Written by Daniel ClowesIllustrated by Daniel Clowes
Fantagraphics
Quite a few years ago, I watched the movie version of Ghost World. I vaguely remember it as being okay but just a fairly typical movie about teens going nowhere, which periodically are all the rage.
Erica grabbed the Ghost World trade so I figured I'd read it and see whether the source material was more interesting to me. Honestly, not a whole lot.
The two female protagonists do the typical ambling about their world, interacting in what seems to be disastrous ways with a creepy fortune teller, a smart but virginal boy, and quite a few little characters that are played and manipulated, some fairly and even more unfairly.
One girl changes her look as she tries to figure out what to do with her life. The other has the look people want but the self-esteem of a slug, perhaps less. They've formed a fragile bond against humanity, but once they start to run out of other people to harm, then inevitably turn on to each other.
All in, the story's okay, the art has a nifty retro feel on it, but I just don't think this is nearly as clever as it's been billed. Your mileage may vary, though. Also, I am notoriously hard on things that people rave about, so it is entirely possible this particular review is worthless.
A final note--Erica loved this one finding no objections to the same things I had a problem with. So like I said, my review is probably not worth much. But only this time!
