Daniel Clowes' masterpiece, in my opinion, is Ghost World, his graphic novel about a youthful social misfit named Enid. (The credible film adaptation was aided considerably by the acting talents of Thora Birch.)
But Clowes' new graphic novel, Wilson, is no slouch of a book. Here is a character we all hope we'll never become ... and yet Wilson's mix of misanthropy, pessimism and twisted hope seem all too universally human. Nearly all of us, now and then, can be contradictory in nature, sometimes cantankerous, perhaps even downright ornery.
Wilson, in his odd way, seeks the rainbow of happiness -- but can't seem to stop complaining that the hues are never quite right. In one episode here, he's walking his dog, and sneering at all the people who insist on saying hi to the pooch. Then a man walks by and does not greet the dog ... and Wilson prompty turns on the passerby and screams an obscenity at him.
Clowes has chosen to draw Wilson in a variety of styles. Some of the renderings are realistic, others quite cartoonish. I'm not sure I get the point of that; I found it jarring. Other than that, I have no complaints about this book. It's intelligent, wickedly funny, engaging ... and perhaps even morally instructive, if we allow ourselves to see (and prevent, to the extent we can) the worst aspects of Wilson in us all.