Review by Booklist Review
Already highly regarded in alternative-comics circles for such impressive works as Ghost World0 (1997), Clowes takes his game to another, higher level in Ice Haven,0 surely one of the most accomplished graphic novels in recent memory. It is a tour-de-force made up of 29 interconnecting stories rendered in styles varying from mock documentary to pseudo- Peanuts,0 all depicting life in the town of Ice Haven, which is gripped by anxiety over a missing child. Clowes deftly brings an astonishing depth of characterization to a sizable cast that includes embittered poet Random Wilder; his amateur archrival, the grandmotherly Mrs. Ida Wentz; the husband-and-wife detective team investigating the child's disappearance; and Carmichael, a youngster obsessed by Leopold and Loeb. Although the work has a masterful formal complexity, the story itself is straightforward, and despite the emotional chilliness suggested by the town's name, Clowes exhibits a genuine, if submerged, sympathy for even the most misbegotten members of his cast. Ice Haven0 is relatively short for an ostensible novel--it's a reformatted version of a story that first appeared as a single issue of Clowes' comic book Eightball--0 but it possesses a 0 depth that few other graphic novels achieve, regardless of their length. --Gordon Flagg Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Clowes (Ghost World) casts a harsh spotlight on the misfit dreamers who inhabit the small town of Ice Haven in this riveting graphic novel. Originally published in a somewhat different form as part of Clowes's occasional comic book Eightball, this piece finds Clowes moving beyond the withering satire of his earlier works to a more nuanced style. Readers will wince even as they feel sympathy for the self-deluded characters who reside in Ice Haven. Take narrator Random Wilder, writer of doggerel poetry. One would think it'd be easy to be the best poet in a place like Ice Haven, but Wilder has a rival: Ida Wentz, an old woman who likes to bake cookies. Wilder spends his spare time plotting against her. Ida's visiting granddaughter, Vida, also has literary yearnings, despite having sold zero copies of her fanzine. These and other oddballs play out their stories against the mysterious disappearance of a little boy named David Goldberg, whose possible murder recalls the Leopold and Loeb case. Clowes unfolds the multifaceted story as a series of brief comics, some drawn in a wildly cartoony style, others in his well-known mid-20th-century look. Masterfully blending fact and fiction, this is a funny, sad, chilling and absurd work. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
This graphic novel transports us to the nutty Midwestern town of Ice Haven. With a six-city tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Previously published in the independent comic-book series âÇ£Eight Ball,âÇ this is a darkly comic romp through the small Midwestern town of Ice Haven. The basic story is pretty straightforward: a sad, quiet little boy named David Goldberg vanishes. But instead of delivering a pulp-inspired detective story, Clowes uses the child's tale mostly as a backdrop. His real interest is in the lives of the bizarre, yet all-too-real townsfolk. They include a lovesick teen, an irritable private detective, a poet, and a schoolyard bully. Although the characters are types, the author/illustrator embellishes them enough to make them unique and memorable. Through vignettes that jump perspective every few pages, readers witness their lives and individual reactions to David's disappearance. As the point of view shifts, so does the artwork. In showing how the event affects the boy's classmates, the panels take on a style inspired by Charles Schultz's Peanuts, but Clowes moves into satire with a bleakly funny schoolyard of kids talking quite openly about sex, drugs, and violence. Other vignettes pull from the motifs of detective strips, teen romances, and The Flintstones. While well-read comics fans will get most of the jokes, some references may frustrate or confuse readers. Overall, though, there is plenty here to enjoy.-Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
