First date

Singles will be drawn in from the very first page of Mister Wonderful: A Love Story, which depicts 40-something, divorced Marshall sitting alone at a table for two and looking quite anxious about it. Expanded from a 2008 series Clowes created for The New York Times Magazine, this short, bittersweet graphic novel follows Marshall through a turbulent blind date with the reluctantly single (and potentially mentally ill) Natalie. Clowes cleverly shifts between Marshall’s romantic fantasies—which are literally drawn over Natalie’s actual dialogue—and the awkward reality of two vulnerable strangers struggling for conversation topics and some sort of real connection. Unspoken questions loom throughout: Can two idiosyncratic people with baggage, history and quirks ever really be compatible? If not, what is the alternative? Marshall and Natalie navigate dinner, a mugging and a really bad party while searching for the answer, ultimately arriving at something that just barely looks like hope.