That actually might be a slight exaggeration; in lots of ways, Clowes’ work is sort of sui generis, so maybe it’s just a victory for him. But what the hell, he’s great. Certainly, no other recent comic artist has put together anything as wildly thought-provoking and skewed as Clowes’ Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (maybe Charles Burns’ Black Hole comes closest) but Clowes also has Ghost World and David Boring and Wilson under his belt, and put all together it’s a body of work that is demonstrably based in the real world and… yet… isn’t, even if a particular piece doesn’t feature a deformed half-mermaid girl and a dog with no orifices, like Velvet Glove does. (Yeah, it’s intriguing and eerily beautiful, and no, I don’t know what it means.) So: Oakland gets the exhibit now, until August, and then it hits the road, so get ready, Cleveland/Chicago/DC, ’cause you guys are next. (FULL ARTICLE: Laura Sydell, NPR)