Compulsive Comics

by Eric Haven

There are dinosaurs, murder fantasies, and secret wars in this collection of short comics stories. Compulsive Comics collects the very best of Eric Haven’s singular brand of inverted-comic-book-consciousness and genre-bending short stories. “The Glacier” is about a lone scientist making a startling discovery. The volume’s most controversial story, “I Killed Dan Clowes,” is an epic conflation of autobio and fantasy. While driving around Oakland, ruminating on the history of underground comics in the Bay Area, the main character fatally hits acclaimed graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, and the absurdity only escalates from there. Black & white illustrations with some color.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Fiction, Comix, Short Stories, Graphic Novels Comics

124 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2016

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a coming together of influences here in these short stories published more than a decade ago, brought together n this book. I'll say he's in conversation with superhero comics guys such as Jack Kirby, Golden Age comics folks such as Winsor McCay, contemporary comics guys such as Charles Burns, and weird/surreal comics guys such as Fletcher Hanks. These are all stories. The most memorable might be I killed Charles Burns, though in it a guy looking a bit like Haven himself also kills Adrian Tomine, who talk God into coming back to Earth from Heaven for a revenge killing of Haven.

These are stories, a collection, worth looking at for their surreal twist on superhero comics. I'd say 3.5, which I nudge up to 4 stars in hope that he might be encouraged by this publication to do a long form project.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

CROM! THRAK! BROK! SPLUK! Fletcher Hanks and Ed Woods collaborate on 'picture consequences' and we get to see the results! I really like it when a comic tries something new; even if it doesn't work 100% - still like to see new stuff in the SH genre that challenges your perspective. CC sure did that for me!

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice mixture of pulp tropes and indie comics sensibilities. The book is probably best represented by the story, “I Killed Dan Clowes.” In it, a motorist runs down legendary indie comics creators Dan Clowes and Adrian Tomine. Being a fan of their work, God allows them to don superhero outfits and return to Earth to wreak vengeance upon their killer. Although never named, the motorist is almost certainly intended to be Eric Haven himself.

Haven’s style seems derived in equal parts from Charles Burns and Basil Wolverton, with maybe a touch of Jack Chick. His stories recall the Golden Age of comics, but with enough irony to appeal to a contemporary audience. It's an interesting sensibility. While I liked this book, I’m not sure how I’d feel about more of the same. It seems like a schtick that could get old fairly quickly. Hopefully there's more to his talent than just this, and I’m just worrying about nothing. Recommended!

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another hilarious collection of short pieces from Haven, following in the wake of last year's Ur...which has received an Eisner nomination in the "Humor" category. And well deserved!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lot of goofy-ass fun. It's an interesting mix of stories Eric Haven has done over the years. Most of them are meant to goofy off-beat parodies of comic book tropes but there are a couple of more serious, darker stories. My own personal favorite is one about a guy who accidentally kills comics artist Daniel Clowes and tries to cover it up. I look forward to any stories Haven produces in longer-form.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had me at cyclopean glacier creatures and the age-old mammal/reptile war but what really sold it was the adaptation of the final chapter of G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and the bit where Haven vehicular homicides Adrian Tomine.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another bizarre and utterly weird collection of comics, Compulsive Comics was full of offbeat, gruesome, and strangely compelling fun. One can never tell just what’s going to happen in these comedic pulp comic parodies, from a murderous anteater to reptoid fighting superheroes on top of active volcanoes. Not quite as strong as Haven’s earlier collection, UR, the highlights here include the self-deprecating I Killed Dan Clowes, though the comic adaptation of a chapter of G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday (which I haven’t read) seemed a little arcane. Perhaps if I’d read it would have been more interesting.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story in this collection validates my long believed theory that artists (not just visual artists, but writers, and performance artists) are terrible drivers. I have a writer friend who almost ran over Saul Williams, and another who was inches away from running over Junot Díaz. In this story, the narrator first accidentally runs over Daniel Clowes, then Adrian Tomine, and then presumably others are run over off-panel. Clowes and Tomine see each other in the afterlife, and "God" decides to return them to Earth to enact their vengeance.

It's the least weird story in the book.

The other two longer pieces in the collection lost my interest part way through. The art is fantastic, but I'm not usually a fan of comics that are more about philosophy than plot. The shorter, more humorous portions were more my speed.

I recommend this for people who enjoy the kind of comics that end up in The Best American Comics 2016, fans of Canadian or European slice of life comics (this book is none of those things, but I think people who enjoy those things would also enjoy this), environmental philosophy enthusiasts, and those who wish to see Adrian Tomine and Daniel Clowes "get what they deserve".

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compulsive Comics is a collection of Eric Haven's wildly imaginative and surreal short comics from publications like Tales to Demolish and The Aviatrix. There's a feel of improvisation in the various narratives here as it seems Haven builds a short, nonsensical premise and draws a story out from there. Most stories here don't have too much meat to them, but the showcase is really for Haven's bold illustrative style that utilizes minimal panels and imposing compositions to render a grand sense of scale. There are some short gag comics in here like "I Killed Dan Clowes" and "Mammology" that were pretty funny, but it's the mostly wordless ones that connected with me the most. Haven's adaptation of G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday was perhaps the strongest piece in here for me.

Entertaining stuff otherwise, though mostly forgettable outside of Haven's slick sense of design.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another terrifically bizarre and oh so carefully delineated comix book from Eric Haven. I love this guy. Don't always understand what the hell he's going on about but that's part of the fun. I will re-read this again. Not a lot of text of course, mostly just images but that in my mind is the perfect comix story. It's funny that he has a story where he mistakenly runs over Daniel Clowes and Adrian Tomine and I just read a book by Tomine which I sorta savaged. I'm guessing Haven likes him as an artist a bit more than me. I'm sure he's a nice guy but not the artist as Haven or Clowes (who is in my top 5 cartoonists of all time, or maybe top 10, he's up there!). I wish he put out more books but I know from what I see here that his art probably takes awhile to produce. Highly recommend this guy a lot.

[Doug Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is funny stuff! ‘I Killed Dan Clowes’ is hysterical. And yet I don't care much for the art style, which feels unrefined, unrepentantly indie (scratchy penwork, stiff figures: outlaw comics?). This is a conundrum: There's real talent here, and the stories are entertaining. Certainly worth a read, coming alive on every page turn. But if I don't like the artwork, it loses points with me. I guess I value beauty.

For some reason, I was reminded of Sulk by Jeffrey Brown, which is even lower tech, but funny and effective.

There's some color work here, too—on the stories ‘Mammalogy’ and ‘The Gunslinger’. Many of these were first published in the early 2000s. Other stories include The Glacier; A Day at the Zoo; Protona; It's OK, I'm Wearing a Tie; Confluence; Secret Origins; The Man Who Was Thursday (The Accuser); The Highway.

[Sylvia Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this five stars but the last two short stories really tripped me out and I had a hard time following them. Perhaps just lack of context?

Aside from that, this book was awesome. I found myself chuckling at a gradually increasing volume in the library, and story by story I was choking back stifled laughter like two schoolboys in the back of the classroom.

"The Gunslinger" was my favorite. It's only two pages long and it had me in quiet, breathless tears.

This is one of the few library reads I've picked up that I would go out of my way to buy.

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Haven's submissions to other indie comics, most are quite fun, in that weird-indie-comic sort of way where you are so expecting weird, it doesn't really have that big of an impact.

He also included a very odd and unfulfilling chapter that he drew from a larger unpublished work that had been drawn by many different artists. I suppose if you just had to have all Haven's stuff you're glad it's in there.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

COMPULSIVE COMICS by Eric Haven
What the heck is this? Borderline psychedelic. Very original and several laugh-out-loud moments.

The Glacier: “Human civilisation sprung up after the last glaciation. Will it survive the next?”

I Killed Dan Clowes: [postscript: “Apologies to Dan Clowes…”]

Mammology: “Would she believe me if I told her that reptoid shape-shifters infest the United States government?
No.”

The Gunslinger & Secret Origins … very clever and funny

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of mostly surrealist comic stories by Eric Haven from the early 2000s. These comics remind me of Daniel Clowes’s comics, only more surreal. I mean surreal in the sense that they follow dream logic, or maybe were inspired by dreams. The Accuser especially has the creepy late-night radio vibes of Joe Frank. I could really feel myself being sucked into 15 page comic. I wonder if the Gregory character is supposed to be Klaus Kinski.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a pulp-era-comics theme but it's very random and ultimately unfulfilling despite being always interesting and sometimes funny. Why throw the reader directly into chapter 16(?) of a H._ Chesterton novel?

He's an excellent artist that can reach top-tier consideration when he takes his time and drafts exactingly.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, which keeps a lid (sort of) on some of the really out there antics, but still great fun. Haven's style shifts on these here and there, sometimes reminding me more of Josh Simmons than his typical Fletcher Hanks after art school. Still, really enjoyed this one, too.

[David Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Not great. It's a collection of short comics that are supposed to be funny, but just fall flat. The art was okay, but nothing to write home about. At least it's pretty short, so a quick read. I wouldn't recommend.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

What.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Annemarie Kuhnau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of the stories...but others were a little on the weird side for my taste.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to give this a 3.5 or maybe slightly higher, but 4 stars doesn't seem right. I like the art style. Some of the short stories were funny/amusing.

[Mickey Bits · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange and weird. I don't think I could even tell what it was about. (If it even IS supposed to be about something...)

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stuff from the world of alt comix. Some pieces work better than others, but the overall collection is well worth checking out.

[Gabriel A · Rating 4 out of 5]

hell yeah

[rndgmoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven is a talented artist who specializes in taking classic comic tropes and twisting them into something a little too gory or just a little bit absurd. There's nothing really mind-blowing about this work, and some of the pieces are kind of superfluous, but there are two or three really brilliant short pieces. It's a fun but not essential read.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid work here. Nice collection of stories. His style is clean