Picked this book up after learning about Clowes from some of your other videos. Such a great book. I even made a mini-comic vending machine after seeing the one in this book.
Picked up a copy years ago & had the good fortune to have it signed by Clowes when he was doing the rounds for Patience at Green Apple Book in SF many years ago. His drawing, storytelling, dedication, & work ethics have inspired a generation of artists. Would love to see a break down of Patience before his new Monica book comes out.
23:12 This is just a hot take, but I have to imagine DC's mindset was "Comic fans don't know who Daniel Clowes is, but they know the Simpsons." Granted Clowes had the Ghost World movie coming out in the Summer of 2001, and decade plus of work in comics, I imagine DC editorial chose Matt Groening's cover for Bizarro Comics because it was the safe bet with their readership at the time with it's more kid friendly humor approach. This is how businesses tend to function, at least from my experience. Even the notion of "risk" is all calculated before anyone goes head first into the unknown, but even then it's not as appealing to those with control of the money unless to them it still feels safe. Simpsons in 2001 was unavoidable, so having a cover that even your mom might mistake as that thing the kids watch on TV probably helped sell a couple extra copies. So even with Clowes' cover being very on point for the book overall, especially when you see who else was included, Groening's cover was painfully safe. If they did the Bizarro Comics today, they probably have someone draw it in a Rick and Morty style or some contemporary equivalent that would also have a comic out so it "makes sense."
This kind of makes me a bit curious if Clowes ever considered having his works animated versus being made into live action features? Just to humor the idea, a question for both of you, Ed and Jim: If you could pick one of Clowes' works to be translated into an animated feature or series, which would you pick? If you have a "why", that would be fun to hear, but not a mandate.
I'm gonna be a nerd and let you know that Chris Ware did something called Putty Gray, which hasn't been reprinted anywhere and had nothing to do with Building Stories.
Picked this book up after learning about Clowes from some of your other videos. Such a great book. I even made a mini-comic vending machine after seeing the one in this book.
Picked up a copy years ago & had the good fortune to have it signed by Clowes when he was doing the rounds for Patience at Green Apple Book in SF many years ago. His drawing, storytelling, dedication, & work ethics have inspired a generation of artists. Would love to see a break down of Patience before his new Monica book comes out.
Does clowes do sketches or Remarques at signings?
Both of those Samual Fuller films (Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss) are well worth watching - very out there!
Clowes is such a titanic artist!
23:12 This is just a hot take, but I have to imagine DC's mindset was "Comic fans don't know who Daniel Clowes is, but they know the Simpsons."
Granted Clowes had the Ghost World movie coming out in the Summer of 2001, and decade plus of work in comics, I imagine DC editorial chose Matt Groening's cover for Bizarro Comics because it was the safe bet with their readership at the time with it's more kid friendly humor approach. This is how businesses tend to function, at least from my experience. Even the notion of "risk" is all calculated before anyone goes head first into the unknown, but even then it's not as appealing to those with control of the money unless to them it still feels safe. Simpsons in 2001 was unavoidable, so having a cover that even your mom might mistake as that thing the kids watch on TV probably helped sell a couple extra copies.
So even with Clowes' cover being very on point for the book overall, especially when you see who else was included, Groening's cover was painfully safe. If they did the Bizarro Comics today, they probably have someone draw it in a Rick and Morty style or some contemporary equivalent that would also have a comic out so it "makes sense."
This kind of makes me a bit curious if Clowes ever considered having his works animated versus being made into live action features?
Just to humor the idea, a question for both of you, Ed and Jim:
If you could pick one of Clowes' works to be translated into an animated feature or series, which would you pick?
If you have a "why", that would be fun to hear, but not a mandate.
There's a copy at my college library, but I won't mind having a copy of my own.
I'm gonna be a nerd and let you know that Chris Ware did something called Putty Gray, which hasn't been reprinted anywhere and had nothing to do with Building Stories.