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The Death-Ray

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 1,346 ratings · 131 reviews

ON TIME, NPR AND USA TODAY'S BEST-OF 2011 LISTS! WINNER OF THE EISNER, HARVEY AND IGNATZ AWARDS

Teen outcast Andy is an orphaned nobody with only one friend, the obnoxious—but loyal—Louie. They roam school halls and city streets, invisible to everyone but bullies and tormentors, until the glorious day when Andy takes his first puff on a cigarette. That night he wakes, heart...more

Hardcover, 48 pages

Published October 11th 2011 by Drawn and Quarterly (first published June 2004)

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Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Daniel Clowes

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Dec 25, 2012 Forrest rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found The Death-Ray intriguing in its main conceit, compelling in its design, and frustrating in its hipster aloofness. I'll spare the plot outline (see the summation under the book's description on goodreads - it's adequate enough) and only say that the main superhero tropes are old enough and trite enough to just be acceptable at face value by anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the superhero genre. And perhaps it's this blase acceptance of the fantastic that led me, ultimately, to fe...more I found The Death-Ray intriguing in its main conceit, compelling in its design, and frustrating in its hipster aloofness. I'll spare the plot outline (see the summation under the book's description on goodreads - it's adequate enough) and only say that the main superhero tropes are old enough and trite enough to just be acceptable at face value by anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the superhero genre. And perhaps it's this blase acceptance of the fantastic that led me, ultimately, to feel so depressed by the time I was finished with the book. The lack of focus on the superpower itself forces the reader to concentrate on the main character's failed relationships, the failed relationships of those around him, and the general cruelty of human beings to one another. Not a recipe for a good time, to say the least.

I will say one thing: Clowes' use of word bubbles is brilliant and lends itself to supposition and inference on the part of the reader. That is, word bubbles that are partially off-panel and only show some of the characters' dialogue make the reader dig in order to catch the full import of what is happening, what is being said, and what is not being said. Clowes pulls the reader into the story by giving just enough visual and narrative information to start the reader off, but the reader must supply the finishing touches that spark off understanding in her or his mind. Clowes also uses the trick of giving past narrative (the characters' words) in present panels (the visual representation of the characters' actions). One often wonders if the characters are acting in the present or the past and if their words are to be taken as something that arises from represented action or if they are completely disjointed from the events shown in the illustrations. This keeps the reader sharp, alert, and engaged. It should be noted that these tricks simply could not be pulled off in any other medium. Bravo, Clowes!

Ultimately, the story is about justice and one's right (or not) to mete out justice on those one deems "guilty". Andy, the main character, is the arbiter of said justice, though one never really knows how he internally arbitrates in passing judgement. What is guilt? What is innocence? Who gets to decide? The burden of absolute power forces the question of whether or not absolute power corrupts absolutely. Perhaps the seeds of corruption are already inherent in those that inherit power. If that's the case, then how can our judgement of power-wielders be just? Or is justice blind to predisposition and only executed against those who engage in unjust action?

The Death-Ray did do one thing for me: it made me think. That's usually a good thing, but the arbitrary nature of Andy's judgement, either guided by his maladjusted friend, Louie, or arising from within himself, left me feeling emotionally empty. I'm still undecided as to whether Andy was pathologically narcissistic or simply emotionally paralyzed by the stunning discovery of his superpower (augmented by the death ray of the book's title). Either way, he's not the kind of guy I can feel for and definitely not the kind of guy I'd want to be around for any length of time. I value my safety far too much to endanger it by hanging out with people that don't feel empathy or regret, which seemed to be at the core of Andy's problems and was also at the core of my problems with the book itself. Clowes' The Death-Ray was simultaneously brilliant and draining. In some ways, I finished the book feeling that I had turned the gun on myself.(less)

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Mar 17, 2012 Mark Desrosiers rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

The plot here begs for ridicule: an orphaned boy discovers that his father had performed genetic experiments which cause him to acquire superhuman strength and rage when he smokes tobacco. Also, there is a death ray involved, which only he can use. In Clowes' hand, this goofy premise takes on an eerie, evocative quality, with brief (dreamed?) snatches of sex to spice up this virgin superhero's saga. And you can probably guess how tedious and grim his love life becomes, how middle age shapes him...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Sam Quixote rated it 4 of 5 stars

Meet Andy, a quiet, lonely boy growing up in the 70s who has one friend and is being raised by his grandfather who is likely developing Alzheimer’s. One day by chance Andy smokes a cigarette and discovers that nicotine activates “super powers” where he gains super strength. Couple that with his father’s legacy leaving Andy a handheld “death ray” once he realises his super powers, and Andy goes from being an awkward teen to having the power of life and death in the palm of his hand.

Andy is your...more Meet Andy, a quiet, lonely boy growing up in the 70s who has one friend and is being raised by his grandfather who is likely developing Alzheimer’s. One day by chance Andy smokes a cigarette and discovers that nicotine activates “super powers” where he gains super strength. Couple that with his father’s legacy leaving Andy a handheld “death ray” once he realises his super powers, and Andy goes from being an awkward teen to having the power of life and death in the palm of his hand.

Andy is your typical Clowes-ian character – awkward loner, angry at the world, cynical yet disarmingly open about their bizarre world views, and prone to strange acts in public. Quirky in a word, and Andy is very much in the vein of other Clowes characters from Ghost World, Ice Haven, Mr Wonderful, Wilson, and so on.

The book follows the story of Andy and his strange friend Louie as they try to find real world applications to Andy’s Death Ray, at first picking out school bullies, then moving onto targets in the wider world. It can be read as a straight story with Andy actually having real super powers and the death ray really is a death ray but Clowes seems to be inviting interpretation in these incidents. Andy “blacks out” when he gets super powers, realising afterwards that he’s pummelled someone’s face into a bloody mess and the death ray works by “popping” someone out of existence in an instant – are the two connected? Is Andy in fact just an out and out psycho “popping” people out of existence with his hands?

Or maybe it’s a far more depressed version of “Kick Ass”, especially as Andy makes a costume to wear, and Clowes is showing how lonely and empty being a superhero is and how superpowers don’t make you happy.

Either way it’s a pretty interesting, if gloomy, read with Clowes’ great art and imaginative layouts. A must for fans of Clowes, though this appeared in his comic book series “Eightball” a few years ago so if you’re a subscriber to that you’ve already got this, but fans of indie comics will find plenty to enjoy here as well.(less)

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Nov 15, 2012 Scott Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

Don’t have much to say about this one. What can I do but appreciate Daniel Clowes? Reading and looking at his stories gives me access to the world of these characters which is a place where there is a gap between how the story is presented and how I’m supposed to feel reading it, which is a breath of real, and in this story is only slightly hallucinatory as opposed to the last book I read of his ‘Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron’ (or maybe it was ‘Wilson’, I read them both close together). Anywa...more Don’t have much to say about this one. What can I do but appreciate Daniel Clowes? Reading and looking at his stories gives me access to the world of these characters which is a place where there is a gap between how the story is presented and how I’m supposed to feel reading it, which is a breath of real, and in this story is only slightly hallucinatory as opposed to the last book I read of his ‘Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron’ (or maybe it was ‘Wilson’, I read them both close together). Anyway, I enjoyed the book but then in the end you ask yourself, well, yeah, but maybe if it were a little more ambitious… As it stands it’s a bit like maybe having a conversation with Jonathan Lethem as opposed to reading an entire novel he’s written. You get a hint of a world that could become so much more. But maybe Daniel Clowes is more artist than storyteller, and that’s his strength. I’ve read eightball comics and they are crazy messes, in a good way. Telling several stories at once over several issues. It just.. makes sense. Maybe when I read through it I didn’t even look at the panels, which is somewhat true because I’m much more after the word of the story… but then this is all overanalysis as I sit there in the first few moments after finishing the book. It’s just a comic, it is what it is… I feel eerily still and like maybe I shouldn’t even write a review. I feel like the character in the last panels of the story sitting in front of the fireworks on the beach, professing his devotion to the public, echoing his pledge to protect the innocent, the weak, the friendless, earlier on. Before he killed several people, incinerated them. But that’s distant memory. It’s your choice what happens next, the book tells you. And if it weren’t for an angel whispering in my ear, an errant panel of vision juxtaposed that inappropriately prods me, I might just wonder what it means until I forget what I experienced. And then nothing would get written at all.(less)

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Aug 02, 2012 Leew49 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

Daniel Clowes turns his unique perspective on the superhero comic in "The Death Ray," the story of Andy, a disaffected teenager who acquires super powers and then has no idea of how to use them intelligently. Many of the recurrent themes of Clowes's other works are found here: alienation, the outsider who sees the hypocrisy of social conventions but can't discover anything better, pointless crushes, friends drifting apart (rather dramatically in the case of Andy's "best friend" Louie), confused...more Daniel Clowes turns his unique perspective on the superhero comic in "The Death Ray," the story of Andy, a disaffected teenager who acquires super powers and then has no idea of how to use them intelligently. Many of the recurrent themes of Clowes's other works are found here: alienation, the outsider who sees the hypocrisy of social conventions but can't discover anything better, pointless crushes, friends drifting apart (rather dramatically in the case of Andy's "best friend" Louie), confused sexual identity, frustration and irritation with everyday cruelties, guilt, lost innocence and the prospect of a sad and empty middle age. Like many comic books of the latter 20th century, Clowes's central character is a teenage outsider. Unlike the typical comic book, we first meet the superhero during his lonely and brooding middle age: living alone with only his dog for company, haunted by dark memories, occasionally talking to himself, still committing random acts of violence. Ironically the hero, who is in part motivated by his hatred of illegal drugs, gets his power by smoking cigarettes, one of the most addictive substances on the planet. In a series of flashbacks we meet the younger Andy: someone with no real ties to society. His parents are deceased and he lives with an elderly couple who are on the precipice of sad and helpless old age. Andy has only one friend, Louie, whose motives are always suspect. He is all but anonymous to his own high school classmates. Even his "girlfriend" lives hundreds of miles away, communicating via occasional letters in the era before email and social media. Small wonder that, once given the power of life and death, Andy repeatedly makes the wrong decisions, using his super strength and Death Ray for confused and often petty reasons. At one point he makes a weeks long odyssey for the sole purpose of avenging the death of his dog. A comparison to a very popular comic of that era (still popular today), Spider-Man is hard to resist. Andy, like Peter Parker, lives with an elderly couple, one of whom dies early in the story. Like Peter, Andy is an outsider, either ignored or bullied by his peers. And then Andy acquires super powers. But Andy's loner status, not his incredible new powers, is what determines the course of his life. Already alienated and misanthropic, Andy uses his powers to avenge minor insults and or to provide unwelcome aid to those whom he thinks need his help. "The Death Ray" is a clever, insightful, and dark look at what power can do to the unprepared and undeserving. The last panel of middle aged Andy, brooding and alone, walking down the street, a new act of random violence waiting to happen, is memorable and troubling.(less)

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Nov 30, 2011 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, comics, dark, weird, smart-nerdy, hipster, personal-favorite

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

It was just a month or two ago that I was reviewing Daniel Clowes' Mister Wonderful, lamenting that little wisp of a story and declaring how much I was looking forward instead to his next major masterpiece; and now it's here, in the form of a giant oversized hardback called The Death-Ray, although with "ne...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

It was just a month or two ago that I was reviewing Daniel Clowes' Mister Wonderful, lamenting that little wisp of a story and declaring how much I was looking forward instead to his next major masterpiece; and now it's here, in the form of a giant oversized hardback called The Death-Ray, although with "new" perhaps not being the best term, in that this is actually a reprint of a 2004 issue of his idiosyncratic comic book Eightball. Nonetheless, this sees Clowes in the same brilliantly dark, surrealist form as such past classics as David Boring and Like A Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, telling the story of a nerdy, antisocial teen and double orphan in the mid-1970s who discovers that his dead father committed bizarre genetic experiments on him as a child, granting him superhuman abilities every time he smokes a cigarette but also an uncontrolled rage to go along with it; the story itself, then, is partly about what a sociopathic loner like him might actually do with such powers, partly about his "Ghost World"esque loser best friend as he transitions from heavy metal and dysfunction to punk rock and relative normalcy in those same years, and partly what can only be called the most deconstructionist take Clowes has done yet on the entire subject of visual storytelling in the first place (and this from a guy who spends a lot of time thinking about the conventions of the comic-book format), the story itself hopping back and forth between different styles and color palettes in order to set different emotional tones for different scenes, and Clowes brilliantly adding context to dialogue by sometimes literally cutting voice bubbles halfway off with the edges of his story frames. A fantastic treat for existing fans, and a great starting point for those unfamiliar with his work, like a lot of artists throughout history a conservative President in power seems to do wonders for Clowes' artistic output, with him churning out classic after classic during the Bush years but now in a seemingly constant flounder since Obama got elected in 2008. An absolute must-read for all of CCLaP's readers, and a book that will very likely be making my best-of lists at the end of the year.

Out of 10: 9.6(less)

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Nov 25, 2011 D.M. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been enjoy Clowes for quite a few years now, and his output seems to have increased in frequency and quality over the past decade or so. Unfortunately, my income hasn't kept up, so I've missed his last couple books. It was with great pleasure, then, that I found this one at my library!
That Clowes has, after all this time, decided to do his own take on superpowers is surprising. He does it almost exactly how one would expect him to: the superpowers make bad people worse, and good people bett...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Daniel Clowes's attempt at a superhero story comes with his usual visual flare, non-linear sequencing and darkly comic view of humanity. Andy is a geeky, but seemingly normal teenage boy who befriends a misanthropic punk named Louie. Louie's jaded worldview and penchant for cigarettes rubs off on straight-laced Andy who unknowingly releases a dormant gene that gives him superhuman strength. Along with his new nicotine-activated superpower comes a late gift from his dead father - a death-ray gun....more

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May 23, 2013 Jordan rated it 3 of 5 stars

BAM! BOOM! KA-POW! SPOILERS??? MAYBE!

Daniel Clowes takes on The Superhero. That is what this is.

In The Death-Ray, he gives us the classic origin story (or at least his version of it), where we have present day, regular citizen, old Andy retelling the account of his life from discovering and understanding his new power, to dealing with the complications of it, to Clowes taking us all the way to the probable cause of his anti-hero’s ultimate death.

Yeah, Andy's dad and mom were scientists who are...more BAM! BOOM! KA-POW! SPOILERS??? MAYBE!

Daniel Clowes takes on The Superhero. That is what this is.

In The Death-Ray, he gives us the classic origin story (or at least his version of it), where we have present day, regular citizen, old Andy retelling the account of his life from discovering and understanding his new power, to dealing with the complications of it, to Clowes taking us all the way to the probable cause of his anti-hero’s ultimate death.

Yeah, Andy's dad and mom were scientists who are now dead, and he now lives with his progressively sick grandpa. But of course! Although, where things begin to differ is how his dad injected baby Andy with an experimental hormone that’s triggered by nicotine (to help with his son’s inevitable teenage scrawniness since he himself was, too), however, he didn’t realize that the nicotine would have the tremendous effect it had on Andy. And when the cigarette’s nicotine in his system, it’s best described as “…the nausea only lasted for a few seconds before I could feel my veins filling with the boiling juice. It was like my entire body was a giant boner,” and it’s then that he has the power to punch the stupid blood out of some deserving prick’s stupid face. He also gets handed-down the death-ray; it's only capable of working under Andy’s fingertips, with one shot causing the unfortunate person on the receiving end to be wiped off this Earth. Completely vanished in the blink of an eye. Gone.

But Andy was never interested in fighting crime and saving people from burning buildings with this gift of his. His sights aren’t set that high…they’re much, much lower. What he’s pondered all his life has been: “How does one man stand a chance against four billion assholes?” So, bullies, litterers, cheaters, you’re on watch! You’ve been warned!

Like his other more recent work in Ice Haven, Wilson, and Mister Wonderful, Clowes plays with his panels in size, shape, and amount on each page, along with color palette schemes, and even employing different illustration styles in Death-Ray. It was a pretty quick story, one much bigger in scope than, say, Wilson or Mister Wonderful, and I would’ve liked to see him flesh it out more. You know, give me something thick in page count and colorful to geek out over --cause I totally would have. I did enjoy the ending, though, particularly his end-end, ‘Choose Your Own Adventure! How will our story end?? You decide!’. It was pretty cool; you are left with what is probably the bleakest and most depressing option to have ever lived, and I wouldn’t have expected it any other way, Mr. Clowes.
(less)

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Dec 25, 2011 Eric T. Voigt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: winter-eleven-twelve

Vengeance is not sweet to look upon. It's confusing. Confusion-borne. It's all up in this book. Disappointment. Feelings about truth and right-and-wrong. Who has the power to decide how the world should be run if not ourselves? We are the only ones living our life. It is only our world, in the truest sense in our minds, although it is shared by everyone else, in a slightly different, personal way, in their minds, too. Great 'graphic novel.' My aunt asked what I was reading and I said 'a comic.'...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

You know, every time I go to pick up a Daniel Clowes book I think to myself "Maybe this time it will not be an incomprehensible pretentious mess". And every time I'm disappointed. Where to start? This book doesn't have a plot. It has a string of semi-cogent moments, self-referential diatribes, time skips, and characters that frankly all kinda look the same. Story lines with certain characters are dropped like hotcakes (whatever happened with the grandpa) and sometimes you're not really sure what...more

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Feb 03, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Daniel Clowes strikes gold again. Think of Ghost World without the slick coolness. The Death-Ray is a simple story about a loner boy who discovers he possesses super powers when smoking cigarettes and who inherits a death-ray from his dead scientist father. With his loner friend, our protagonist seeks to do good, sort of. Unlike other origin stories, there are no superheroes here, especially in light of the ease with which one can kill with impunity (litterers who talk smack, for example). And,...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Richard rated it 1 of 5 stars

I’m not sure what the point was for this. Daniel Clowes is a good artist - his drawings are deceptively simple, but often expertly arranged - and the story is sort of well-constructed. I appreciate that it must have taken a lot of effort to create, but there’s really nothing in this graphic novel that grabbed me – nothing to make me care much about the story (the overdone comic about comics trope of “hey, what would actually happen if a “real”, flawed person gained super human powers?”), the cha...more

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May 14, 2012 A.C. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I do, generally, like Clowes's work, and I thought this was a rather interesting trip on the boring superhero narrative.

Our narrator isn't good, nor is he bad. The narrative is set within a frame of our protagonists. Most importantly, nothing is clear cut at all. Much like with his other protagonists, there are likable characteristics about Andy as well as ones that are completely terrible.

Given the fact that it's beautifully illustrated as well as short (I read it while listening to an episode...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Greg Pettit rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, library

I don't understand what all the hype is about. The story had some interesting moments, but overall I never found it particularly innovative or compelling. The book is a collection of short (1-2 pages?) comics that were originally published in another magazine, and it shows. There is a connecting narrative throughout, but it is uneven and disjointed. Some sections are better than others. I like Clowes' simplistic style of art. I also like that there's plenty to read between the lines (between the...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Deen Sakurai rated it 4 of 5 stars

Clowes takes on various peculiarities of the superhero mythos in this surface-simplistic but extremely dense tale of a normal kid who discovers he has superhuman abilities and the ensuing consequences that arise from such a tried and true scenario. This book is best consumed in one sitting, reading through it twice. Due to the narrative non-linearity, shifting POV, past and future references scattered throughout the panels, the first read will likely leave readers somewhat confused until they sc...more

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Dec 09, 2011 George Marshall rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dan Clowes can be great- and I respect his choice to write about very ordinary and unsuccessful people. But this is not his best- it feels a bit forced and forumulaic. And I am getting really tired of how Clowes's comics constantly refer to their own medium, with stories about comic artists, or sections in pulp comic book form - and in this case - a story that parodies super heroes. It is all very wink wink knowing and ironic, but it does little to get this art form established as an expressive...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Gary rated it 2 of 5 stars

To be fair, this is a very intelligent, well-written story, and it demonstrates perfectly what comics can do and literary fiction can't. But reading it put me in a mood for some reason. The pop art makes the younger male characters look very effeminate, which I didn't like, though the broad range of colour was nice to behold. I guess I was unnerved by the way it "felt" - like a gritty 70s movie, like Taxi Driver or something. Like realist writing in comic form. Which is, to say, really, really d...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Kathryn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I didn't love it as much as I loved Ghost World and Ice Haven, but I didn't hate it as much as I hated Wilson. There are some perfectly observed, painful adolescent moments here: Louie in the record store, loudly talking about his (nonexistent) band gigging with the Sex Pistols so the cool girl will notice him--yes, that nails it. No spoilers, but I found the ending rushed and disappointing, despite the nod to our old friend, the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Some fine artwork, and definitel...more

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May 18, 2012 Shaun rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know, I know . . . it's kind of "cheating" to list this one as one of the books read in 2012. But it's not a bad graphic novel with a bit of a story behind it. Answers the question, "What if you had superhero powers and, well, the world really didn't care?" This goes into the same territory as "Watchmen" -- another graphic novel that I greatly enjoyed.

Worth picking up and chuckling along with. We humans think we are soooo special but when it comes to it, we really aren't. How's that for a tast...more

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Feb 01, 2012 joao rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Read Eightball #23, not the latest graphic novel edition. I found this very toned down when compared to other works like Wilson (downright sad), Like a Velvet Glove.. (eerie), or Mr. Wonderful (oftentimes pathetic). All those adjectives are true about The Death-Ray, but the interplay among those aspects means you get a 'balanced' Clowes, if you're into that sort of thing. In further superhero trope relativism, you'll even get to choose your favorite ending. I guess the outline here is pessimisti...more

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May 21, 2013 Patrick added it

A couple of years ago I heard Daniel Clowes read from this in Boston. He read the dialogue in this quick, clipped tone that made everything sound dumb and funny. Personality wise, he reminded me of Kevin Spacey, a sardonic wise ass jerk. But not in a bad way.

The Death Ray is pretty good- the use of comic strip short section/chapters still works really well. Still, he's been treading sad-sack adolescent dicks depressing lonely men 70's kitch for like forever now, and I'd like to see him do someth...more

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Oct 24, 2012 agent zero rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fumetti

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 24, 2012 Twan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

A young nobody, Andy and his arsehole of a friend go about their day to day activities, going to school and being mainly ignored. Until, that is, Andy finds out that smoking fags gives him superpowers, or maybe gives him more confidence to stop him being a big softy, s'pose that is up to the reader to interpet themselves.
It's typical Clowes, nothing is overly exaggerated, things are true to life, normal and mundane in places. But don't take that the wrong way, these normal, mundane aspects are...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Nick Kives rated it 3 of 5 stars

There will always be a place on my bookshelf for a Clowes book. When the movie for Ghost World came out, I loved it and immediately went out to find the book for it, and loved that as well. It was the first comic I had picked up in years, and would be the only until after Katrina. Unfortunatly, I haven't felt the same way in the last two books. This one is better than David Boring but still not up there.

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May 06, 2013 Aaron Broadwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

Andy is a loner in high school and from a difficult family -- raised by his grandfather. Is it his fantasy or reality that makes him into a superhero capable of killing with a death ray? The end perspective from an adult Andy's perspective makes it seem frightening possible that is in, in fact, a murderer. But I like way in which the book leaves open a certain possibility that the murders are imagined, in the same way that the death-ray, the costumes, and the flying are imagined.

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Nov 10, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

First of all, let me just say that Eightball #23 and this are the exact same book. It has not changed from the original edition to this reprint in any way whatsoever, so if you own the original, you do not need to fork out the exorbitant price of twenty bucks for this 48-page book.

That said, if you haven't read this yet, you should. It is an amazing character study and one of the best works Clowes has done since Ghost World. Not as good as Ice Haven, better than Wilson.

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Nov 03, 2011 Alison rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, angsty, fiction, graphic-novels, dark

Daniel Clowes really nails it when it comes to a certain type of teenage experience; you know, uneasy, vague, boring, morally ambiguous, weird. Actually, you know what would be cool? If Clowes did a graphic novelization of the movie "River's Edge". Anyway, not really sure why this merited a hardcover reissue (I have the original Eightball that this appeared in a few years ago). Also, I wish I got superpowers from smoking cigarettes...usually all I get is a hangover.

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Jul 19, 2012 Michael Richardson rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'll give it credit for telling the story in a unique way. However, this book is a strong example of not following the principle of "show, don't tell". Most of the interesting scenes take place off-panel or are only alluded to. To top it all off, the "ending" - the author gives you options, for some reason - is largely unsatisfying. Its existence is justified by its novelty, but if you read this expecting a full and exciting story, you'll probably be disappointed.

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Oct 09, 2011 Joe Reese rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Death Ray: a short, subtle and understatedly surreal take on the popular tale of superpowers and responsibility. Clowes gives us another set of lonely, awkward, paranoid, frustrated and self-deprecating characters who touch the worst parts of ourselves, but with humour. The tragic characters and the juxtaposition of the mundane with the extraordinary elevates The Death Ray to the heights of Clowes' earlier masterpiece Ghost World.

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About Daniel Clowes

Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an Academy Award-nominated American author, screenwriter and cartoonist of alternative comic books. Most of Clowes' work appears first in his ongoing anthology Eightball (1989-present), a collection of self-contained narratives and serialized graphic novels. Several of these narratives have been collected published separately as graphic novels, most notably Ghost World....more

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Quotes from The Death-Ray

“You try to make the world a better place and what does it get you? I mean, Christ, how the hell does one man stand a chance against four billion assholes?” — 1 person liked it

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The Death-Ray

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