Caricature - ISBNLookup.com

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Nine grippingly graphic stories by the author of Ghost World include "Green Eyeliner," the first comics work ever featured in Esquire's fiction issue, and the title story, considered by many to be the first great apotheosis of Clowes's seminal Eightball underground comic book series.

Publishers Weekly

These nine stories show Clowes (Ghost World) as a writer compelled to produce infinite variations on the inner monologues of articulate, geeky loners. His characters exude a stylish, contemporary misanthropy; they're self-isolated, bland and ordinary, straight from some small town or emotionally dead family; and admittedly and intensely self-involved. They invariably substitute a trendy obsession with media kitsch, porn, fashion, old folk music or with just looking bored for empathetic communication or even small talk with others. These personages seem depressed and are usually fed up with most people. Though saturated in this tone of mannered disdain, Clowes's pieces are rescued from clich and repetition by his expressive, meticulously glum drawings (in b&w and color) and a constant undertone of oddball, mocking hilarity. In the title story, he provides a portrait of an itinerant, county fair caricaturist and the unstable hipster brat-chick who insinuates herself into his life. In "Blue Italian Shit," he relates the story of Rodger Young, secret virgin and pathetic poseur, and his journey through a succession of bad late-1970s New York City styles ("there were fifteen minutes on this earth when I had a John Travolta haircut") and peculiar roommates ("Nat... listened to Kansas, and walked around naked"). In the supremely weird "Gynecology," Clowes deftly generates his characteristic emotional anemia in a story featuring a singing gynecologist and racist iconography. Clowes is a strange master at creating entertaining scenarios about contemporary social vacuity. (Aug.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Clowes, whose Ghost World (Fantagraphics, 1997) deservedly took the comics' world by storm, offers a collection of stories reproduced from his award-winning (comic book awards, that is) magazine Eightball and one story that originally appeared in Esquire 1998 fiction issue. What Clowes does as well as anybody is articulate adolescent isolation and hopelessness, and comparisons to Salinger abound, especially by Clowes's publisher. Note that the subtitle of the book is "nine stories." There is a gem in this collection, the title story, "Caricature," about a minimally talented caricaturist who makes his living drawing at festivals. Other good stories revolve around youthful angst, which Clowes depicts with detachment and cruel honesty. The illustrations are sure and confident. While Clowes is favorably compared to Robert Crumb, his work is more accessible to mainstream readers. This book clearly belongs in the adult fiction/graphic novel section, as literate readers will find meaning, and possibly consolation, here. For public and academic libraries.--Stephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., MA