Customer Reviews

Ice Haven

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Eightball 22 is my favorite of Daniel Clowes' works and when I read reviews of Ice Haven I was really excited because I thought the story would fall along the same lines, but I had no idea that it was going to be the same book disguised as a new book. If I new that I was buying the same book with 3 extra strips, I would not have bought it. I am giving the book 5 stars because I still love the storyline and if you don't have Eightball 22 than it is well worth the money, but I am very upset with Daniel Clowes' cheap attempt to release an old book as new.

My review isn't for Clowes at all, whose work I completely adore. It's rather with the abysmal resolution of the graphics in the kindle version. All sorts of pixilation and haloing. Is this really the level of quality one should expect of graphic novels in Kindle format?

The point of my review is to put an actual insight to some of the reviews.
I don't know why people are complaining that this was in Eightball. I really don't. Well, you might as well complain about "Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron", or "Pussey!", or even "Ghost World." And not to mention "Ice Haven" was written and designed to be made into graphic novel, not a comic. If you read the comic, note how it doesn't flow as well as the novel. And as far as the complaints that they'd already read the story and got this thinking it was something different, why would you buy a shirt without looking at the size? And as far as the "double dipping" comment goes... SO WHAT! The comic is out of print! What do you want them to do?

It's very good, but just buy Eightball #22. I realize that many of the other reviews have said basically the same thing, but let's make a clear distiction between the sham of charging almost twenty dollars for a book that's barely distinguishable from the $6 comic (still available from the same publisher!) and the amazing piece of art that they both are. I can see that it's a matter of taste, and the non-linear story will not appeal to everyone, but Eightball #22 is still the comic I give non-fans to read in hopes of showing them what the medium is capable of. Let's all boycott Clowes's movies so he goes back to doing comics! I'm half kidding of course, but it's interesting and sad that "making it" in independent comics often means being able to leave comics for film, television, and the like. **Sigh**

The term "Graphic Novel" annoys me, referring as it does to two other forms that are not comics but calling this a "long comic book in a nice cover" doesn't describe it well either. For me it is one of the best of that catagory along with "Maus", "Black Hole", "Jimmy Corrigan", "Persepolis" various entries by the Hernandez Bros. and Gilbert Shelton's "Idiots Abroad" among others. "Ice Haven" comprares well with these in terms of skill and originality. Clowes' literary tone seems to owe a bit to Salinger and Nabokov and I love his "open" style which demands imaginative participation on the part of thew reader. His subject matter and characters here are surprising, opaque, and slightly "off" but I don't want to give away any of the perfectly unfolded story that comprises this highly senstive and nuanced tale. Since I am a long-time fan of Clowes in black and white I was worried about seeing his art in color but it actually looks superb and the color adds a lot to the overall greatness of this book, as does the design. Grab it!

Ice Haven is a quaint little town in which not much action occurs. Until one day, an apathetic, mute boy named David is kidnapped! (GASP) This sets the characters of Ice Haven's lives into motion. At least a couple of them. You see, this book centers around about 8 characters. Besides the kidnapping story, it hints at others, such as: young, naive love (of course!), poetry, marriage, lonliness, sex, adultery, and all the others that you would expect from a Dan Clowes comic. And while all these subjects would make very interesting reading, in Ice Haven it is only hinted at. The characters aren't that well developed and the stories are very short. Unlike comics like Ghost World, and David Boring, this book is an 88 page teaser! Clowes starts you off with one character and briefly hints at what their about. Then he jumps to the next. By the end of the book, you want more. Because of this, some of the stories seemed unresolved. Of course it was fun to read, but way too short.

It's a good book. I like the size and feel of it. It's just hardcover, no flap overtop. It's a collection of short panels about people in Ice Haven. I wouldn't say it's that funny or that good but the artwork is really cool and it's interesting. Not as good as Ghost World but I recommend it.

If you already have the eightball issue that most of this book is drawn from then the effect of this masterpiece is diminished some..
But, if you don't or are a new reader in the Clowes universe then you have just found gold.
My only gripe towards Clowes, and others of his ilk, is that he is so good at this that he made me give up drawing my own comics.. poo on you dan!

It looks like comic publishers have fully reached the point where they are now comfortable double-dipping their customers in the same way DVDs are double-dipped (like Sin City, Lord of the Rings). The Ice Haven hardcover book is like an improved, deluxe version of the original paperback comic. When I originally read the comic, the formatting seemed weird: the pages seemed like they should have been presented in a horizontal format (like they are in this hardcover collection). The problem with this double-dipping publishing strategy is that it will scare people away from buying the original comics if they know they are going to get double-dipped later. I know I won't be buying anymore 'Eightball' comics knowing I'm going to get double-dipped later. Should you buy this comic? Yes, if you don't have the original comic. If you already bought the original comic, you'll live without this reprint. But I'd hold off on buying any future issues of 'Eightball.'

If you are just getting into Dan Clowes and graphic novels in general and prefer a book to go with your Jimmy Corrigan and Blankets on your bookshelf-shell out the extra money. Otherwise go and support your local indie book/comic store and buy issue 22 for a hell of a lot cheaper. I'm so glad I rented this book from the library before buying it to realise I had read it all before! Absolutely disgusted by money grubbing publishers. Oh, about the story-its good, but definitely not at the top of his game-check out velvet glove, ghost world, hell, even Dan Pussay!