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Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron

Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron

List Price: $19.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Review!
Review: "The artwork is haunting, calculated and vehement. Its storytelling ability is unparalleled; each face built archetypically, every detail explains what the written word cannot. Even if for that reason alone, I'd earnestly recommend VELVET GLOVE as a masterpiece of postmodern fairy-telling and eager self-destruction." (YOUR FLESH

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exceptional, in a circus freak, David Lynch way.
Review: After reading some of Clowes's other works, I find the guy to have unique and yet powerful storytelling. I guess his stories strike me as odd, but rather than to let them dangle, he gets them across well enough, and his art compliments the prose perfectly--like every is matter-of-fact. Take it or leave it.

So reading this, I was slapped in the face. The opening chapter reminds me of David Boring (though this was written well before the other piece), because of the kind of obsession and suggestion of fetishes. Both of these are just build ups for the story (and I should really say stories, because this is a collection of work taken from Clowes's magazine, Eightball).

I would say it's like a man lost in a surreal world, and he's trying to act normal, and do the best he can. Utterly original characters. I don't want to spoil it, but they are wildly imaginative.

I didn't give it a 5, because it was not quite a masterpiece. Plus, some parts troubled me. I thought Clowes could have ironed them out with better explanation, but using the guise of surreal, you will never know if that is his intent.

Actually, of everything of his that I read, I like 20th Century 8ball collection. The variety and emotion is staggering, and he lets it all out.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Alternative Comics!
Review: Dan Clowes's epic exploration of the seamy underbelly of America makes TWIN PEAKS look like CAPTAIN KANGAROO. The images in VELVET GLOVE are like nothing you've ever seen before, but they'll haunt you forever: murder, mutilation, pornography, madness, and death. Collected from the pages of Clowes's acclaimed comic, EIGHTBALL, LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON showcases some of the best and most arresting work available in comics

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disturbing and fresh
Review: I am looking at the 1,000+ books on my shelves and do not see a single one that is more disturbing, and moving, than Like A Velvet Glove. If you are a *serious* reader, this will open your mind to the possibilities of the graphic novel as an exciting new literary genre. If you are into comics and stumble upon this book by accident, it will get you ready for Sartre and Burroughs.
And did I mention that it is absolutely impossible to put down?
And did I mention that it is scary as hell?
Not recommended after 10 pm, and dont read it while you are home alone...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wow
Review: I bought this book expecting something similar to 20th Century Eightball and Caricature. Er, I was wrong!

Bizarre, nightmarish, surreal, yet riveting. A strange, disturbing read. I loved it, but it certainly isn't for everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disturbing, Beautiful, Irrational, Horrible
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disturbing, Beautiful, Irrational, Horrible
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disturbing, Beautiful, Irrational, Horrible
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surrealistic Film Noir
Review: 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.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It didn't do it for me
Review: It was all right, ok, not bad; but for me to rate it as 5*..not going to happen. I read it twice in three days and, while it was all the other reviews say it is, it just left me feeling "ho-hum". It is an excursion into fantasy that seems to serve no purpose. The only revelation I could get was that most of life seems to be a compilation of mis-directed endeavors brought about by little understood compulsions from the subconscious mind and that, like life, resolution is often not what we envision or desire. Okay; but still..just "okay".


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