Ghost world3/19/2023 ![]() ![]() Paleozogt, is a teenager from an alternate earth, and a superhero- an old-fashioned superhero, à la Batman or the Spirit, from a time when you didn't need mutant powers or the ability to destroy a planet to be a superhero, just some flying boots your Uncle Max rigged up, a flashy gun, and a steady supply of wisecracks. But Zot! does have its own admirers, and it's fun to see McCloud, who'd been wanting to create comics for years, get his first chance and go for it, with bundles of enthusiasm, rawness, and (initially) indiscriminate love of the medium. Would you read this if McCloud hadn't come out with Understanding Comics? Maybe not. Read it now so you can complain about it once it comes out. and Terry Zwigoff, auteur of Crumb, could as well he and Clowes are trying to film it. You could imagine Ghost World as a quiet, edgy little indy film. It gives the drawings that patented Eightball feeling- the sense that Clowes's muse lives in the '50s, as Seth's lives in the '40s.) (I can't help pointing out that Clowes doesn't seem interested in drawing arms- it's heads that turn him on- and this occasionally makes the figures look a bit strange. Clowes's color accomplishes the same minor task- getting past the flatness of black and white- but without the descent into paint-by-numbers banality that's the fate of most American color comics. But color doesn't do anything for Pete Bagge. Hate changed to color seemingly because Fantagraphics figured that real Amurricans want their comics in color, dammit. It's way better than full color, at least for American comics. It's two-tone, with a light blue wash that deepens the drawings without getting in the way- highlights the forms without losing the texture of the drawing. (No, not even Jaime Hernandez, who's more stylized or Jessica Abel, whose slices of life are sometimes too pointless.)Īs for the drawing- God, it's beautiful. In fact I can't think of another comic that has the same combination of reportorial reality and storytelling ability. His patented creepiness is on view here, but toned down considerably. Velvet seems to have gotten that out of his system. well, you'll just have to read it.ĭon't worry, there's no deaths at the end or anything. They tease each other, confess, egg each other on, fight, make up, and find, in the end. Like Clowes himself, the girls are connoisseurs of losers and dorks they seek out lame comedians on TV, play cruel tricks by telephone, find the perfect tacky '50s diner. Clowes has the language and the mannerisms of adolescence down: the disdain, the longing, the feeling of having figured out the world and the fear of plunging into it. It's the story of two teenage girls, Enid and Rebecca, best friends since forever, hanging out during the summer after senior year. He's always been amazing, both for style and weirdness.īut nothing in his earlier work prepared me for Ghost World, which broadens Clowes' range immeasurably and stretches the whole genre along with it. ![]() And tripped on his previous graphic novel, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (see micro-review). I've enjoyed Clowes' Eightball, which has aptly been described as Mad Magazine on acid. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |