Product Description

Welcome to Ice Haven! 'It's not as cold here as it sounds.' So declares Random Wilder, the town's would-be poet laureate. Would be, that is, were it not for the 'florid banalities' of arch-rival poet Ida Wentz, whom the Ice Haven Daily Progress continues to publish 'ad nauseam'. Random is our ersatz guide to the sleepy midwestern hamlet, and just one of many characters we meet in this ingenious novel told in the form of short comic strip instalments - a form that Time magazine regarded as reminiscent of Robert Altman. In addition to Wilder, we meet a captivating cast of characters. There are the lovelorn lovelies Violet Van der Platz and Vida Wentz, the detective team of Mr and Mrs Ames, those adorable interracial moppets Carmichael and Paula, and the disaffected stationery salesgirl Julie Patheticstein, just to mention a few. Along with the Blue Bunny, the bitterest rabbit in town, fresh-sprung from prison and ready to wreck havoc: 'I paid my dues! It's all about ME this timell' And lest we forget: poor little David Goldberg, who's been missing for over a week now...All of this blends together seemlessly to weave a fascinating, multi-layered tale that is ultimately based on and inspired by - wait for it -- Leopold and Loeb.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115253 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 88 pages

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

About the Author
Daniel Clowes was born in 1961. He is the creator of the comic books Eightball, Ghost World, which was made into a film by the director Terry Zwigoff, and David Boring. He lives a childless, petless life in California with his beloved wife.

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.

Complex character analysis
I thought this a brilliant character study. Well worth reading- a few times if you missed salient points the first time.