Product Description: Daniel Clowes's first book remains a modern classic 15 years after its debut in Eightball #1, the comic book title that made Clowes a household name in comics circles. This surreal graphic novel is couched within a noir-ish detective structure and rich with recurring psychosexual motifs and imagery. The story follows a deadpan Candide named Clay Loudermilk, on a search for a former lover through a landscape that several critics have favorably compared to the works of David Lynch, Fellini, and Luis Buñuel, with elements of Dragnet and Russ Meyer films added for good measure. Clowes rigorously employs a dream logic as Clay spirals down a spare, unsettling wasteland, meeting three-eyed prostitutes, mutant waitresses, angry men with hair plugs, and orifice-less dogs with secret messages tattooed on their skin. As Clay attempts to untangle the vast conspiracy he finds himself a part of, Velvet Glove becomes a vivid and fantastic examination of futility, self-loathing and paranoia, and a masterpiece of postmodern fairy-telling,
Like A Velvet Glove returns in 2005 as Clowes and film director Terry Zwigoff put the finishing touches on Art School Confidential, the follow-up to their 2001 Academy Award-nominated film, Ghost World (based on the bestselling comic book of the same name). To be released in the late summer of 2005, Art School Confidential is sure to introduce an entirely new audience to Clowes's work, just as the Ghost World film did (pushing sales of the Ghost World graphic novel over 150,000 to date).
Amazon.com Review: Some consider this comic book novel obtuse; others find it deeply intellectual. Whatever the reaction, it's hard to refute its daring originality and smooth artwork. Described as "a terrifying journey into madness," the story revolves around Clay Loudermilk as he stumbles upon the mysteries behind a snuff film. Soon he's involved with increasingly bizarre characters who hang in the air like stale cigarette smoke. Fans of movie director David Lynch who aren't already tipped to Daniel Clowes's popular work should take note.
great excellent comic. one of the best stories to come from the dan clowes eightball series. and it was shipped quickly too.
This Sucked I read Daniel Clowes "Pussey" which I loved but this book is an absolute disjointed, convulted mess that makes no sense whatsoever, it sucks. Really there is no other way to convey this other then "It Sucks". The people who praise this book here, scare me and I wonder about their sanity.
Lost in dream I am a fairly recent Clowes fan (I've been reading for a couple years...started with Ice Haven). And as with most work I love, I tend to pleasure-delay other works by the artist. That said, I read David Boring at the beginning of the year, and just picked up and went through Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. Where David Boring and Ice Haven definitely seemed to cohere with some, albeit demented, climax at points, this book is a veritable pandora's box of narrative. The thing is all over the place, and there are plenty of characters that show up and then disappear forever, before you even get a chance to figure out their purpose. In that way, it definitely holds the stuff of dreams, and meanders in completely unexpected ways. It's a total mind trip with a strangely comforting ending... comforting in that it finally seems to decode some of what Clowes set up throughout the book... it's hard to explain, just check it out.
Dark, weird, and great. I may be biased, being a big Clowes fan, but I thought this book was great. If you read David Boring or a strip Clowes did called "The Gold Mommy" (I think), and you liked that sense of pervasive nightmarish unease that Clowes is so good at creating, then you will like this book. If you are not into creepy, dark, or bizarre themes, you may want to move along.
disturbing Okay, this book was really hard for me to track down. I ordered it on amazon last year and it was out of stock and never shipped for months, so eventually I cancelled it. I finally got it not long ago from a comic shop. I read the other reviews and I see what people mean. At first, I was confused. Then when I realized it was supposed to be bizarre and not make sense, I got into it. I liked it. The biggest complaint people seem to have is that it's not like "David Boring." I love his other books, and this one was good, but it is very different. It's very surreal and disturbing. Seriously. I was extremely disturbed by some of the characters. My boyfriend asked me how it was and all I could say was "unsettling" and "bothersome" because it just makes you feel uncomfortable. So yeah...be warned.
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