This article appeared in the March issue of VICE magazine. Click HERE to subscribe.

Daniel Clowes was one of the first comic book authors taken seriously by jackasses who write book reviews and introductions. Between 1989 and 2004, he wrote Eightball, a series that he described as “An Orgy of Spite, Vengeance, hopelessness, despair, and Sexual Perversion.” It was also extremely funny.

He wrote a number of other book-length comics as well, including Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Pussey!, and Ghost World, which was later adapted into the movie. His latest graphic novel, Patience, has the naturalistic feel and the confidence that many contemporary fiction writers try to achieve. The story begins with an ordinary couple getting the news that—well—they are pregnant.

But then, the man comes home and finds the woman dead on the floor of their house. He’s suspected of murder, acquitted, and sets out to find the killer himself. He meets a guy who has a time machine, and he uses the device to try to change the course of events that led to his girlfriend’s death. He goes back to her teenage years, where he learns more about her and comes to terms with her sexual and emotional past—things he had not wanted to know about before her death. It’s a time-traveling love story by a beautiful, twisted genius. We hope you like it.

This article appeared in the March issue of VICE magazine. Click HERE to subscribe.