The weirdest shit I have ever read. Bravo. ( )

A very Lynch-ian start to Clowes's work. Great ideas, great art, but they are a bit unrefined and not fully realized. Still, love the ambition. ( )

Weird. ( )

This is the first Daniel Clowes graphic novel I have read and it was recommended by my friend Zachary and a friend of his from college last time we were at Quimby's book store in Chicago together. This has a very fantastical nature to it and is dark and grim. It begins with a gritty film in an adult movie house, a toilet guru, and a dark adventure based around a historical symbol that appears innocent from the outset-like a pudgy face with a cute miniature hat on it...drunkards, commune feminists, policeman who want to fight, a dog without orifices, and a girl who literally looks like a potato and fancies him something terrible all follow the main character as real life seems to intersect oddly with the characters from the film. I can't forget about the little girl who smokes cigars and draws nothing but ponies all day yet dreams up murderous plots for scripts.

There is an overarching sadness to all the oddities and a weirdness that makes you feel empty here. It reminded me a bit of Charles Burns's novel Black Hole but it also has a keen Lynch quality that makes you question if anything is real yet believe, deep down in the pit of your stomach, that reality really can be that dreadful even when you don't want to believe in it the most. ( )

Ghost World is one of my favorites so my expectations are always too high with Daniel Clowes. This is good but not brilliant. Nicely drawn as per usual. ( )