Daniel Clowes was born in Chicago in 1961. In 1989 he founded the comic magazine Eightball, in which Ghost World was originally presented in serial form. His work has been translated into quite a few languages and he has received several awards for which he is most grateful. He currently resides in California where he conti8nues to produce Eightball on as frequent a basis as he is able.

#42 Ghost World by Dan Clowes
(From The Comics Journal -- Top 100 Comics Of The Century.)

With his graphic novella Ghost World, Daniel Clowes brilliantly bridges the gap between two styles of independent comics: smartass funnybooks like his own Eightball and character-driven autobiographical comics. What emerges is a modern comics masterpiece, a hilarious and affecting coming-of-age story. Two wickedly funny teen-age girls, Enid and Rebecca, struggle with sex, identity, loss of innocence, and those eternal adolescent questions: "what should we do now?" and "What should I do with my life?" Enid might be going off to college. Rebecca might wilt without her. Both might be in love with their quiet friend Josh. This would be terribly precious and sentimental if these young women didn't think so fast and talk so sharp, like their clear forbearers, Hopey and Maggie in Jaime Hernandez's Love & Rockets stories. Enid and Rebecca try to carve personae out of sheer attitude. But Clowes slices beneath the surface anger to show the sense of loss that haunts them, particularly Enid. The ghosts in her world are reminders of how much she has changed and will change, ghosts summoned by old toys, old clothes, old songs. Ghost World captures that painful first flowering of nostalgia. Clowes reminds us that even the most perfect adolescent friendships are as brittle and fleeting as the pop passions of our youth. The story marks a clever maturation for Clowes, from laughing at people to caring about characters who laugh at other people. He teases us with autobio elements - the anagram name Enid Coleslaw, the appearance of a "pervy" cartoonist named David Clowes - as if to say "There's a lot of truth here." But despite the too-rich dialog, the story's emotional authenticity is never in doubt. Simply put: you'll laugh, you'll cry.
-- Darcy Sullivan

Oscar Nomination: Best Adapted Screenplay (with Terry Zwigoff)

Indipendent Spirit Award: Best First Screenplay (with Terry Zwigoff)

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