DANIEL CLOWES ON THE 'EIGHTBALL'

Cartoonist Daniel Clowes specializes in stylized moroseness-he makes abject despair funny. ''A lot of my attitude is a reaction to other comics,'' he says. ''They're so stupid, all that superhero stuff that looks like it's turned out by a corporate machine.'' Clowes' drawing has a crisp rigor that reminds some of early-'60s advertising art-it's realistic and surreal at the same time, quiet yet intense. ''I like to mix moods, to make comics that are both funny and angry, to throw readers off just when they think they've figured out which way the story is going.'' Clowes has a growing following for Eightball (Fantagraphics Books), an anthology of unnerving stories he calls ''deeply wacky but rooted in reality.'' Some of Clowes' best Eightball stories have been collected in the new book Lout Rampage. The Chicago artist, 31, is contemplating a move to L.A.: ''It seems like the most hideous place in the country, so it ought to inspire some good art.''