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Mister Wonderful: A Love Story [Hardcover]

Daniel Clowes
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

List Price: $19.95
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Book Description

April 12, 2011
The fan-favorite Eisner Award-winning story, originally seri­alized in The New York Times Magazine, now collected and with forty pages of new material.
 
Meet Marshall. Sitting alone in the local coffee place. He’s been set up by his friend Tim on a blind date with someone named Natalie, and now he’s just feeling set up. She’s nine minutes late and counting. Who was he kidding anyway? Divorced, middle-aged, newly unem­ployed, with next to no prospects, Marshall isn’t ex­actly what you’d call a catch. Twenty minutes pass.
A half hour. Marshall orders a scotch. (He wasn’t going to drink!) Forty minutes.
 
Then, after nearly an hour, when he’s long since given up hope, Natalie appears—breathless, apologiz­ing profusely that she went to the wrong place. She takes a seat, to Marshall’s utter amazement.
 
She’s too good to be true: attractive, young, intel­ligent, and she seems to be seriously engaged with what Marshall has to say. There has to be a catch.
 
And, of course, there is.
 
During the extremely long night that follows, Marshall and Natalie are emotionally tested in ways that two people who just met really should not be. Not, at least, if they want the prospect of a second date.
 
A captivating, bittersweet, and hilarious look at the potential for human connection in an increasingly hopeless world, Mister Wonderful more than lives up to its name.

Frequently Bought Together

Mister Wonderful: A Love Story + The Death-Ray + Wilson
Price for all three: $43.52

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  • The Death-Ray $13.69
  • Wilson $15.12

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2011: Born out of a series that ran in the New York Times Magazine in 2008, Daniel Clowes’s graphic novel Mister Wonderful details one night in the life and in the mind of Marshall, a cynical 40-something divorced shlub presumed familiar to fans of Clowes’s work. Marshall’s pessimism is in direct conflict with the situation in which we first meet our man: sitting in a coffee shop waiting on a blind date. With the mystery woman nearly 30 minutes late, Marshall’s mind runs rampant wondering how he ended up middle-aged and alone, willing to meet a perfect stranger who may not fit the fantasy role he’s imagined for his next partner (someone to eat bagels with on a Sunday morning, eager to read the sections of the paper he doesn’t). Although the downtrodden Marshall may be recognizable to fans of Clowes’s previous forays into contemptuous male reflections, it is also arguably his most sanguine effort yet. Marshall’s date, Natalie, eventually does show, and the events of their evening would test even the strongest of couples. Clowes often shifts to more elementary styling when we get inside Marshall’s head, and when a panel shows an imagined Marshall handing Natalie a "35,000-word treatise on how you’re the greatest human being who ever existed," we know Marshall’s heart has made the leap from snark to saccharine, and that may have been all he needed from this date, anyway. --Alexandra Foster

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Schlubby, broke, lonely divorcé Marshall only wants a partner, "someone to read the parts of the paper I throw away (travel, garden)." He's been set up on a date with Natalie, who's more or less perfect for him—operative phrase "more or less." She's got some damage of her own, but they do seem to have at least a touch of chemistry. Over the course of the evening, nearly everything that could go wrong with a tentative flirtation does, including a mugging and a really bad party. Expanded from a serial that ran in the New York Times Magazine, this is a gorgeously staged graphic novella consistently playful and funny on a formal level—there's a running joke involving Marshall's interior monologue covering up images or dialogue, and constant fantasy sequences signaled by drawing-style shifts. It's also the most tightly focused and sweet-tempered of Clowes's books so far, the closest thing he's done to a Woody Allen movie. Still, it wouldn't be Clowes if he didn't show at least a touch of contempt for all of his characters amid the tenderness; the story is a romantic comedy with almost—but not quite—enough caveats to sink any sense of hope. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 80 pages
  • Publisher: Pantheon; First Edition edition (April 12, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307378136
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307378132
  • Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 0.6 x 6.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #242,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Clowes is the acclaimed cartoonist of the seminal comic book series EIGHTBALL, and the graphic novels GHOST WORLD, DAVID BORING, ICE HAVEN, WILSON, MR. WONDERFUL and THE DEATH-RAY as well as the subject of the monograph THE ART OF DANIEL CLOWES: MODERN CARTOONIST, published in conjunction with a major retrospective at the Oakland Museum of California. He is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, the recipient of numerous awards including the PEN Award for literature, Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz, and a frequent cover artist for the New Yorker. He is married and lives in Oakland, CA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect piece of work April 12, 2011
Format:Hardcover
I read this as it came out piece by piece on the New Yorker's website a few years ago and had a great time reading it then. Reading it all together (with the added material) is even better. It's a tight little romantic drama, and Marshall is a hilarious character. I can't imagine any comics fan, or even new curious readers, being disappointed with this.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Mr Average April 17, 2011
Format:Hardcover
Mister Wonderful is the story of Marshall, a damaged divorcee meeting another damaged divorcee in a coffee shop on a blind date. The book covers their evening, taking in their awkward first encounter, and their brief misadventures from there. It's nothing too dramatic but I don't want to give away the whole story here as it's quite a short book.

If you've read Daniel Clowes before you'll be familiar with the characters - neurotic, nervous, awkward people struggling with basic things like polite conversation and self-expression. Marshall and his date are the same, Clowes-type characters you've seen before in his other books like Ghost World, Caricature, and Ice Haven.

While the book is a decent read, it's very much like Clowes' previous work and doesn't really do anything different from them. It's not as funny as last year's "Wilson" but is interesting enough to make it worth checking out for the average comics fan. Comparatively though, Clowes has done better and the book is about as close to a uniform Dan Clowes book as you could get.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A Sense of Wonderful June 4, 2011
Format:Hardcover
With Mr. Wonderful: A Love Story, Daniel Clowes covers much of the same dour territory as his books Ice Haven, Wilson and The Death Ray, with one notable exception: a happy ending. Well, let's say it's as close to a happy ending as Clowes ever ventures.

Marshall and Natalie, a couple approaching middle age, meet on a blind date and stumble through an awkward, embarrassing, stressful evening together. Secrets are revealed, past relationships snap at their heels, strained affections are formed, and despite the shrapnel of forced companionship flying through the story, the couple manages to find common ground, and--dare I say it?--a chance at love.

Clowes' typically exquisite art and book production, his unique sensibility and approach to story are as strong as ever. He has an uncanny, expert use of the comic medium as a vehicle for disarming personal stories. His characters are still self-centered as always. Marshall's internal monologue word balloons often overlay and hide Natalie's words like discount stickers in a clearance sale, cleverly illustrating how Marshall seldom pays full attention to what his date--or anyone else--is saying. The effect reveals his desperation and self-doubt, unlike previous Clowes "heroes" who seem oblivious to their sins.

I came away from Mr. Wonderfull feeling positive and sympathetic, unlike Clowes' last novella, Wilson, which left a scummy ring around the tub. Even if I'm fooling myself, I'm sticking to it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Any guy using an internet dating site will likely enjoy this book
Any guy past his 30's and using an internet dating site will recognize a lot of things going through this guy's mind. Enjoyed the book.

maxx katt
Published 7 months ago by Nexus Ed
4.0 out of 5 stars Simple but effective
The art style, as always, is effective and simple, and sometimes surprisingly charming. Even the inside front and back covers are filled with little scenes of the two main... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jenny
5.0 out of 5 stars Why this feeling? Why this glow?
Here we have another graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The plot: a middle aged sad sack goes on a blind date. That's it. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Johnny Heering
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful world filled with imperfect people
One can sometimes be the looniest number. Mister Wonderful is a story about a divorced man named Marshall, struggling to date right in a different world. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Kevin Scott Brown
3.0 out of 5 stars In case you didn't realize it: the title is about as ironic as humanly...
MISTER WONDERFUL is part of the endless repackaging of Daniel Clowes, though this piece (unlike most of his recent books) didn't first see life as a single issue of his old comics... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Andrew C Wheeler
3.0 out of 5 stars A Realistic Love Story
Marshall is a middle-aged man who feels he will never find someone to love. He meets Natalie on a blind date set up through some friends. Read more
Published 16 months ago by tvtv3
5.0 out of 5 stars Good comic
this is a strangely good comic book. It gives the reader first per thoughts of the main character during his interactions with people.
Published 18 months ago by Rob Hoy
3.0 out of 5 stars Aggravating
Marshall, a slightly balding, aging man, once divorced who waits patiently at the local bar for his date. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Andy Shuping
2.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful: a misnomer.
Clowes allows the reader a voyeuristic take on Marshall's first date in six years, a blind date set up by his friends. Read more
Published 21 months ago by J. Edgar Mihelic
2.0 out of 5 stars Meh
Clowes' weakest book. There was just nothing that jazzed me about the story or artwork. The characters were shallow - neurotic, and little more. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Chance
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