The first issue of Eightball (Oct. 1989) had a print run of 3,000. By issue #18 (1997), the print run was approximately 25,000.[2] The first 18 issues were published in a traditional comic book size and format; beginning with issue #19 (May 1998), Eightball was published in full color in a larger magazine-sized format.
Contents
Early issues of Eightball feature 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. Clowes has stated that his initial inspiration for the comic were anthologies such as Mad magazine that he read as a kid.[3][4][2]
The first extended story serialized in Eightball was Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, which ran in issues #1–10. Like a Velvet Glove... was followed by Pussey! (serialized in issues #1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 14), and Ghost World (serialized in issues #11–18). David Boring, serialized in issues #19-21, and Ice Haven (issue #22) were also later collected as graphic novels.
"Art School Confidential," from issue #7 (Nov. 1991), inspired the 2006 film of the same name. It was directed by Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes wrote the screenplay.[4] The story "Ugly Girls," from issue #8 (March 1992) features a prototype of Enid Coleslaw from Ghost World.
The story "Velvet Glove," from issue #11 (June 1993) is a parody of bad film adaptations, using the just-completed Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron as its source, with behind-the-scenes segments showing an increasingly anxious Clowes in talks with a clueless Hollywood producer, and scenes from the resulting movie, in which the main character Clay Loudermilk is portrayed as a tough, sarcastic police detective who plays by his own rules and makes pithy remarks (such as, "What are you lookin' at?") before shooting his enemies. Tina is recast as a space alien who gives "Clay" a ring of power.
The Buddy Bradley story in issue #13 (April 1994) is based on characters created by Peter Bagge and featured in his Fantagraphics title Hate. The Feldman character from issue #15 (April 1995) makes an appearance in the film version of Ghost World (2001).
Eightball #18 (March 1997) included a bound-in copy of Clowes's 16-page black, white and red illustrated pamphletModern Cartoonist.
Starting with #19 (May 1998), each issue of Eightball was devoted to a single storyline, as opposed to the more eclectic format of the earlier issues. Issues #19–21 serialized the graphic novel David Boring, while issue #22 consisted of a collection of short, fragmentary stories in diverse styles and formats that meshed into a unified narrative ("Ice Haven"). The final issue, #23, was a full-color, single-story comic — "The Death Ray" — released in 2004.[5]
Individual issues
Issue #
1st Print Date
Stories
1
Oct - 89
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "Devil Doll", "The Laffin' Spittin' Man", "Young Dan Pussey", "What is the Most Important Invention of the Twentieth Century?"
2
Feb - 90
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "The Truth", "I Hate You Deeply" (Lloyd Llewellyn), "What Do You Think George Washington's Voice Sounded Like?"
3
Jun- 90
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "The Stroll", "The Young Manhood of Dan Pussey", "What Can Robots Do?"
4
Oct - 90
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "I Love You Tenderly" (Lloyd Llewellyn), "The Future", "Dan Pussey's Masturbation Fantasy", "Sexual Frustration", "What Do You Do for a Cold?"
5
Oct - 90
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "Just Another Day", "Playful Obsession", "Paranoid"
6
Jun - 91
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "The Dr. Infinity Story" (Dan Pussey), "Marooned"
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron", "Ugly Girls", "Grist for the Mill", "Dan Pussey Presents Komic Kollector's Korner", "Nature Boy", "Give it Up", "My Suicide", "Dialogues from Duplex Planet"
9
Sep - 92
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron"
10
Feb - 93
"Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron" (conclusion)
11
Jun - 93
"Velvet Glove", "Ghost World", "The Party", "The Fairy Frog", "The Happy Fisherman", "Why I Hate Christians", "Ectomorph"
12
Nov - 93
"Ghost World", "Hippypants and Peace Bear", "The Origin of Dan Pussey", "Glue Destiny"
13
Apr - 94
"Ghost World", "Buddy Bradley in 'Who Would You Rather Fuck: Ginger or Mary Ann?'", "Blue Italian Shit", "Cool Your Jets", "Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine"
14
[Nov - 94]
"Ghost World", "The Goldmommy", "On Sports", "The Death of Dan Pussey", "The Sensual Santa"
Eightball occupied the center of comics discourse for more than fifteen years, not just an award-winning series but a long-running critical consensus, It was repeatedly judged — by peers, critics, and institutions — as the place where writing, drawing, humor, design, and serialized storytelling were all being pushed forward at once.
Controversy
The comic generated controversy when a high school teacher in Guilford, Connecticut, gave Eightball #22 (Ice Haven) to a student as a make-up summer reading assignment. The parents of the student had concerns about the book's appropriateness. The superintendent of Guilford High School said the book was inappropriate for 13-year-olds and placed the teacher on leave. The teacher resigned before the matter was fully investigated.[6] The Guilford school district and principal were criticized for getting police involved and trying the issue in a "kangaroo court".[7]
Awards
Eightball was one of the most persistently award-nominated comics of the 1990s and early 2000s, across U.S. and international awards. Year after year, Clowes and Eightball appeared on ballots for the Harvey and Eisner Awards in nearly every major creative category: writing, art, cartooning, lettering, inking, humor, serialization, and overall series. The sheer repetition of these nominations — often multiple categories in the same year — signaled a sustained perception of Eightball as the standard-bearer for alternative comics.[8]
At the Eisners, Eightball and its component stories (Ghost World, Caricature, David Boring) were repeatedly nominated for — and frequently won — top honors for Best Writer/Artist, Best Short Story, Best Serialized Story, Best Humor Publication, and Best Lettering, reflecting both formal innovation and tonal range. Meanwhile, the Harvey Awards consistently recognized Clowes not just as a writer or artist but as a complete cartoonist, with recurring nominations for Best Cartoonist, Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Letterer, and Best Continuing or Limited Series, along with multiple Special Awards for Humor and Excellence in Presentation.
Crucially, the Ignatz Awards — often seen as the most ideologically aligned with the indie and small-press scene[9] — reinforced Eightball's centrality to alternative comics culture. The series was repeatedly nominated for Outstanding Series, Outstanding Comic, Outstanding Story, and Outstanding Artist, winning frequently, marking it as a defining work within the community that the Ignatzes specifically exist to honor.[8]
The recognition also extended beyond the U.S., with nominations and wins such as the UK Comic Art Award and Spain's Haxtur Award, underscoring Eightball's international influence and translation into other comics traditions.
12Kino, Carol (March 30, 2012). "Humanity's Discomfort, Punctured With a Pen". The New York Times. ...Eightball won industry awards like the Eisner, the Harvey and the Ignatz most years it came out.
↑Spratford, Sam (Sep 15, 2025). "Self-Publishers Rise Up at 2025 Ignatz Awards". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on Sep 25, 2025. The Ignatz Awards were launched... to honor the work of indie comics and graphic novel creators whose work 'challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression.'
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
