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''Eightball'' is a comics anthology series written and drawn by Daniel Clowes. It was first published in 1989 by Fantagraphics Books as a SpiritualSuccessor to Clowes's previous comic series ''Lloyd Llewellyn''.

While early issues of the series tended to focus on humor and social satire, the subject matter shifted over the run to focus more on character-driven dramas. As Clowes's writing began taking on more of a novelistic voice, the series began to focus on longer stories, and the anthology format (wherein Clowes would showcase a variety of artistic and writing styles in works that ranged anywhere from single page joke strips to serialized urban horrors) was seen less and less.

Throughout the series, Clowes makes many allusions to comic book culture, particularly to UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} comics of {{Creator/Marvel|Comics}} and Creator/{{DC|Comics}}. Some of the strips written in homage to this era include "Black Nylon"--about a delusional superhero--and ''The Death Ray''--a stand-alone story about a genuinely superpowered teen who derives his abilities from nicotine. This fascination with the larger comics world is also embodied by one of the series few recurring characters, Dan Pussey. A comic artist who rises to a short-lived fame followed by a long-lived obscurity, Dan's tale is a fictionalized blend of the biographies of several comic artists whose careers saw severe ups and downs, such as Creator/SteveDitko, Creator/RobLiefeld, and the team of [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Siegel And Shuster]].

Several ''Eightball'' strips have been adapted for the screen, including ''ComicBook/GhostWorld'' and ''ComicBook/ArtSchoolConfidential''.

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!!Tropes found in ''Eightball'' include:

* AnthologyComic: The series began as heavily anthologized, with each individual issue packed with comics that ran the gamut from introspective drama to absurdist slapstick. The series veered away from this in latter issues, instead focusing on issue-spanning stories; though the anthology format was still played with, albeit in a more [[Creator/RobertAltman Altmanesque]] fashion, where many stylistically different vignettes are presented, yet they all interconnect around some central plot or shared setting.
* CerebusSyndrome: While there the series never shied away from the dark and dramatic, early issues also featured a mix of comedic pieces of all stripes, from satire to absurdist humor. As Clowes became recognized more for his serious-toned work, though, the proliferation of humor pieces decreased. Acknowledged by Clowes when he released ''Twentieth-Century Eightball'', a collection of all the funny bits from the early days.
* MostWritersAreWriters: The stories frequently star artists and writers. Enid Coleslaw of ''ComicBook/GhostWorld'' was an artist, as is Dan Pussey. It's alluded to in ''David Boring'' that the title character is a multimedia artist. Two of ''Ice Haven'''s main characters are writers. Then there are the ''numerous'' short strips about artists and writers (''ComicBook/ArtSchoolConfidential'', ''Ink Studs'', etc.).
* ObsceneOBGYN: Played with in the short story "Gynecology", where local gynecologist Martin Ten Boom is assumed to be some sort of degenerate because of his profession, and his wife uses this as an excuse to cheat on him with protagonist Epps, but the only indication that he might be up to something is his taking photos of a celebrity's vagina, which may have been diagnostic for a venereal disease. At any rate, he ends up ruined when Epps steals the photos from his office and sells them to the editor of a pornographic magazine, which results in Dr. Ten Boom getting sued and settling out of court.
* OneWordTitle
* PronouncingMyNameForYou: Dan Pussey is insistent that his last name is pronounced "Poo-SAY." [[UnfortunateNames This is not a deterrent to his schoolyard tormentors.]]
* {{Surrealism}}: Stock-in-trade for much of the entries in the series. Its first, long-running serial--an urban horror called ''ComicBook/LikeAVelvetGloveCastInIron''--dealt with dreams and nightmares, and in that effort avoided certainty and clarity, and instead strung together a set of bizarre, often disconnected episodes its protagonist would find himself in.
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