David Boring

Rating:
Summary: sublime, provocative, intelligent
Review: "Ghost World" is widely responsible for the recent gush of indy fanboys and girls who wouldn't otherwise be reading comics flocking towards Daniel Clowes' books, but 'David Boring' is one of, if not the most well-structured, cerebral and calculating collection in the Clowes oeuvre. I won't give a plot description because I think that the book's title and Clowes' overall style is telling enough, but I will say that the themes this book covers are expansive, as well as provocative and eloquently discussed. The story is charming in what seems ostensibly to be a meandering, misanthropic narrative about ennui and apathy, but manages to discuss so much more about the difference that mediums like film and comic books have on culture, as well the internal structure of their own realities. The book has such a curious pace that the ending seems like it can't possibly be satisfactory, and yet Clowes concludes this book in the most sublime and beautiful fashion, and in a way that I realized was a perfect and fitting ending for the story. David Boring's self-concious narrative quirks were performed so often and were overt enough to almost irritate me, but I feel in the end that Clowes allowed the story's self-concious tendencies to be tactful and done in a way that is pertinent to the subject matter. Also, if you are someone who does not normally purchase a hardcover book but often flirts with the idea, I would reccomend going with those desires on this occasion. The book feels so literary and authentic that it almost feels better to own a more prestigous print of it. Wonderfully detailed illustrations as well. If there were any doubts that Clowes is producing books that should remain a part of our literary canon for years to come, this book does away with them.

Rating:
Summary: A Dream in Graphic-Novel Form
Review: "David Boring" is a strange work. It has its own logic, of course, but it is really the logic of a dream - the hero's strange obsession with a girl (really three girls), bizarre murders and assaults that everyone seems to take nonchalantly, mass holocaust lowering in the background.

What fascinated me the most about this book is that it seems to mirror the mood and consciousness of America behind its bright, shiny, Internet-happy façade: brooding, lonely, emotionally disconnected.

A striking and powerful work. I bought a copy of it in a bookstore I had gone into to get something else, but I'm glad it came into my hands.

Rating:
Summary: sublime, provocative, intelligent
Review: "Ghost World" is widely responsible for the recent gush of indy fanboys and girls who wouldn't otherwise be reading comics flocking towards Daniel Clowes' books, but 'David Boring' is one of, if not the most well-structured, cerebral and calculating collection in the Clowes oeuvre. I won't give a plot description because I think that the book's title and Clowes' overall style is telling enough, but I will say that the themes this book covers are expansive, as well as provocative and eloquently discussed. The story is charming in what seems ostensibly to be a meandering, misanthropic narrative about ennui and apathy, but manages to discuss so much more about the difference that mediums like film and comic books have on culture, as well the internal structure of their own realities. The book has such a curious pace that the ending seems like it can't possibly be satisfactory, and yet Clowes concludes this book in the most sublime and beautiful fashion, and in a way that I realized was a perfect and fitting ending for the story. David Boring's self-concious narrative quirks were performed so often and were overt enough to almost irritate me, but I feel in the end that Clowes allowed the story's self-concious tendencies to be tactful and done in a way that is pertinent to the subject matter. Also, if you are someone who does not normally purchase a hardcover book but often flirts with the idea, I would reccomend going with those desires on this occasion. The book feels so literary and authentic that it almost feels better to own a more prestigous print of it. Wonderfully detailed illustrations as well. If there were any doubts that Clowes is producing books that should remain a part of our literary canon for years to come, this book does away with them.

Rating:
Summary: Not boring
Review: Although Daniel Clowes' GHOST WORLD wasn't that appealing to me, DAVID BORING was surprisingly engaging. Like Chris Ware's JIMMY CORRIGAN, it begins by introducing the reader to reminders of traditional comic book superheros, and although the rest of the book is anything but a stereotypical comic, it retains various aspects of superhero comic books. It's wonderfully dramatic and fantastic, transitioning from a story situated in reality to one that's dominated by mysterious deaths, apocalyptic fears, and taboo relationships. With BORING, Clowes shows life as at once dreamy, vacuous, adventurous, and painful. He ends up with a moving tale that is deeply structured and well worth the hour or two it takes to read.

Rating:
Summary: boring is right
Review: At least Clowes is honest; his title clearly indicates the kind of audience he is seeking. His pitiful obsession with minutia is again and again artlessly explored; he has not a single interesting idea about anything and never has; his drawing is relentlessly, deliberately deviod of any emotional or visual appeal. This is for those people who like to create the impression that life is inherently bad and that they really wish they weren't here. Well, I often wish the same--of them.

Rating:
Summary: Love & Fetishism
Review: Clowes artwork on David Boring is, as usual, immaculate and he consistently manages to draw characters whose faces emote a sense of ennui yet manage to evoke in me a feeling of compassion that borders on pity. This interplay intrigues me in that it serves to both endear and distance me to almost every major player in the book. Whether or not that feature of Clowes' art best serves the narrative, and whether it should, remains left to the individual. For me, the result is a positive and heightens the slightly surreal nature of Boring's world.

Stripped down, David Boring is a love story. Artfully dressed up by Clowes' craftsmanship, however, the standard love story is complicated by all manner of fixation, fetishism and obsessiveness in addition to the possible end of the world.

As a character, David Boring's only remarkable traits are his fetish for fat-bottomed girls and the single issue of his father's comic that he happens to own. This sexual fetish leads to expected relationship problems as David constantly risks letting his obsession for the physical overshadow any and all other aspects of his relationships with women. David's fetish for his father's comic, and subsequent obsession to learn about the man from the remaining scraps of his work, leads to one to speculate about the triadic, feedback-loop-like relationship between creator, creation and reader.

And so this theme of destructive fetishism runs rampant through David Boring as Clowes explores various characters, their fetishes and the nuanced situations that result from such behavior. Clowes fetishists include: Boring, Boring's best friend Dot (whose obsession is saved for a graceful and quiet denouement), Boring's girlfriend Wanda, Wanda's lover, the Professor, Boring's mother and possibly Boring's father (although I haven't looked too closely at this possibility).

The plot is set against a backdrop of impending world destruction by terrorists. Nice, huh? Come to think of it, terrorist activity may be viewed as a type of destructive fetishism whose idealistic single-mindedness overlooks the complexities of the world. This backdrop, though, allows Clowes a surreal, albeit convenient, way in which to resolve his story while pardoning any remaining social mores his characters may breech during the resolution process.

Clowes always delivers quality art and story. If you're already a fan of comix, you know this. If you've yet to sample the delights of graphic novels you'd do well to jump in right away with David Boring.


Rating:
Summary: eccentric but interesting
Review: Dan Clowes creates characters and worlds that exist only in his mind ,but they are interesting nonetheless. He lacks the all out energy of an action packed entertainer like Miller and his books lack the unified tone of JIMMY CORRIGAN and I consider both Miller and Ware to be superior to Clowes but he is one of our best cartoonists and DAVID BORING is fine work even though the story is too surreal and cynical to have much of a pontless.

Rating:
Summary: The Thrilling world of Boring
Review: Daniel Clowes has outdone himself in this volume,collecting and improving upon the three part story David Boring.This is a challenging saga of a young man's attempt to organize his reality into a sort of personal movie,with himself as the protagonist.He deals obsessively with love and lust,and other human relationships with confusion.The focus on David and his love life is framed with a description of a violent and unpredictable world,complete with murder,intrigue,and war.The meticulous drawings merit close scrutiny for the detail they contain.This is a comic that tells as much without words as it does with them.The improvements in this book (it was previously serialized in pamphlet form) include the addition of color in certain panels,and overall an excellently designed package,including dust cover,spine,endpapers,and chapter headings.This is a book that will stand up to the many readings you're sure to want to give it.If you have any doubts as to the richness and depth available in the comics medium,this book with put them to rest.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Daniel Clowes has to be one of my favorite graphic novelists, based solely upon this book and on one of his other great works, Ghost World. Clowes has a stark, bold artistic style that catches the eyes, while the intriguing and involved stories that unfold before you keep your eyes glued to the book. Alternately intellectual, philosophical, sensual, funny, evocative, and sexy, this is definitely a must-read for any fan of graphic novels, or of Daniel Clowes.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Daniel Clowes has to be one of my favorite graphic novelists, based solely upon this book and on one of his other great works, Ghost World. Clowes has a stark, bold artistic style that catches the eyes, while the intriguing and involved stories that unfold before you keep your eyes glued to the book. Alternately intellectual, philosophical, sensual, funny, evocative, and sexy, this is definitely a must-read for any fan of graphic novels, or of Daniel Clowes.