Daniel Clowes, Alternative Comics, and 35 Years of Eightball
Posted on August 8, 2024
by Eric S
For many readers, American comics are synonymous with superheroes (which certainly constitute a huge percentage of the market), and yet there so many creators who have used the medium to tell much more grounded, experimental, and/or challenging stories. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, outsider auteurs like Charles Burns, Chris Ware, and Los Bros Hernandez began to build on the tradition of R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Mad Magazine to create works that were literary, observant, and surreal—and in the process built a dedicated fanbase outside of mainstream superhero books.
Among the most important of this influential wave of cartoonists is Daniel Clowes, whose iconic series, Eightball, was first released 35 years ago. Clowes’ work is particularly fascinating because it’s an often cynical, intellectual, look at the bizarre nature of pop culture, while also exploring the frustration and malaise that comes with navigating contemporary life. At the same time, however, his books are a love-letter to comics history (especially newspaper strips). Clowes employs precise linework, flat, bright colors, and short, episodic stories that in many ways mimic the perfect, mass-produced media that he is attempting to subvert. In Clowes’ comics, you’re just as likely to find a story about performative teenage aloofness as you are to find a twisted religious tract, a meditation on aging, or an encounter with a grotesque creature.
Perhaps most importantly, Clowes’ books are a reminder of the possibilities offered by the medium of comics, and that we don’t have to be restricted by genre conventions, art styles, or subject matter—a reminder that comics are in fact an accessible and creative blank canvas that early visionaries like Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Bill Gaines always knew they could be.
If you’re new to Clowes’ work, we’ve selected some of his best, most interesting, and most enduring comics. Any one is a great place to start!
For more great comics, make sure to check out the offerings of your local Library branch as well as the Hoopla app.
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