Daniel Clowes: The Hero Complex interview

July 19, 2012 | 9:38 a.m.

“Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron” from the Japanese edition. (Credit: Daniel Clowes)

Daniel Clowes draws lonely weirdos, sulking man-beasts, leering hipsters and human canisters for a savage ennui. They live in numbed-out neighborhoods beneath skylines of spinster gray and seasick blue. And, yes, for 25 years now, all of it has been a wonderful sight to behold.

Clowes is the guest on the latest episode of “Hero Complex: The Show,” which you can find here below or over at Chris Hardwick’s mighty Nerdist Channel on YouTube. This interview was conducted at Meltdown Comics and it veers across the considerable career of Clowes — not unlike the recently released monograph “The Art of Daniel Clowes” (Abrams ComicArts, $40) or the tie-in exhibit, “Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes,” now underway at the Oakland Museum of California.

Clowes is best known for “Ghost World” and “Art School Confidential,” both of which were adapted to film by director Terry Zwigoff. For 2001′s “Ghost World,” the screenwriting tandem of Zwigoff and Clowes were nominated for an Oscar and took home an Independent Spirit Award for the movie that starred Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi and Brad Renfro. The Oakland artist’s work may have also reached you in the pages of ”Eightball,” “The Death Ray,” ”Ice Haven” or “Wilson” — or maybe one of his cover illustrations for the New Yorker – there certainly have been plenty of them.

Thanks for dropping by. We hope you enjoy watching “Hero Complex: The Show” as much as we enjoy making it. Who would you like to see on the show next? Let us know — leave a comment if you have the time.

– Geoff Boucher

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