Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (Paperback)

by Daniel Clowes (Author) "I haven't been in this place for a long time....." (more)

Editorial Reviews

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.

From Publishers Weekly
Clowes's ( The Official Lloyd Llewellyn Collection ) new book-length epic is eerily funny and just a bit disgusting. The title refers to a strikingly demented movie viewed by Clay, the story's hangdog, Clowes-like protagonist. No ordinary "art" film, its utter incomprehensibility sends our hero on a search to find out more about it. Every prosaic situation Clay encounters on his journey soon turns wildly fantastic. He meets a swami-like character dispensing wisdom from a men's room stall, is arrested by couple of sadistic but conscientious cops, and later still he meets Tina, a grotesque waitress with a heart of gold, whose mother tries to seduce him. Clowes's stream-of-warped-consciousness has produced a faux-existentialist, slapstick, sci-fi sitcom in comic book form. His drawings, a combination of skilled rendering and a campy 1950's graphic style, capture a risible procession of weirdos, aliens and conspiracy nuts and mark him as one of the most talented among the comics artists who emerged in the 1980s.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; Seventh Printing edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560971169
• ISBN-13: 978-1560971160
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully woven tale AND meaningless shock horror in one!, February 6, 2000

By A Customer

Worth it alone for the reactions I have gotten from people at school that I have shown this book to. But seriously, let's talk about the story...

Velvet Glove starts off normally enough-Clay Loudermilk, with nothing better to do, goes into a B-movie theatre, where he steps in icky stuff on the floor, tries to look unapproachable for the other patrons, and wonders why there is a line forming in the men's room. So he's watching this movie and feeling all disgusted with himself, and then the second feature comes on, a movie he's never seen before, a movie of the same title as the story. In this movie, which features no nudity or sex but is somehow just as sickening, a masked woman in a bondage outfit appears to behead two other people in the movie, one of whom kinda looks like Hitler and dresses in baby clothes. Then the woman in the bondage outfit removes her mask and turns out to be--Clay's ex-lover.

Clay's quest to find out what in the hell his old girlfriend was doing in that movie takes him on a surreal, psychotic voyage. On his way, he encounters a cult of nymphos bent on triggering the ultimate war of the sexes and an eccentric middle-age man who thinks a corporate logo holds the key to the origin of the universe.

Love Clowes' character images. Very snazzy faces. He can draw some disturbing and ugly images, too. Had to note the art somewhere.

Try to find this book or the issues of Eightball it is serialized in. It is worth the effort. If you do get the individual issues, be sure to get all of the first ten of Eightball so you get the complete story, because you need to down it all in one gulp. For the longest time you will plod through this book thinking something does not make sense or you'll wonder what that was doing in the story altogether. Don't go back trying to understand what you don't get right away. Just keep reading to the end where everything is neatly wrapped up more than you expected it to be, and be prepared for a kick in the head.

But even at the end "makes sense" is a term used in the loosest way possible. If you want a realistic story, it's not here. This book ends nowhere near as normally as it began.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, Beautiful, Irrational, Horrible, September 1, 2003

By	James Schulze - See all my reviews

I came to Daniel Clowes after reading the relatively straight-forward "Ghost World." What awaited me in this book was one of the most disturbing and terrifying pieces of literature I have ever read. Clowes has that rare ability to create a plot that may not connect on a conscious level, but makes a strange and beautiful sort of sense on a subconscious level. Clowes' world view is very dark, and very lonely, but through this terrifying landscape comes the comfort that someone else has experienced the loneliness and desolation that is par for the course of our modern world. But regardless of the thematics and eerie undercurrent, the situations and settings are so incredible, and the writing so fast-paced, that you can't help but become absorbed in the narrative. Like all great art, it works on multiple levels. Only one word of warning, though: this book could cause depression. It's not for the faint of heart, and I wouldn't reccommend reading it in a bad mood.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surrealistic Film Noir, August 10, 2001

By	Andrew L. Kitzmiller "agitprop" (Mundelein, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm not sure what this story is about but it certainly held my attention. Its a nightmarish dreamscape with a stream of consciousness narrative. I've enjoyed watching Clowes evolve as an artist and a storyteller over the years. His artwork has become more sophisticated and less rigid. His stories are more complex and layered. And his characters are deeper and suffused with conflicted emotions/desires. "Like a Velvet Glove" seems like a bit of an experiment, a stage that he had to work through in order to elevate his storytelling. Still, its very compelling.