David Boring (2000) Signed First Edition Reference

David Boring is Clowes’s ambitious noir graphic novel, originally serialized in Eightball #19–21 (1998–2000) and collected by Pantheon in 2000 — marking Clowes’s first publication with a major trade publisher. The story follows the titular David Boring through a narrative that blends romantic obsession, apocalyptic dread, and the protagonist’s fixation on a forgotten comic book created by his absent father.

First Edition Identification

The 2000 Pantheon hardcover with dust jacket is the true first collected edition. First printing identifiable by the number line on the copyright page. The move to Pantheon (a Knopf/Random House imprint) signaled alternative comics’ entry into mainstream literary publishing.

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed Pantheon first edition hardcover: $50–$125
• Unsigned first edition: $15–$40

David Boring is the Clowes title most admired by critics — dense, allusive, formally sophisticated. Its market value lags behind Ghost World because it lacks the crossover accessibility, but among serious Clowes collectors it is regarded as his most technically accomplished work of the period.