The Complete Eightball 1-18

Welcome to my 1990s, which you can now purchase in a single package for $49.95. I came to Eightball midway through its run, walking down to Fallout Comics to catch up on an early issue or—happy day!—find a new one in the rack, for $2 or $3 of my hard-earned grad-student stipend. Three decades later (!), it's as glorious as ever, full of creepy nightmares, bitter invective, grotesque weirdos, and possibly the greatest lettering in the history of human communication. Ghost World, first serialized here, is justifiably recognized as Clowes's masterpiece, but seeing it in its original setting, alongside one-off gags, comics self-satire, and other nearly-as-good long-form tales, makes it even more miraculous. This might be my desert-island book, if it didn't make me feel so bad about people that I'd never want to return to society.