Dan Clowes on Old Comics

n 2004, cartoonist Dan Clowes released the 23rd and (so far) final issue of his groundbreaking alt-comics series Eightball. The oversized Eightball No. 23 contained only one story: “The Death-Ray,” a dissection of superhero myths and patriotic fervor that, at the time, The A.V. Club dubbed “another story for the comics canon” and which we later included in our list of “The Best 25 Comics Of The ’00s.” This month, Drawn & Quarterly is re-releasing “The Death-Ray” in a hard-bound edition, and Clowes spoke with The A.V. Club about his mindset when he was working on the book a decade ago, how his approach differed on his more recent books Wilson and Mister Wonderful, and what the creator of Ghost World has planned for the near future, both in comics and as a screenwriter.