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Post by timbecile on Sept 22, 2021 13:26:57 GMT
Hopelessly reductive, but for me on this particular morning, there's Clowes before and after heart surgery. Before, there's the presence of what Duplex Planet poet Ernest Noyes Brookings called "a caustic internal defect crest." Afterwards, it's like literally getting to witness an alternative timeline out of Patience. I guess I'll take the Clowes of Psycho Comics, since from that point nearly anything seems possible.
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Post by junkflower on Sept 22, 2021 15:52:32 GMT
I think that's astute- Clowes definitely became a wife/parent guy.
I also think it's to his credit that he could make a work about immasculation and male weakness like Velvet Glove and yet never really be pegged as a misogynist for it. Not to his credit, however is Mister Wonderful. Awful!!
Seems like older guys who can't complete the circle like Clowes tend to get too weird or fade away. I wonder how he would have turned out had he not found the trad path to adulthood
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Post by joshpettinger on Sept 22, 2021 22:08:30 GMT
I really love everything he's done for different reasons, and it's so impressive to see someone change so much but keep the essence of what makes the work great. Ice Haven is probably the book I look at most but I think David Boring is my favorite comic of all time.
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Post by papersnail on Sept 23, 2021 11:55:04 GMT
Velvet Glove over everything.
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Post by MilleniumDibber on Sept 24, 2021 0:19:53 GMT
What's so good about Velvet Glove? Not that I don't like it, but I had no idea it was so highly regarded.
junkflower - You really think Mr Wonderful is "awful"? I feel like Clowes at his worst is better than most comics. But I'd like to hear why you think it's so bad.
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Post by k0rnbr34d on Sept 24, 2021 4:35:27 GMT
What's so good about Velvet Glove? Not that I don't like it, but I had no idea it was so highly regarded. junkflower - You really think Mr Wonderful is "awful"? I feel like Clowes at his worst is better than most comics. But I'd like to hear why you think it's so bad. I've heard many people talk about Velvet Glove with high regard too, but I never understood the appeal. I assume that reading it as it came out was probably amazing. By the time I came around to it, I had already been reading the world of comics that it preceded and seen a fair share of Lynch, so nothing in it really stood out to me. Clowes's artwork in it is iconic, but it's not the style of his I enjoy the most. As for Mr. Wonderful, I think what you've said here is part of the problem. Clowes's worst is still good, but doesn't stand out next to his other stuff. I think I remember the least of that book out of all his books I've read. Again, probably would've been more enjoyable to read it while it was serialized in the NYT.
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kevinh
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by kevinh on Oct 4, 2021 16:37:28 GMT
kevinh - I was about to say Needledick is my favourite Clowes creation, but I don't want to sound like a 2000s guy! Needledick favoring is so 2004 (roughly)
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danz
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by danz on Oct 4, 2021 20:39:23 GMT
The Caricature collection, esp. 'Blue Italian Shit'
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danz
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by danz on Oct 4, 2021 20:40:04 GMT
I've been recommending Like a Velvet Glove a lot recently, should probably re-read to see how it holds up.
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Post by junkflower on Oct 5, 2021 16:35:40 GMT
Re: MillenniumDibber, Mr. Wonderful, etc
Im definitely being a little facetious... k0rnbr34d I think said it well- it's not so much that it's terrible so much as it pales in comparison to anything else he's done (so it's easy to rag on)
Clowes has explored the idea of love a few times at different points too and Mr. Wonderful feels, like, awkwardly dishonest and sanitized in light of that other work.
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Post by whitecomics on Oct 5, 2021 17:01:11 GMT
Ice Haven and Wilson for me -- maybe just because I'm a sucker for clever tricks like the shifting styles in those two works, but I think it's because that kind of elliptical storytelling plays to his strengths.
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Post by timbecile on Nov 7, 2021 12:42:54 GMT
Fantagraphics updated their Amazon listings recently and looks like they're doing the Complete Eightball as one volume in softcover for $50 next year. Such a deal. I hope there's more space in the gutters near the binding; that was a problem for me with the hardback version.
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Post by awfulquiet on Nov 7, 2021 20:37:07 GMT
Fantagraphics updated their Amazon listings recently and looks like they're doing the Complete Eightball as one volume in softcover for $50 next year. Such a deal. I hope there's more space in the gutters near the binding; that was a problem for me with the hardback version. Awesome. Can't wait... Though maybe, just maybe, some copies of the original version will go down to a reasonable price... I'm reading though Twentieth Century Eightball right now, so I'm primed for excitement over the chance at getting my hands on this.
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Post by bayls171 on Nov 7, 2021 23:32:53 GMT
Fantagraphics updated their Amazon listings recently and looks like they're doing the Complete Eightball as one volume in softcover for $50 next year. Such a deal. I hope there's more space in the gutters near the binding; that was a problem for me with the hardback version. Interesting.. I wonder if they'll do all that different paper stock stuff they did with the HC? and keep all the misprintings? imo it might be worth having this being a kind of updated/edited Eightball #1-18, the HC seemed like a really high quality archival reprinting of those issues as they were originally presented.. this could be more the sort of thing you could give someone a little more casually. Keep the covers and the order of the stories but make the pages look the way they were supposed to, and make it more affordable. Either way I'll be excited to get it. I've obviously read (almost) all these comics but it will be good to read them as single issues.
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Post by franseen on Nov 8, 2021 18:59:47 GMT
I reread Eightball last year and I felt like Ghost World was such a breath of fresh air when I reached those issues. I just really appreciated the lack of narration after dozens of stories of narration ranting. Granted I enjoy those. Also Patience, loved it. I hope that one is a successful movie... assuming that'll probably happen. Am partial to 'Patience,' as well but it is honestly due for a re-read. 'Ghost World' is the emotional answer. I feel like 'Pussey' had a few moments that really stuck wth me over the years, more specifically a single panel that I think was meant to be taking a dig at the Hernandez brothers (though I may be mis-rememebering).
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