Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #727848 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 88 pages

Sam Leith, Telegraph
‘there’s breathtaking artfulness in the narrative…wonderful…a very considerable piece of work indeed'

Customer Reviews

My Little Corner of The World
Although not as overtly ambitious as the cinematic "David Boring", or as emotionally intimate as "Ghost World", "Ice Haven" is still as rich and unique as Clowes' two best known works. In form it resembles a less profane and (relatively) more stable version of his "Eightball" comics, as the books shifts focus from character to character in the suburban neighbourhood of "Ice Haven". Like "Eightball" Clowes not only imbues each of his characters not only with their own voices, but on occasion with their own art style, which range from the Clowes' usual blank, distant and beautiful drawings to an overtly cartoonish look. The various storylines and lives do not so much collide as they do pass each other by, and whilst the main storyline concerns the kidnap of young David Goldberg, Clowes is more keen to inhabit the minds of his characters, and even give us some insight into the history of his fictitious town. Clowes is very much of the "show-don't-tell" school of storytelling, and sometimes the biggest plot developments occur in a tiny line of dialogue, or in the white margins between the panels.

It is not a comic that will be to everyone's fancy, and people may have trouble with Clowes' unremmittingly detached storytelling, but for those who are Clowes fans, or are looking for a comic book with a difference, "Ice Haven" is certainly worth a visit.