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35th out of 288 books
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56 voters
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Ice Haven
At long last: Daniel Clowes is back at Pantheon, with a brilliant new graphic novel already hailed by Time as “another of his hilariously slightly off-center worlds that have a vague sense of dread about them. Kind of like where you live.”
Welcome to Ice Haven! “It’s not as cold here as it sounds,” declares Random Wilder, our reluctant guide to this sleepy Midwestern tow...more
Welcome to Ice Haven! “It’s not as cold here as it sounds,” declares Random Wilder, our reluctant guide to this sleepy Midwestern tow...more
Hardcover, 88 pages
Published
February 19th 2009
by Pantheon
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found this at a thrift store, totally stoked to read it. yeah two dollars fifteen cents!
Co-worker saw me reading this over lunch and commented "oh, some high-level reading, huh?" because it's got, y'know, pictures. Never mind that it's actually written for adults, making it maybe a higher level book than 80% of what I've been reading anyway. Grumble.
Because Dan Clowes is not an easy, breezy read. Ice Haven has a pretty large cast, all of whom have their own individual dramas going on, and every drama is given the same weight--from the parents whose son has b...more
Because Dan Clowes is not an easy, breezy read. Ice Haven has a pretty large cast, all of whom have their own individual dramas going on, and every drama is given the same weight--from the parents whose son has b...more
Finished "Ice Haven".
It meanders between being brilliant and being annoyingly (dare I say) "emo". The most interesting characters to me are ones that seem to come and go in short spurts, whereas the ones that are showcased are very annoying, whiny people.
Perhaps it's because I've never been able to sympathize with that teenage attitude of self-importance, thinking they know everything there is to know about the world and that everyone owes them somethi...more
It meanders between being brilliant and being annoyingly (dare I say) "emo". The most interesting characters to me are ones that seem to come and go in short spurts, whereas the ones that are showcased are very annoying, whiny people.
Perhaps it's because I've never been able to sympathize with that teenage attitude of self-importance, thinking they know everything there is to know about the world and that everyone owes them somethi...more
I enjoyed this more than Ghost World and much more than Twentieth Century Eightball. There was more cohesion and meat to this story than the other two of Clowes' that I have read. The reader meets an array of characters from the city of Ice Haven and through their individual yet connected stories, a crime is solved during the course of the book.
The writing and art are really good in this comic strip novel. The juxtaposition of hearing the writers voice (and point of view) through a set of "narrators" of sorts, as well as through his characters leads readers on an interesting journey through Ice Haven. Although Random Wilder is consider the "narrator", he ultimately becomes a major player in the story. Watching his break down of faith in himself is hard. Harry Naybors, as another type of "narrator", has lot...more
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Graphic novelist Clowes's Ghost World illustrated his talent for creating alienated misfits; here, he's just as twisted. Ice Haven, based on the simple premise of the disappearance of a strange little boy (inspired, in turn, by the true story of child murderers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb), is actually quite complex. The more than 30 short strips form a portrait of a dull suburban town, and the blocky, dull-colored drawings mirror the themes: alienation, loneliness, entrapment. "It's no
...more
A good, if slight, book from Clowes. Very funny in parts. Highly postmodern, although in an ingenuous and understated - not overly knowing - way. I was interested by the 'Vida goes to Hollywood' section - is its misogyny just self-referential self-mocking? Is it supposed to be that, yet still misogynistic in its own right? Is it more misanthropy than misogyny? I give Clowes the benefit of the doubt, and believe it is carefully constructed - both highlighting the misogyny of which Clowes has been...more
Patrick
added it
Eh. Took way too short a time to read to have much of an impact on me but still did have an impact on me, but in a cerebral way not really associated with the content of the story. Am I Random Fatass (forget his real name), or am I turning into him??? I liked what Clowes did with the page layouts and all that. Became a little too meta-meta-meta for my taste. Kid thinking big thoughts is both cute and cheap at same time. None of the characters were that interesting or believable, plot was nonexis...more
If you're a fan of Daniel Clowes's comics, this one will probably please you as much as any of them, or nearly so. I liked the comic-strip-style chapters and the interrelated storylines and characters. Ice Haven features Clowes's distinctive and charming art, a collection of characters coping with fears and obsessions and their strained relationships, and a drab backdrop that manages to look like every place and no place at the same time. I would have liked the book even more if there had been m...more
My two-star rating is based not on my assessment of this book in the entire realm of books, but in relation to his other books that I have read. It wasn't my fave. In fact, I found it a little boring. There were a lot of blathering characters, something I would have found profound in my younger years, but now just make me want to yawn and look at the pictures. The illustrations stole the show in this one. I have a whole stack of Clowes that I plan on reading over the long weekend, and I'm sure t...more
i don't think he's as clever as everyone else seems to think he is
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An unrelentingly fun and scattered approach to the graphic novel genre, including some fine meta-commentary on the form itself. Thoughtful and precocious, this was a quick read, and the quickness of the read is, unfortunately, the only reason it's relegated the 3-star territory: there was ample room within the storyline and with these characters to stretch this out at least another thirty pages, and the brevity of the work made it feel regrettably underdone. Other than that, a good way to spen...more
Londonmabel Mabel
rated it
This is a beautiful little gem that takes full advantage of the graphic novel (or "comics" as the character Harry would prefer) medium, which is why I read it for a second time. Clowes uses one of my favorite graphic novel methods--introducing a variety of storylines, bits of seemingly unrelated information and so forth, and then weaving them slowly together to bring out something that's both humorous and poignant. So in a small space of time I cared about every character, even the mis...more
With an almost clinical tone, this comic surveys a small town. Amidst its moderately realist interweaving stories of the town's inhabitants, it contains a multitude of ironic and metatextual elements: shifts into inordinately cartoony art; cartoon gangster bunnies and children speaking of emulating Leopold and Loeb; a focus on writers (of the embittered type) and a snide comic book critic who provides a meta-summation of the comic itself; a tortured, self-aggrandizing-philosopher child who prese...more
Para empezar ya me encanta la forma fÃsica que tiene 'Ice Haven', horizontal y apaisado, recordándome una tira cómica de los periódicos, pero por dentro también tiene en cierto modo la forma de una tira cómica, porque son varias historias de varios personajes que se cruzan, dibujadas y presentadas con estilos algo diferentes. Me encanta como Clowes mezcla las historias de varios personajes que viven en un pueblo llamado Ice Haven, como incorpora sueños y flashbacks a la narración. SÃ, narrativam...more
Interesting, clever, disturbing. Every spread or two is an episode about a different character in the town of Ice Haven, and you discern the connections among them as you read . . . which makes me think I might want to re-read this one. That element of mystery makes it interesting but I felt a bit experimented-upon. Clowes' later book "Wilson" has many similarly brilliant characterizations and an episodic format, but its focus on one character gives it a more unified story.
Well constructed piece about a town and some stuff features a comic critic without being stupidly condescending to the role of the critic. Clowes is at his best when he experiments with form and this is a prime example of this. There is less of an overarching narrative than David Boring but it is ultimately more satisfying.
Not as affecting as Wilson but still dang good.
Not as affecting as Wilson but still dang good.
un bambino non tanto bambino vestito di pelliccia, una coppia di investigatori, uno scribacchino in crisi e una giovane aspirante scrittrice, coppie improbabili, esistenze semi-spezzate, strade vuote delle aree residenziali di ice haven, USA.
piccolo gioiellino, assolutamente all'altezza dei precedenti lavori di clowes.
voglio vivere a ice haven!
http://www.ferramenta.splinder.com/post/...
piccolo gioiellino, assolutamente all'altezza dei precedenti lavori di clowes.
voglio vivere a ice haven!
http://www.ferramenta.splinder.com/post/...
I liked the presentation of each character in the small town of Ice Haven appearing in their uniquely styled comic strip for their portion of the story, but I didn't find anything else original in this depiction of unhappy, misunderstood misfits wandering through lives as the mystery of a non-verbal boys disappearance makes its way through the life of the town.
I read this quickly at first, but after i finished realized my error. Like most of Clowes work, Ice Haven rewards the reader after repeated readings. Also like most Clowes, the story isn't a straightforward telling most of the time. It's bits and pieces come together and give you the whole picture, not just of a few characters, but of an entire world.
Somewhere in between "David Boring" and "Wilson", this crapfest is a sort of Peyton Place meets Our Town parody (narrarated by Random Wilder, get it?). I liked the parody of snotty know-it-all internet expert assholes but I could have done without the Leopold & Loeb creeps played as comedy.
by the guy who created Ghost World. not really a novel or graphic novel. more like a series of interconnected comic-strip narratives. intelligent, witty, well-drawn. i wanted more, though, it begs to be a novel while vociferously claiming not to. diverting and interesting.
Not as profound as "Wilson" or "Ghost World" and as usual there's some cynicism rooted in reality - narrative portrait collection of the loners, misanthropes and precocious kids who live in the small town of Ice Haven as they and the general anxiety the townsfolk deal with after a local boy goes missing.
I think I love graphic novels now. It's like I'm speed reading because I can read a whole book in an hour or so, but really I'm not a fast reader at all. And then it is fun to just flip back through and look at the art all over again.
Ice Haven is a glimpse into a little town of strange people. There are motifs and parallel characters and all kinds of things to analyze, I'm sure, but the stinky part is that one of the characters (the comic book critic) sort of does all of that at the ...more
Ice Haven is a glimpse into a little town of strange people. There are motifs and parallel characters and all kinds of things to analyze, I'm sure, but the stinky part is that one of the characters (the comic book critic) sort of does all of that at the ...more
Took a few stories to get into, but was really good after that. My only complaint is that I hate how David Goldberg is drawn. I get that he's supposed to be weird, but after the first strip with him in it, I just kept hoping he'd never reappear. Otherwise, fantastic.
Hmm, it was alright. Not as funny or nutso as Velvet Glove or Twentieth Century Eightball and I didn't care about the characters quite as much as I did in Ghost World. If you're a fan already you'll enjoy it, but this shouldn't be your first Clowes book.
i loved it. dan clowes is totally one of my favorite authors, i love the humor and the way he crafts these odd characters in the book. i personally loved the kids in the story, and if you know me you know i hate kids so thats an accomplishment.
I'm a Daniel Clowes fan and I guess this is pretty great at the po-mo conceptual level but this one felt a little too much like Daniel Clowes making a story for Daniel Clowes. Also wonder what DC's official bibliographer thinks of "Harry Naybors."
This is very well done--just, well, desolate and crushing. I had to draw a response paper (I'm reading this for a Graphic Narrative class) and I drew myself sitting huddled on one of the deserted streets of the town, saying "Yikes."
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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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