Ice Haven

Welcome to Ice Haven!

It's not as cold here as it sounds, declares Random Wilder, our reluctant guide to this sleepy Midwestern town. He's also its would-be poet laureate. Would-be, that is, were it not for the florid banalities of his arch-rival, Ida Wentz, published ad nauseam in the Ice Haven Daily Progress. Among Wilder's other fellow Ice Havians are the lovelorn Violet Van der Plazt and Vida Wentz; the detective team of Mr. and Mrs. Ames; the adorable interracial moppets Carmichael and Paula; disaffected stationery salesgirl Julie Patheticstein; the Blue Bunny, newly sprung from prison and the bitterest rabbit in town; and poor little David Goldberg, missing for more than a week now...

While Dan Clowes had gotten a nod from the mainstream — an Oscar nomination for the screen adaptation of "Ghost World" — his work remains wonderfully idiosyncratic and imaginative. The lives of the men and women of Ice Haven are woven into a multi-layered tale that, while it owes a debt to Our Town, is ultimately based on and inspired by...Leopold and Loeb. No kidding. Only Daniel Clowes could do it and, luckily for us, he has.

"[Clowes] has done his usual meticulous job of nailing character, tone, and inner monologue....But his Art Spiegelman-like experimentation with different illustration styles — without losing his own unique line — is what make the pages such jewels. (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly

"[Clowes'] rich, challenging work consistently gives advocates ammunition for the argument that comics deserve to be taken as seriously as any other art form. Without taking itself too seriously, Ice Haven pulls that off again." Philadelphia Enquirer

Clowes, who received an Oscar nomination for the screen adaptation of his graphic novel Ghost World, weaves a multi-layered tale that, while it owes a debt to Our Town, is ultimately based on and inspired by the case of Leopold and Loeb. Illustrations.

Daniel Clowes was born in Chicago in 1961. He is the creator of the comic book Eight-Ball, twenty-one issues of which have been published to date. His work has appeared in Esquire, the New Yorker, Vogue, Time, and Newsweek, among others. Nominated for an Academy Award for the screen adaptation> of his acclaimed graphic novel Ghost World, he lives a childless, petless life in California with his beloved wife.