Wilson by Dan Clowes

In the mid-90's I became an avid reader of comic books and this introduced me to a world of artists my age and from the past that I would never have known. Now with most of these artists on the cover of the New Yorker or regular strips in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, I suppose they would be considered mainstream. And if that means that these great artists have a wider audience, than I'm all for it. Their attention to storytelling, craft and the history of the art influenced me tremendously.

On my first internship in NYC around 1998, I would blow about $40 every Wednesday at St. Marks Comics, drop over to a coffee shop and read them all in one fell swoop like a junkie with the shakes. The Hernandez Brothers's Love and Rockets, the informative and historical tome Drawn & Quarterly, Joe Sacco's Palestine series, Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve, Transmetropolitan, Joe Matt's Peep Show, anything by Seth and of course Dan Clowes's Eightball.

Dan Clowes was always close to my heart, because as an aspiring artist, I sent him some of my crap comics at the time and he took the effort to write back an encouraging note. That has always touched me.

So, today I just found out, Dan's got something new, Wilson. And I think I'll swing by St. Mark's and pick one up. It will make me feel young again.