Tom Lynch

"It's not as cold here as it sounds," says Random Wilder, one of Daniel Clowes' newest inventions introduced in "Ice Haven," the graphic novelist's most recent endeavor, a portrait of a Midwestern town in greens and blues. Wilder, who takes us around Ice Haven, a strangely disillusioned tour guide who strives to be the poet laureate of said small sleepy town, is only the beginning.

One of the best graphic novelists of his generation, Clowes, who penned both the wildly popular "Ghost World" and "Art School Confidential," among other projects, creates yet another world of bitterness, doubt and long-lost redemption in his portrayal of small-town America. Chicago lost Clowes to Oakland years back, but his ideas on the Midwest still strike like a hometown-boy's fastball, the vague ideas of love and sex and death, spiked with optimism yet flailing in distrust. "Ice Haven" works like a stage musical, or an Altman film, with a rotating cast of characters soaring in and out of the reader's vision with precise timing. Clowes knows when to ease back, knows when to bring Wilder back for more self-hatred and knows when to introduce Leopold and Loeb.

Yes, the notorious murderers of child Bobby Franks, the two University of Chicago brains who tried to commit the perfect crime simply to see if they could get away with it, in South Side Chicago 1924. Clowes uses this story as an off-center template for his tale, and piles layers upon layers of delirious inner-thought, enough that by the time two-thirds of the novel is finished, the reader can wholly anticipate what each character will think, and when.

Clowes' work, as obvious as it may sound, always rings cinematic. The film version of "Ghost World" caught Clowes' vision with near perfection, and the upcoming film adaptation of "Art School Confidential," directed by "Ghost World"'s Terry Zwigoff, looks destined to do the same. The on-screen nature of "Ice Haven" leaks from the pages with disturbing immediacy, and there's something else there, between the amusing words and images, just as in his previous work--a melancholy, a sadness, an insight into a tragic backdrop that Clowes continues to wrap his hands around into a caring, warm chokehold.

"Ice Haven"

by Daniel Clowes

Pantheon Books, $18.95, 89 pages

(2005-06-28)

Also by Tom Lynch

Tip of the Week
Frey's debut memoir, 2003's "A Million Little Pieces," a stunning, midnight-dark dive into a young man's galaxy of drug addiction, worked with perverse nausea
(2005-06-24)

Rock Tip of the Week
Sleater-Kinney once again proves its status as one the best, if not the best, rock bands in America
(2005-06-15)

Tip of the Week
Audience members join local rock `n' roll writers as they construct their own mix tapes
(2005-06-15)

No more lies
Stephen Malkmus has, in his own way, maintained a rock-icon status without stumbling into rock-star clichés
(2005-06-09)

Short Runs
(2005-06-09)

Radioactive Men
(2005-05-31)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-24)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-17)

Author Visit
(2005-05-17)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-10)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-10)

Dark Secrets
(2005-05-10)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment