Clifford

The Collected Works #1

by Jules Feiffer

This superb collection reprints the very earliest work by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer - much of it shot from the original art! "Clifford" reprints most of the weekly humor strips Feiffer did for Will Eisner's Spirit newspaper insert, and includes a seven-page Spirit/Clifford story done by Feiffer and Eisner! This charming precursor to Dennis the Menace and Calvin and Hobbes continues in the next volume.

" The Collected Works clearly shows Jules Feiffer's development as a comics pioneer and as an artist, writer, and social commentator of the first degree, beginning with his witty-but-wide-eyed boy characters Clifford and Munro (both startlingly prescient of such hits as Calvin and Hobbes). - Los Angeles Reader

Genres: Comics, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Jules Feiffer was an American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and author whose work left a significant imprint on American satire and cultural commentary. Emerging from the postwar era of newspaper comics, he first gained recognition through his long-running comic strip published in The Village Voice, where his loose, expressive line drawings and psychologically sharp dialogue captured the anxieties, contradictions, and social performances of contemporary life. Feiffer used humor to critique politics, relationships, and everyday neuroses, developing a voice that felt conversational, self-aware, and deeply engaged with the shifting cultural moods of the United States. His graphic style, which often emphasized gesture and tone over detailed renderings, was equally distinctive, and helped expand the visual vocabulary of editorial and literary cartooning. Beyond his cartoons, Feiffer became an accomplished writer for stage and screen; his play Little Murders offered a darkly comic exploration of violence and alienation in urban America, while his screenplay for Mike Nichols’s film Carnal Knowledge drew widespread attention for its unflinching examination of intimacy and desire. Feiffer also wrote children’s books, including the popular The Phantom Tollbooth, for which he provided the illustrations that helped establish the book’s imaginative visual identity. He demonstrated an enduring commitment to making art accessible, engaging with students and general audiences alike through teaching and public appearances, and continued producing work across multiple genres throughout his life. His comics and writings were often autobiographical in spirit, even when fictionalized, providing commentary on his experiences growing up in New York and moving through decades of cultural change. Feiffer received numerous honors for his contributions to American arts, including major awards recognizing his innovation in cartooning, his influence on graphic storytelling, and his impact on theater and film. His later work included longer-form graphic novels and personal memoirs, reflecting on childhood, family, and the evolution of his artistic voice. Feiffer remained an active and inquisitive creator well into his later years, consistently exploring new creative forms and responding to contemporary political and social issues. His legacy is seen in the work of generations of cartoonists and writers who drew inspiration from his willingness to bring emotional depth, social critique, and literary ambition to comics and satire. Feiffer’s work stands as a testament to the power of humor to illuminate the complexities of human behavior and the cultural forces that shape everyday life.

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jules Feiffer started off as an assistant to Will Eisner's studio, and would soon be given the reins to his own one page comedy strip. Collected in this edition is Feiffer's Clifford gag strip that began syndication in 1949. Clifford features a likeable but somewhat raucous young boy with an overactive imagination who gets into mischief with his pal Seymour. Though they often get in trouble, the pair are good natured kids who are purely seeking adventure. The strip ended a year and a half into circulation as Feiffer was drafted for military service, but it was clear that Feiffer was improving immensely as an illustrator during his tenure on the strip. Though the narratives in the strips would often fall victim to the repetitiveness inherent to the medium, Feiffer's wit was always apparent. The penultimate strip features a meta joke about Eisner's Spirit strip in which Feiffer humorously depicts himself as jealous and hoping to steal its success via Clifford's own misadventures demonstrates a small fraction of Feiffer's own creativity.

For early work, Clifford is definitely a bit raw and loosely defined, but Feiffer builds capably off his experience here to become a much more potent illustrator with time.

[Al McCarty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of Jules Feiffer's cartooning career features a style quite unlike the one he would use from then after. It's perfect for it's subject matter, the world of children from their point of view, just as the scratchy, minimal style used for his self-titled Village Voice strip.
I gobbled this up when it was released in 1989, as a huge fan, but it's all academic, now.
Of interest is a "The Spirit" story by Feiffer (who was working as Will Eisner's assistant at the time) done featuring Clifford as the crimefighting character.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and lighthearted boy's stuff that's cleaver within it's bounds.