Books: Wilson

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Wilson
By Daniel Clowes
2010





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

I know that you might not believe me but one of the best things about working in a public library is the public. I mean - I know that they don't have the best reputation (and that Sid Vicious quote about the man on the street comes to mind) but mostly they're fun, smart and kind. Mostly [1]. Because sometimes sometimes you get people who make you give up all hope for humanity, the blowhards who only ask you a question so that they can give themselves a chance to speak. The people who aren't smart enough to realise that they're so very stupid and who - despite having absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever - still act as if they god's gift to the world. These are the men (and for whatever reason it's mostly men) who if you were given a choice between spending any small amount of time with them or clawing out your own eyes with a rusty spoon would have you immediately reaching for the cutlery drawer.

The funny thing tho - is however hellish it is to meet these people in real life - when they're trapped within the confines of a book [2] and you're siting comfortably locked away on the outside looking on: they're totally hilarious.

Which brings us to Wilson.

With pretty much every page broken into a six panel strip format this is a book that outwardly resembles (if you were just ideally flicking through it) an old-fashioned Sunday morning humorous strip where everything is always the same, nothing ever gets too deep and there's always a joke in the last panel: most of the drawings are pretty simple (just a few lines and nothing much more) and the colour palette is pretty bleak - all muted pinks and faded yellows. Unsurprisingly tho it's nothing of the sort.

If you've encountered any Daniel Clowes before then you probably know what to expect: staring a disgruntled, middle-aged sourfaced misery guts called Wilson who likes nothing better than complaining, whinging and whining. Sometimes you'll laugh with him, sometimes at him and sometimes not at all - and in fact maybe you'll just end up crying. With artwork that shifts style every page keeping you off balance and unsure - if you've ever found yourself raging impotently against a cruel and unjust world or cracked a joke that's everyone hated you for: then this is a comic that understands your pain and knows what it's like to hurt even worse.

Yes - it's bleak and unremitting (and there's lots of sharp turns that you won't see coming until it's too late - plus a delighful running joke about poo): but somehow strangely - it's also one of the lightest Daniel Clowes books I've read. Maybe it's the six panel format that keeps everything constantly moving forwards which means (unlike Wilson himself) you never get a chance to mope or perhaps it's the rat-a-tat-tat of the punchlines (however miserable) that keep firing and gives the whole experience a pulsing rhythm - but whatever it is - it's something that I would recommend without hesitation.

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[1] Yes that's an Aliens reference. Woo.

[2] See also: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole which may just be one of the funniest books ever written.

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Links: The Savage Critics: Round-Table Discussion, Guardian Daniel Clowes Interview, Comics Comics Article, Comics For Serious Article, Tearoom of Despair Article, Sean T Collins Review.

Further reading: The Death Ray, Ghost World, American Splendor: Best of American Splendor, Literary Life, Breakdowns, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth.

Profiles: Daniel Clowes.

All comments welcome