Caricature

Caricature by Daniel Clowes (1998) At one time, “Caricature” was my favorite Daniel Clowes comic—the comic story, that is—but this collection, as well—Caricature: Nine Stories. In literary terms, a short story collection. I believe all but one of these first came out in various Eightball comics. I still love the title story, kind of a first-person, personal journal account of a traveling caricature artist—in places like county fairs—it feels very small town Midwestern. I especially love the cheap hotel and family restaurant. He meets a (very) young woman, and they get to know each other—he kind of (inappropriately) falls in love with her—and then she’s gone. And then he examines his life. That’s it—very short—but I feel like I still know this guy. All of the stories here are great—I can see why someone (DC) wanted to put them together in a collection, give them new published life. Most are about younger people, a few about kids. The real epic in the collection is “Gynecology” —it is novelistic in its scope—number of characters, time passing, and complexity. And it’s disturbing. Over the course of many years and re-reads, the one that’s now gotten to be my favorite is the last in the book, “Black Nylon,” a humorous and twisted take on superheroes—similar to The Death Ray, but very different. It kind of gets at the feeling I had about the Batman and Superman comics I bought when I was very young—I couldn’t understand them, never liked them (I was an Archies fan), but I always felt they were about sex and perversion, and I couldn’t quite grasp it. This one is very short—yet it continues to mystify me. Every time I read it, it’s like I’m approaching it for the first time—just as confused and disturbed—and I laugh and am very uncomfortable. I feel like I’m forever on the verge of understanding it—but will always be missing something. For me, that’s not a bad thing—it’s a very good thing.

11.7.23