Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (1993) Signed First Edition Reference

Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron is Clowes’s first long-form narrative — a Lynchian noir serial originally published across Eightball #1–10 (1989–1993) and collected by Fantagraphics in 1993. The story follows Clay Loudermilk through an increasingly surreal landscape of body horror, conspiracy, and dread. It is Clowes at his most formally adventurous and tonally extreme.

First Edition Identification

The 1993 Fantagraphics collected edition is a trade paperback. First printing identifiable by copyright page. No dust jacket (softcover only).

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed first collected edition: $50–$125
• Unsigned first collected edition: $20–$50

Velvet Glove is the Clowes title most valued by readers who prefer his darker, more experimental mode over the observational realism of Ghost World. Its influence on subsequent surrealist comics (Charles Burns’s Black Hole, Jim Woodring’s Frank) is significant.