised as trash fiction, a seemingly pretense-free example of low-key cool that was actually the product of careful consideration, hours of tedious, sometimes frustrating work, and meticulous craftsmanship. Check out any Clowes book in your collection from the years up to and including 'Ice Haven' (originally Eightball #22). The panel grids, the indicia pages, the main titles, chapter headings, page numbers, word balloons, tones and textures, the fully-painted covers and stories, the traditional line-art with flat or subtly graded coloring done with gouache and watercolors -- every single detail of every panel of every page of every issue was done by hand, by the artist himself, with pencil, pen and brush on Bristol board. Even the ads and letter columns were done by Clowes himself, without computer-assists or layouts. It wasn't until David Boring was finished that he began incorporating computers in his artistic process.



It was a rare thing, the amazingly careful, 100% hand-made art and design of Eightball, and Fantagraphics is presenting all 18 issues exactly as they appeared; the same card-stock covers and glossy paper but minus the staples, instead saddle-stitched together into handsome hardbound volumes. I love Fantagraphics. If it wasn't for Gary Groth, Kim Thompson, the Comics Journal, and Fantagraphics Books, comics would look very fucking different, and it would not be good. They don't get enough respect or recognition for their accomplishments, and they've always released beautifully produced books at really reasonable prices. Only the Canadian publisher Drawn and Quarterly has had a similarly positive impact on 'avant garde' comics, comics-lit, etc.; moving to book-format comics instead of the standard 32-page staple-back, they used the highest quality materials and book designs that made each volume almost an objet d'art -- when you have some of the world's greatest illustrators at your disposal, why use someone else? Hardcovers and softcovers were no longer simply deluxe/economical collections of previously released material, they were the preferred format, and now have become the only format, in most instances. Fantagraphics were openly influenced by D & Q's philosophy, just as D & Q were initially inspired by Fantagraphics. Their books are now just as beautifully and meticulously crafted as the work they contain, and 'The Complete Eightball' will be no exception. The release date has been pushed back on this, but I have no doubt it will be worth the wait.

More Art-book Reviews
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[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

(One of my favorite single panels of all time, from one of my favorite comics: Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron)

I wish this had been out when I first started collecting Clowes back in the day, as it contains all the material in those 90s graphic novel collections like Ghost World, Caricature, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Pussey, etc, only in their original serialized format, spread throughout the issues. Everything is here, including the original ads and letters sections.

I wavered between 4 and 5 stars for this one. Much of it IS 5 star material (especially the perfectly surreal and creepy Velvet Glove), but a lot of the satire in the shorter strips haven’t aged well, at least for me. Some of the humor just comes across as overly self righteous and mean-spirited, which I suppose is more digestible when you’re reading one issue every few months or so. But it becomes a bit exhausting when consuming the entire run in a short span of time. Still, this is essential for any fan of 80s/90s Clowes. And it was cool seeing his art style and unique brand of cynicism slowly evolve, as was seeing the occasional famous name (in the indie comics world, anyway) like Crumb and Woodring in the letters sections.

A great portal back in time, when comics like this felt important, somehow, as if Clowes was sort of a sage truth-teller, or a “voice of our generation” like Kurt Cobain or something. At least for a small subset of us Gen X-ers who discovered his work at the right age (also it probably helped that I grew up in the Chicagoland area, where he was somewhat of a local hero in the underground comics scene, which rubbed off on even casual comic fans like myself).

Weird and darkly humorous, with plenty of memorably eccentric characters to keep you company throughout.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember buying the first three or four issues of Eightball from my local comics shop back in the day. Hard to believe how much time has passed since then. These books chronicle Clowes' transition--from his early Lloyd Llewellyn days, to his more mature works like Ghost World and Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron. In fact both of those books--as well as Pussey! and a few collections of shorter works--are contained in this set. Velvet Glove's installments appear in issues 1-10, which comprise the first volume, and Ghost World's in issues 11-18, which is volume two. In addition to the complete contents of each issue, each volume contains a section of endnotes by Clowes on the various stories. Fans of his work will certainly want to read this as some of these stories have never been reprinted before. But even those unfamiliar may be interested in seeing the maturation of this great talent.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collects Eighball 1-18 by Dan Clowes. I've been a Clowes fan since I saw his work in Cracked magazine about a thousand years ago.

In addition to material that found its way into Ghost World, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Caricature, and Pussey, there are also Lloyd Llewellyn strips plus lots of shorter works that have never been collected to my knowledge.

Clowes' artwork takes some getting used to but I really enjoy it. Part Steve Ditko, part EC, part unidentifiable. Good shit. I think the longer works actually work better in this format than they do the collected editions. Velvet Glove, for instance, gives you some time to digest the weirdness instead of going through it in one whack. I find it interesting that the Ghost World girls have faces more like their movie counterparts in the Ghost World collection but are presented here in their original forms.

I don't know what else to say. Eightball is sometimes hilarious, sometimes unsettling, and sometimes outright disgusting but it never fails to entertain.

[Paul Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many reasons this is a 5-star collection. The "Eightball" comics themselves are groundbreaking, experimental works that (in my opinion) paved the way for independent comics in the mid-90's and beyond. The content varies greatly: from juvenile gags, to cynical rants about society and culture, to sensitive coming-of-age tales. Clowes is such a versatile artist, dabbling in various artistic styles and themes. The presentation of this volume is top-notch. The sturdy slipcase is covered with fantastic art, both inside and out. The two hardcovers have glossy covers that are also covered with Clowes' awesome artistry. The pages are thick and heavy. High quality, all the way. This set is a must for any indie comic lovers.

[Laurent De Maertelaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clowes encounters of the nerd kind! In één woord: geniaal.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed spending time in the weird parallel universe of Eightball. Obviously taking creative cues from 1960s monster comics, midcentury advertising, and other ephemera, this 1990s comic captures a moment in time when awesome knickknacks from 30 years previously could be found dirt-cheap at thrift shops and yard sales, and everyone seemed to be chasing authenticity, yet no one could really agree on what that meant.

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.

Eightball was the comics compilation that first gave us GHOST WORLD, which became sort of a cultural touchtone for quirky types, and it is entertaining, although its depiction of a young female friendship doesn’t exactly seem true to form. But it’s a world that is so odd and unexpected it’s easy to lose yourself in these pages.

[Adan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collector's set of every Eightball comic up to 18 (which means no David Boring, Ice Haven, or The Death Ray; you gotta get those individually). The way this was put together makes it seem like they took the individual issues and just bound them together into two hardcovers, with original paper quality, cover stock, and mistakes intact (there's even a Modern Cartoonist in there!).

The content is exactly what you expect. Clowes is a bit raw in the first volume, with a lot of short, gag pieces (including most of the Dan Pussey stories) and the nearly incomprehensible Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, while the second volume contains the excellent Ghost World as well as more refined shorter pieces, including Gynecology, Blue Italian Shit, Caricature, and Like a Weed, Joe.

It is, of course, a bit pricey (especially for those of us not in the US), but well worth it.

[ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

five hundred pages of daniel clowes using transparent surrogates of himself to complain about society’s pseudo-victims who feel that the world is against them because of their self-appointed status in a semi-relevant subculture (his hatred of whom establishes him as one of them). occasionally he shows that he actually cares about things, but he’s so dependent on reflexive cynicism that he must drench all of his genuine interests (which apparently only consist of jim copp tales and old blues LPs) in so many layers of irony and metatext

love it so much, want to get every page tattooed on my body and then regret it for the rest of my life

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pervert, a creep, a fucking genius!

[Gurldoggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A singular and insanely great work of comic book art. In 18 issues over 15 years the artist/writer dives deep into his troubled psyche to turn his fears, anger, hatred and envy into compelling (and funny!) cartoons. Even the shortest pieces are fascinating, but the two lengthy serialized stories - "Ghost World" and "Like a Velvet Glove" - are haunting and literary, among the best comics I've ever read. Reading the entire run in a single volume emphasizes how the series evolved from a collection of cynical and unsettling provocations into highly complex and emotional stories featuring disturbed but recognizable human beings. Icing on this dark cake - the massive book is also beautifully designed.

[Sverre Eikill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clowes var den første «voksne» tegneserieskaperen jeg ble skikkelig hekta på i tenårene. Vidunderlig samling med opptil flere småting jeg ikke har lest før.

[Josiah Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish i had read this when i was growing out of my mad magazine phase as a teen, but it probably would’ve turned me into a huge prick. some of this has aged terribly but it’s still worthwhile as a time capsule. and most of it is wickedly clever and immersive.

[Steven Davich]

The reason comic books were invented. I could read this forever.

[Jake Nap · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Clowes is definitely one of the most prolific comic creators of the 90’s with works like Ghost World and Like a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron, he left his mark on the “graphic novel” generation of cartoonists like Seth, Adrian Tomine, Chester Brown and many more. There’s no doubt the work here is influential, the best of what’s in this collection is really really great, but there’s a handful of stories that are rather underwhelming. Most of the short stories in the first half of this collection felt a bit too pessimistic even for a 90’s alternative comic. The only other thing I have to compare these early stories to are stories found in Neat Stuff by Peter Bagge. Those stories are definitely pessimistic and have an edge to them also, but they had a more effective humor to them that balanced out the nihilism. Some of the stories here I feel are overwhelmingly down beat.

With that criticism aside, Clowes is a master of the comics form. His art is astounding and somehow gets better throughout the collection. I also think his plots are mundane in the best way possible (aside from Velvet Glove which I’ll get to). Ghost World is the pinnacle of Clowes in this period of his career. It’s mundane and relatable in the best way possible with great humor and a dash of angst that makes it such a joy to read. The more introspective elements of Ghost World evoke a self reflection not many other pieces of media incite in me. Ghost World hits its demographic where it hurts which is 100% it’s intention. It displays growing up and not knowing what to do with yourself better than any other piece of art. Ghost World captures that weird feeling after high school where you realize to become your own person you need to shed what other people think about you, you need to get rid of some things that make you happy too.

Velvet Glove was a really interesting read. I do think I’d like it more if I read it by itself rather than serialized in these issues, but it still has a lot of elements I admire. I really enjoy the surrealism found in it, I love how open ended a lot of the things about the world are for interpretation. I also find the art in Velvet Glove to be mesmerizing. Walls of 9 panel grids with deep, black shadows and grotesque characters create this vibe that is unmatched by anything else at the time. However, I think the works that Velvet Glove inspired are put together better. Black Hole for example aesthetically borrows the stark black aesthetic and the trippy surreal visuals, but allows for a way more cohesive plot to form. The main character of Velvet Glove is also extremely bland. I found it hard to get anything from him emotionally. Luckily, Clowes definitely gets better at this for the second half of this collection which is absolutely incredible.

[David Karlsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daniel Clowes är ett av de riktigt stora namnen inom amerikanska undergroundserier. Eller är man fortfarande underground om en av ens böcker ("Ghost World") blivit Hollywoodfilm? Kanske, kanske inte ...

Likt många andra amerikanska serieskapare publicerade sig Clowes inledningsvis i sin egen tidning "Eightball" som innehöll båda kortare one-offs och längre serier som gick som följetonger, bland dem redan nämnda "Ghost World" som i sin serieform är ett fantastiskt verk samt den Lynch-doftande "Like a velvet glove cast in iron" som också är en klassiker.

Båda dessa och en del annat i den här feta samlingsvolymen (500+ sidor) har jag läst förut men det var flera år sedan så det är kära återseenden. Jag gillar Clowes stil och när han är i sitt esse är han en mästare på att skriva och teckna berättelser, men även om lägstanivån är hög finns det såklart en del som inte är lika intressant.

Jag har hållit på med boken till och från i över ett år så den har ändå bjudit någon slags motstånd. Kanske handlar det om att Clowes har en tendens att ibland vara lite väl texttung i sina serier vilket gör att det inte lämpar sig fullt ut som bredvid-läsning utan istället kräver sitt fulla fokus.

Att samla alla nummer av tidningen på det här sättet är såklart praktiskt och ett stycke seriehistoria, men blir också en helt annan upplevelse än om man hade läst dem var för sig. Av den anledningen är det knappast den ideala inkörsporten om man vill prova på att läsa Clowes utan då är det bättre att istället ta sig an någon av de längre berättelserna som alltså även getts ut som egna böcker (flera även på svenska hos Epix och Galago).

[Mundy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given 5 stars for the sheer pleasure of reading this comic collection at a slow pace and putting myself back in time. Fresh out of high school, I earnestly wanted to be a graphic novelist and I owe that to Clowes. I think for Clowes’s humor to hit just right, you either need to be firmly Gen X or maybe you grew up a precocious xennial. Either way, the tone of his satire is very of its time, biting, sometimes mean, often self-deprecating. He is best known for Ghost World, adapted into a Terry Zwigoff film in 2001 (just recently found out he was writing the final GW installations while working on the screenplay simultaneously). I came across a lot of short-form comics I’d never seen before (for better or for worse) and most of all, I found a ton of joy in reading the totally bizarre Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron in its entirety. This man’s brain is… something else. Remember that this is social satire and these comics were written from 1989-1997. Some of the problems he rails against are very topical. Some of his gripes are pretentious. No such thing as a perfect idol!

[Aidan]

The first half of this was a real slog, where despite each issue having a chapter of the wonderful and weird Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, they were weighed down by mostly unfunny gag stories. Once Clowes starts writing dramatic character studies as opposed to attempts at comedy in issue #11, this becomes something special, and Clowes evolves into the artist we know today right before our eyes. Cartoonist Joe Matt even says as much in the letters page for issue #12!

I’d probably recommend most people check out Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron and Ghost World as stand alone trades, but the dramatic short stories in issues #11-18 are very much worth seeking out either here or in other collections. The whole thing is worth reading for those interested in witnessing Clowes evolve from a talented indie comics shithead to one of the great American cartoonists.

[François Vigneault · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Complete Eightball is an incredible, beautiful book, and it does a great job of reproducing the reading experience of the issues. I do love this collection, it's a special object. I read the original stories in issue form and I don't think I have ever seen a collected edition that did a better job of simulating that feeling.

One thing to keep in mind that the Complete Eightball is issues 1-18, basically "Ghost World" and "Like a Velvet Glove" plus the short stories additional materials... So major stories (what I would in general consider some of Clowes' best work) like "David Boring" and "The Death-Ray" and "Ice Haven" are collected separately as graphic novels.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea what to expect going in, having bought this blindly after reading a comment that said Clowes’ most recent book Monica (which I’d loved) was similar to this. It’s an astonishingly rich, sometimes exhausting collection of long-form stories, one-offs, gags, and a whole array of meta-commentary on comic book creators, their readers, and the industry that happily exploits them both.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eighteen issues is a lot of Clowes to absorb at once. In general, I like the surreal stuff (Like a Velvet Glove is great!) but don't care as much for the artistic ruminations or slice-of-misery personal soaps. Mostly, I was reminded of what a good decade the 90s was for independent comix, this one, Peter Bagge's work, and the Love and Rockets gang.

[Devin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn’t age well whatsoever. The jokes consistently fell flat. Was over the top edgy for no reason, besides to try and be funny. The art is very solid though.

I can see where this was fun for teens back then, but reading this for the first time now as an adult it didn’t click

[Phishy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read half of it last year and I remember why I stopped reading it and didn't finish it.

[Денис Карамустафић]

Bomba

[Xisix · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing dark and funny and self referential and strange collection of stories by ole Daniel Clowes. yeah ... that guy that did Ghost World. Story that was most interesting was "Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron" and it's sordid motley cast. Love story between Clay and mutant potato girl Tina was touching. Ha ! These images make you curious about all the hidden stories of people around you. A humanitarian book through a slanted lens.

[Joshua K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clowes would probably hate me but this thing is utter nonsense. I read a hefty chunk before I gave up. Its just weird to be weird with no actual meaning behind any of it.

[Ruz El · Rating 5 out of 5]

I missed out on Eightball back in the day, only getting Clowes via the trade collections so this one was a real treat. The issues are all pretty much perfect, and slavishly re-printed here right down to the covers (kind of a bitch on later issues with a heavy card like cover) and printing errors (An episode of Ghost World is in a yellow wash instead of blue.) Story wise, there is a ton to like. the Dan Pussy stories never get the props they deserve and are a treat to revisit. The first main serial "Like a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron" is even more impenetrable in this format than in the trade while "Ghost World" is as perfect as the more complete volume issued later.

Presentation wise, it's a gorgeous set. Two hardcover books in a slip case. Top marks all around, this one I'd say is essential to anyone interested in 90's alternative comics and the books that helped form the graphic novel push.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a product of its time. With its highs and lows. Very important historic work though.

[Eric Orchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius. And he keeps getting better.