Yes, believe it or not, it's been three years since Eightball #22.  Is #23 worth the wait?  We'll leave that for you to decide.  Suffice it to say that Mr. Clowes is a singular talent and that he has put this talent in the service of his generation (i.e. the tail-end of the baby boom) in telling this particular tale; a tale that it is deleriously difficult -- if not downright dangerous -- to describe.  It is a tawdry tale of teen trauma.  It is a meditation on the role played by super heroes in shaping the psyche and -- perhaps -- in contributing to psychosis, as well:  a look at what type of personality results from someone who never manages to advance beyond the world view and mind set engendered by adolescent power-fantasies.  It is, in addition, a bit of alternate-reality autobiography:  a sort of, "There but for the grace of God (or, as Clowes might have it, Harvey Kurtzman) go I."  Throughout it all, Clowes deftly employs his arsenal of finely honed comics craft:  pacing, panel layout, page composition, pencilling, inking, coloring, lettering -- and most especially the overall construction of the book, when taken as an organic whole -- all are uniformly excellent here, and continue in the direction that Clowes initiated with Eightball #22.  All long time devotees of Clowes  will find it difficult if not impossible to pass this issue up.  Novices and initiates may find themselves confused at times as to what, exactly, he is up to here, but will -- surely -- nevertheless manage to experience the pleasures of the text.