Mister Wonderful: A Love Story (Pantheon Graphic Library)

MISTER WONDERFUL is part of the endless repackaging of Daniel Clowes, though this piece (unlike most of his recent books) didn't first see life as a single issue of his old comics series, "Eightball." No, this first appeared in the short-lived New York Times Magazine "Funny Papers" section, one of the few moments when the Grey Lady tried to emulate regular newspapers.The story has been reworked slightly -- each large NYT page has been broken into two shorter, wider pages, to pad the length up to something that can be called a book -- and there are some other changes as well, but it's still the same, just told in a slightly different form. (And it's also a story very similar to Clowes's last standalone graphic novel,  Wilson .)Marshall is a middle-aged sad sack, divorced, lonely, nearly broke and with no real hopes of getting any better. He narrates this story -- intensively narrates it, in a caption-filled style very out of fashion in most of mainstream comics, which shoves us directly into his head and holds us there, hostage perhaps, until the end of the book. Marshall isn't great company, unfortunately -- he's obsessive about his own shortcomings, and self-flagellation is only interesting for so long.MISTER WONDERFUL is the story of one day in Marshall's life -- one night, really -- starting with a blind date, and continuing on from there. Marshall's been set up with Natalie by mutual friends, and Natalie is probably just as damaged as Marshall is, in her own ways -- but we only see her through Marshall's eyes, and only see her when Marshall gets out of the way, which is hardly ever. So MISTER WONDERFUL is primarily a tour through Marshall's psyche, with short stops along the way to take in some real-life events that illustrate that his poor self-image is well rooted in his actual competencies.It doesn't have the satirical edge of Clowes's earlier work -- Clowes wants us to identify with Marshall and care about him. (MISTER WONDERFUL is most like a work by a slightly more friendly, and less formalist, Chris Ware.) But Marshall is undeniably tedious and suffocating -- though he is nowhere near as horrible as the "hero" of Clowes's WILSON was, so he does have that to (very slightly) recommend him. Clowes can create characters that are damaged, self-obsessed, and fascinating -- recall Enid and Rebecca from  Ghost World  -- but, these days, he's tending to leave off "fascinating," which is unfortunate.

The postal service lost the first one and immediately sent another one after the first one didn’t bounce back I appreciate that Diego very much. Exceptional customer service then I ever expected,seriously great work.

Here we have another graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The plot: a middle aged sad sack goes on a blind date. That's it. That may sound boring, but Clowes has a knack for making ordinary people interesting. We get to "hear" the man's inner thoughts on that date, which sometimes "drown out" the dialog. If you are a Clowes fan like me, you will want to read this. If you have never read him before, I recommend starting with  Ghost World .

Daniel Clowes has an insight that is very unique and touches something in the psyche and soul about being human and living in the 21st Century. No other author seems to delve into the complex intellect of ordinary people and reveal a hidden world of emotion that his writing and art grant us to see and experience. In summation: Daniel Clowes shows everyone is seeking happiness and love in an unhappy and sometimes unforgiving world.

Simply put, this book is like a guy-friendly romcom told from the perspective of a self-deflating sad sack coming to the slow realization that he may be more likeable than he thought.

Clowes' weakest book. There was just nothing that jazzed me about the story or artwork. The characters were shallow - neurotic, and little more. The plot line was insubstantial and this is easily Clowes' most humorless work.Looking forward to better.

funny, but not hilarious - is daniel clowes over-rated??

this is a strangely good comic book. It gives the reader first per thoughts of the main character during his interactions with people.

Both the story and the drawing in this book come across as overly simplified in comparison to the previous work of Daniel Clowes I've read. It's really not as exciting as he can be and I would have expected. I believe it was first drawn as a newspaper comic strip and this may explain the relative dumbing down. The book is nicely produced, but that's a bit of a wasted effort for such thin content.

This is an amusing and slightly pathetic romantic comedy by Daniel Clowes. I like the format and the writing style but it's not his best work. If you don't know his work, I would recommend Ghost World and David Boring. (I don't think Caricature is as good).

Brilliant

Ce roman graphique est très convaincant tant qu'il reste à sa première étape (première moitié du livre) où il n'y a vraiment aucun "action". Le personnage principale, célibataire malgré lui, attend dans un café une femme avec qui il a rendez-vous. Il espère pouvoir nouer une relation avec elle. Pendant l'attente, il discute ferme avec lui-même. Une fois qu'elle est là, il continue avec tant de verve son monologue intérieur, qu'il entend à peine ce qu'elle lui dit... Le personnage de cet homme acquiert une réelle épaisseur psychologique, et ses atermoiements font de la BD un vrai roman, à la fois humoristique et grave, sur les doutes et les désespoirs de deux quadragénaires malheureux.Mais on a l'impression, une fois que les personnages sortent du café, que l'auteur a du boucler son texte en moins de pages qu'il ne l'aurait voulu. L'action accélère, de nouveaux personnages entrent en scène, on perd le monologue intérieur dont on n'entend plus que des bribes, et du coup la seconde moitié du récit semble un peu superficielle. Les réactions des deux personnages principaux moins motivées. On y croit moins. Et c'est nettement moins humoristique aussi. Il aurait fallu que la BD comporte une centaine de pages supplémentaires, que l'auteur prenne son temps, et on se serait vraiment régalé!

magico dan clowe, magica storia. per me uno dei massimo artisti viventi. sono davvero un fan di daniel clowes il fumettista.contro le graphic novel che girano adesso.