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BREAKDOWNS - Send in the Clowes

Boy, that's a terrible pun, ain't it? Let's make it worse and say I'm going to look at Clowes from both sides now. And then let's stop.

Today, as advertised, I'm going to take a long look at the aforementioned Daniel Clowes, specifically his book, CARICATURE, available now in softcover. After that, a redundant twisting of the knife in BLACK PANTHER and THUNDERBOLTS, some punditry on the latest comics news from Wizard World Chicago, and a review of SUPER HERO HAPPY HOUR by Taylor-Fason, who turn out not to be a winery but in fact, comic book creators.

CARICATURE by Daniel Clowes. Fantagraphics Books. $16.95
Daniel Clowes, despite numerous comic industry awards and an Oscar nomination for adapting his graphic novel GHOST WORLD into a screenplay, is still pretty much under the pop-culture radar. A giant among his comic-book peers, yet sales figures would bear out that the average reader is much more excited by a double-sized issue of WOLVERINE than the latest EIGHTBALL. And so, like a few others, he can take some comfort in being cool and respected if not internationally famous (he's probably more famous overseas than here, actually). Besides, anyone who takes a year painstakingly crafting one issue of their comic is seeking a higher plane than celebrity.

While GHOST WORLD and DAVID BORING are perfectly fine introductions to his talent, consisting of pent-up characters capable of great love or great cruelty, I think one can really find not only some of his best stories, but the keys to all Clowes' obsessions and recurring themes, right here.

The Table of Contents evokes a theatrical production, and indeed this is a vaudeville review through the psyche of Clowes, beginning with the title story, "Caricature." This story of a lonely, self-deluded caricature artist working the fair circuit encapsulates most all of Clowes' themes and tropes. From the start, we know this guy is a loser with a capital "L." There's the name, Mal Rosen, which smacks of mediocrity and datedness (ever know anyone named "Mal"? Thought not.). He's not rich ("yet!") and such parenthetical asides in the narration are Clowes inviting us to scorn Mal, to get ready for some good yuks at his expense. The effect is thankfully softened a bit by Clowes' populating Mal's world with people uglier and more ignorant than Mal, small-town yobs with mullets or uneven teeth. In the kingdom of the grotesque, the merely unattractive man is king, I guess.

Clowes excels at first-person narration, bringing hints of sympathetic shades to the character of Mal that are necessary to offset the bleak, oppressive beauty of the art. Hints may be all they are, as the overall impression is that we should expect Mal to fail, and yet there is a tiny undercurrent of hope in the arrival of Theda, a fast-talking, unusual young woman who takes an interest in Mal's work. She's so sharp, and knowledgeable about art, that we're not sure if she's just patronizing Mal for a gag. Mal's not sure, either, and that, and his latent horniness, makes him very uncomfortable around her. If all this sounds like a healthy chunk of GHOST WORLD, you're right, though the familiarity doesn't hurt the story. There is also a nice ambiguity to the ending. With GHOST WORLD, one knew that the two friends parting was the end of friendship, innocence, etc. Here, it's not clear what has changed, except that perhaps Mal's brief contact with this girl of wit and vitality has made him feel his own lack of same that much more. "Green Eyeliner," the one tale I'd never read before now (originally published in DETAILS magazine), is also in the vein of GHOST WORLD, with a prettier and more snobbish young woman, obsessed with another suspect man of questionable appeal, though here the author takes it to a ludicrous rather than poignant conclusion.

"Blue Italian Shit" is another excuse to laugh at some freaks. Luckily, it's very funny. The lead character mainly recounts some loathsome roommates he's had, but there's an interesting admission that he often ingratiates himself to jerks, adopting their mannerisms and lingo. Many of Clowes' main characters possess this lack of self, a chameleonlike ability to blend. They fill the void of their own personalities with parts of other, louder personalities.

"The Gold Mommy" is a sort of sequel, in spirit, to his first graphic novel, LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON. Just as Chris Claremont was a master at shoveling stories of persecuted, outcast teens and twentysomethings into the hungry mouths of teens and twentysomethings who felt persecuted and outcast, Clowes does the same for readers slightly more sophisticated. This story is a great example of one of his themes of an odd young man, disconnected from society in some way, assaulted at every turn by a cruel, bizarre world, its citizens joined in unholy rituals of which our hero has only disquieting hints. There is no love here, no compassion, just secrets and stares, strange animals and insects, and the inability to cleanse oneself of the mute horror. There is a seemingly haphazard weirdness at work here, but the story does stay with you.

"MCMLXVI," or 1966, presents us with a boyish hipster obsessed with '66 as the last year before pop culture went to shit. If Clowes is in some ways the Salinger of comics, this is his Holden Caulfield, a know-it-all wiseass who longs for simpler, less sophisticated pleasures, as if thick steaks, beer, vinyl and Beach Boys striped shirts represented values now lost to us. As usual, Clowes wants us to both identify with the character - who does seem to have better taste than anyone - and yet find him a fool. His then-girlfriend laughs at him; the bartender won't put up with his cool daddy act. It's a great wonder that here Clowes takes his art to another level, becoming one of the great comics colorists seemingly in one fell swoop with these textured, nuanced hues, and yet he finds something hideous or off-putting in every person populating the story, from the sagging breasts of an aging stripper to a girlfriend's acne-ridden shoulders to the protruding forehead of a typical tasteless creep. It's almost Felliniesque the way he showcases the freakish, rejecting typical writer pleas for sympathy in favor of a challenge to the readers to find the freak in themselves.

"Like A Weed, Joe," is one of Clowes' best, a more restrained tale of another male with tastes and upbringing that set him apart from the mainstream. In this case, Rodger Young is a kid, a boy approaching puberty, on vacation with his grandparents. I remember similar trips with my own grandparents as having that feeling of abandon, of knowing things would get serious soon, so live it up while you can. This is especially true when you're with grandparents, as they aren't likely to discipline you or give you responsibilities on such a trip. It was on such a trip at about the age of eight that I found a copy of EERIE or CREEPY in the resort gift store, but let's move on. Rodger is more appealing than the usual Clowes protagonist, as he does love his grandparents aside from the usual childish embarrassment at their public behavior. Yes, this story does make more of a play for sympathy from the reader, especially when a possible love interest is introduced. Yes, it's that first girl who got away, and yes, I have a vacation anecdote to go with that as well, but I'll pass, as this is starting to get maudlin.

Clowes offers some amusingly strange details in this story, such as Rodger practicing pitching against fantasy aliens, and one can picture something like this actually happening in his own youth. There's one of his usual deadpan, enigmatic endings, with one of my favorite lines, We moved back to the city (my grandfather needed surgery) and I went to a new school where I struggled to be thought of as someone who housed a vital and complicated inner world."

Don't we all?

"Immortal, Invisible" is in a similar vein, a nice but confused kid meeting some nice old folks as he's trick-or-treating, receiving a glimpse of another, older world, both more primitive and yet perhaps kinder. The art is precise but gentler, with none of the grotesqueries found in some of the other stories.

"Gynecology" is a curious but involving mini-epic with the usual detached, deluded prick, this time named Epps, drifting his amoral way through superficial games of art and sex. This time, however, the character does have a significant impact on others' lives, rather than being at the mercy of the masses. It's a noteworthy departure for Clowes, and adds an extra frisson of energy to the story. Clowes takes another cathartic wallow in decrepit lowbrow culture here, with Epps receiving acclaim for his anachronistic, racist paintings. This plot point is lifted and expanded upon in the GHOST WORLD movie, by the way. More important, this is probably the most complex story Clowes has written, weaving several interesting, damaged characters through a story that stops short of being a thriller, though the digressions into comedy, word-jazz and clammy sex are never less than engaging.

The book closes with "Black Nylon," a rewarding diversion into superhero deconstruction delivered in a parody of film noir, a nice one-two punch of recognizable genre clichés. It's not new, the paunchy, aging hero who'll stop at nothing to preserve his way of life, having forgotten the heroic code if he ever knew it, but the execution is flawless.

Like, say, David Lynch, even Alan Moore, Daniel Clowes revisits a number of themes and types of characters limited enough to be recognized after just reading a few of his stories. And yet, this does not lessen the impact of his gifts, and in some ways, enhances them.

Speaking of superhero deconstruction ...

SUPER HERO HAPPY HOUR by Dan L. Taylor and Chris Fason. Geekpunk Comics. $3.00
Poop Shoot pasha Chris Ryall reviewed this new indie comic here, and did his usual good job (or at least I agree with him!), so I won't go on too long. SHHH is a swell looking book. When I heard Scott Morse was doing the cover, I thought, "How'd they get him?" Once I looked at the art, I thought, "How'd Dan get Chris Fason? As mentioned in that other review, Fason is a minimalist maestro, and has an appealing blend of Oeming-style panel construction and high-contrast along with quirky faces and figures reminiscent of Morse and a bit of Jim Mahfood.

The premise of how superheroes behave in a bar, when their "work day" is over, is great as a one-line pitch, but it shows its limitations quickly. Basically, this is a deconstruction of superheroes, but instead of showing them as sexually depraved or addicted to violence, like so many '90s comics, Taylor has reduced them merely to a bunch of Joe Six Packs, or the gang at Cheers. He constructs the book as a series of entrances: the Punisher spoof comes in and there are some jokes; the Wonder Woman nod enters and there are some more jokes, etc. Taylor mines the possibilities for all they're worth, and though the targets are familiar (the sidekick has to do the menial jobs; the Punisher type isn't approved of by the others), he finds quite a few good chuckles in them. His comic timing thus established, I'm hoping future issues make the jokes serve or accent an actual story, which is missing here. The voices of the characters are also all pretty similar here as well, so we'll see if some actual personalities emerge. A strong, frequently funny effort here, with some room for growth, as is to be expected.

I Know Everything

Of course not, but it was somewhat reassuring to find that some major changes are in store for THUNDERBOLTS, which I discussed last week (I knew BLACK PANTHER was getting revamped already). Seems Marvel is looking for a new creative team. I didn't mind either Nicieza or Zircher, but there wasn't exceptional work being done by either, so perhaps the new guys will hit the ground running. By the way, I received such a good response on that column that I'd like to do something similar, maybe with a couple DC books, but can't think of which ones yet. Suggestions are welcome.

Now, there were some other news items coming out of Chicago's Wizard World convention I wanted to touch upon. And yes, A.K., in his latest Title Bout, discusses a couple of them to more satirical effect, while I generally confine my Ma Kent fantasies to the nude mosaic I'm painstakingly tiling the bottom of my lap pool with.

So, yeah, Mark Waid is unyoked from CrossGen and scurrying to make deals to write his beloved Silver Age heroes, and good for him. I'd prefer more RUSE, but it ain't gonna happen, so why not do what you're good at? One thing that gets me is how fans are quick to dismiss the more mainstream writers like Waid (while buying their superhero work in greater numbers than the different stuff like RUSE) and bow to more outrageous writers like Grant Morrison...but Grant digs Waid's writing a lot, or he's always said so. Good writers know good writing, and it doesn't have to be chain-smoking Communist chimps to be good, though we're blessed there's some of that, too. Um, where was I? Oh, yeah, so Waid is doing a 12-part Superman project that's his version of the early days of Kal-El/Clark/Superman, getting into the Kents and redefining kryptonite and such. No, there's no particular need for it, but there was no need for series like JLA: Year One or FLASH/GREEN LANTERN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, and Waid crafted some good stories there. Glad to hear his EMPIRE is finally going to be finished, too.

Looks like NEW X-MEN "regular" artist Frank Quitely is confined to a far-off story arc he can complete by himself, as John Paul Leon, Ethan Van Sciver, and Phil Jimenez take an issue or two each to get us to that point. This is an acceptable compromise, though I'd argue it keeps the book from being truly great issue by issue, one of the reasons I'm waiting for the hardcover and haven't gotten a monthly issue since last year.

I couldn't care less about the new KITTY PRYDE miniseries by Claremont and Bobillo, except to say the sample art is fascinatingly ugly. Is this Kitty or Vermin's daughter? Also, is this already the second time X-TREME X-MEN are reevaluating and redefining their focus? Without X-MEN in the name, this horse would've been put down long ago.

I'm not sure about X-MEN UNLIMITED going to monthly status as a 48-pager. This is just like the THUNDERBOLTS plan of, "we know you don't like it so much, but how 'bout paying twice as much for it in a year?" The book improved a little last year with stories from some talented folks, but can they keep it up? If, as editor C.B. Cebulski claims, the title will be more tied in to current continuity, that suggests appearances from Kevin Maguire or Michael Golden are at an end.

Apparently, though a new character will be appearing - some sort of gunslinger - Black Panther will still be appearing in BLACK PANTHER. Which, um, makes a crazy sort of sense.

It's a given that Marvel, and especially DC, will attempt revivals of just about everything they've ever done, so it's no surprise to hear that DIAL H FOR HERO is next, now just called H.E.R.O. and with an updated, darker and more character-driven approach. I'm not sure why you hire Kano for darker, character-driven stories, but I guess they needed to put him somewhere. Same with Scott McDaniel, who seems ill-suited to SUPERMAN.

Not a lot of particularly interesting DC news, though I'm sure I'll end up getting the Alex Ross JLA tabloid book. His hopes for a comic book-sized prelude seem ill-conceived. Aren't these books designed so that non-comics readers can get a nice, self-contained, coffee-table-sized story?

CrossGen Entertainment's news makes DC's blurbs about HAWKMAN guest-stars and YOUNG JUSTICE "events" look anemic. Several movie deals finishing up (I think some of these are actually television series deals, last I heard); classrooms to feature some of their books as gateways to reading; Barnes & Noble holding a "CrossGen Month," presumably with standees full of sale-priced CG books, and of course their branching out into creator-owned partnerships like RED STAR. Meanwhile, I can only get JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES in my grocery store.

Let's end on a happy note. I just finished a very good graphic novel, ODDS OFF, by Matt Madden, and coincidentally received a postcard advertising his new ongoing series, A FINE MESS, debuting in September from Alternative Comics. It's a mix of short comics, experiments, long narratives, and appears to feature Morgan from ODDS OFF. Check the art and read more about the book here or here.

Chris Allen

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