20th Century Eightball - Softcover

Clowes, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560974362 ISBN 13: 9781560974369

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2002

Synopsis

Trailing the success of the movie based on Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World (1997) comes this collection of shorter stories from his alternative comic book Eightball. Many of the pieces are tirades, albeit entertaining ones, about things Clowes despises (perhaps the comic should have been called Hateball). "On Sports" details his contempt for professional athletics, and "Art School Confidential" is an expose of pretentious, talentless poseurs. This approach is carried to its logical peak in "I Hate You Deeply," a litany of the "types" that annoy Clowes, from "fashion plates" to "crybabies, whiners, and sensitive people." Clowes puts his misanthropy in abeyance for slice-of-life stories in which he ruminates during a stroll around his neighborhood or fantasizes about his fellow passengers on a subway. Worthwhile enough, these earlier stories merely presage Clowes' far-more-impressive recent work in which cynicism is presented more subtly, leavened with sympathy, and voiced by well-developed characters. If these pieces lack the heft of Clowes' longer, more ambitious efforts, the best of them are still masterful miniatures.

About this title

Synopsis:

Before the Ghost World graphic novel and film propelled Daniel Clowes to international superstardom as the pre-eminent cartoonist of his generation, his ongoing comic book Eightball was already the most talked-about series of the 1990s, renowned for its gleefully incisive social satire and riotous absurdity, Entertainment Weekly proclaimed it 'the year's best regularly published comic book' upon its publication in 1989. The Village Voice hailed it 'brilliant', and Simpsons creator Matt Groening has repeatedly called it his favourite book. 20th CENTURY EIGHTBALL collects the very best humour strips from Eightball, written and drawn between 1988 and 1996. Included here are such seminal rants as I Hate You Deeply, Sexual Frustration, Ugly Giris, Why I Hate Christians, Message to the People of the Future, Paranoid, My Suicide, Chicago, and over three dozen more. With over 40 pages in colour and many of these strips having been out-of-print for years, 20th CENTURY EIGHTBALL is sure to be one of Clowes' most popular books for years to come.

About the Author:

Daniel Clowes is a celebrated graphic novelist, Academy-Award nominated screenwriter, and frequent cover artist for the New Yorker. He lives in Oakland, CA. He is a multi-Harvey, Eisner, and Ignatz Award winner, and his papers were recently acquired by the University of Chicago library.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1560974362
• ISBN 13: 9781560974369
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 100