Eightball (comics)

Eightball (comics)

Eightball is an alternative comic book series written and drawn by Daniel Clowes. The first issue was published by Fantagraphics Books in 1989, soon after the end of Clowes's previous comic series, Lloyd Llewellyn. It has consistently been among the best-selling independently authored comics.

Early issues of Eightball featured a mixture of very short, often crudely humorous comics ("Zubrick and Pogeybait", "The Sensual Santa"), topical rants and satires ("Art School Confidential", "On Sports"), longer, more reflective self-contained stories ("Caricature", "Immortal Invisible"), and serialized works. The first extended story to be serialized in Eightball was Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, which ran in issues #1 through 10. Glove was followed by Ghost World (issues #11 through 18). Beginning with #19 each issue of Eightball has been devoted to a single storyline, as opposed to the more eclectic format of the earlier issues. Issues #19 through 21 serialized the graphic novel David Boring, while issues #22 and 23 each consisted of a collection of short, fragmentary stories in diverse styles and formats that meshed into a unified narrative ("Ice Haven" and "The Death Ray", respectively). Also, the issues of Eightball beginning with #19 have been published in full color in a larger magazine-sized format.

Eightball #18 included a bound-in copy of Clowes's pamphlet/minicomic Modern Cartoonist.