Comic Review: Lost Cat

    As I’ve done several times before (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), I read this latest book from Jason with a smile on my face…and deep concern on my brow.  If you haven’t read Jason, stop what you’re doing, go to your local comic shop/book store/(or if need be) internet site and get a copy of, well any of his books.  I think I’d suggest starting with The Last Musketeer, but there are so many good ones.  Get it.  Read it.  And then come back.

    OK, now that you’re back, let me get on with this Lost Cat review.  This time ‘round, Jason introduces us to a Sam Spade/Philip Marlow type detective, who needs some money.  A lost cat might do the trick.  From there, the usual unusual things begin to happen.  Femme fatales, jilted lovers, aliens (?), an awful old guy, paintings, a robot.  And it’s all done in that special way, that quiet, reserved, melancholic way that Jason slaps you so hard with.  I get a similar feeling reading his books to what I experience watching Coen Brothers films.  If you write down the plot, there’s not much there.  Yet, within the spaces, there’s a universe of anxiety, pain, bafflement, and resigned humor.  I love it.

    I’m not going to go into the plot of this particular book, or even point out certain highlights.  I’m just going to say that Jason is one of the most consistently enjoyable writers or artists working in the field today.  Every time I read a book by him, it’s like a breath of fresh air, blowing in from lost summers of youth.  Until his next book, I’m done blubbering on about how great he is.  You need to go find out for yourself.

Lost Cat
Author/Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-60699-642-3

-Matt

Comic Review: What I Did

    Sad, sad, sad.  Oh, man, that’s some sad stuff.  Jason is easy to read.  It’s light stuff.  Long sections of mostly wordless comic strips.  You know, simple.  Except that he’s a bastard who grabs your heart and craps in it.  What I did is a collection of three Jason books.  Each one is good, and each fairly different, while still being very much of his style.

    In ‘Hey, Wait…’ he takes us back to the happy days of youth.  Flying pterodactyls like kites, checking out girls, loving Batman, and being menaced by bully zombies.  And then tragedy.  From that point on, we follow the sad life of a man consumed by guilt.  And it’s heartbreaking.  ‘Sshhhh!’ is a weird one, even for Jason.  It seems to hop realities, break all sorts of rules, and flow with an only slight hold on coherency.  But it does have some great gags.  The uplifting then crushing love story in the first chapter is great.  The fantasies about an ex in chapter five…Oh, man.  I get that.  The final part of the book is ‘The Iron Wagon’ an adaptation of a classic Norwegian mystery novel.  The story is pretty typical of that turn of the 20th century detective fiction.  And as an adaptation, I think it lacks some of Jason’s magic.  But it’s still interesting to see him turn his art style onto someone else’s story.

    Jason’s work always leaves an impression.  This is no different.  He’s someone to seek out, especially if you’re either not normally a comic reader, or are, but are in the mood for something different.  It’s different all right.

What I Did
Author & Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-60699-414-6

-Matt

Comic Review: Almost Silent

    We here at In the Mouth of Dorkness can not get enough of the mad Norwegian comic creator Jason.  Almost Silent is another large anthology, with lots and lots of shorts, and a couple longer stories.  And it’s all kinds of twisted, hysterical, sad, and awkward fun.

    ‘Meow, Baby’ starts things off, and it’s primarily very short bits.  A lot of them feature mummies, vampires, Frankenstein monsters, and Elvis.  All with old-timey looking animal heads.  You know, Jason style!  You know what’s sad?  A vampire that can’t score.  Then gets staked.  That’s sad.  A mummy that feels guilty about masturbating.  That’s sad.  A Frankenstein’s monster doing…well, just about anything.  That’s sad.  Why can’t he just enjoy himself without a crowd of torch bearing peasants out for blood?  And a terminator who isn’t very quick with a comeback.  Sad.  Next up is ‘Tell Me Something,’ which is just a darned depressing story about two couples, murder, and rain.  How does this stuff make me smile, even while making me feel bad?  The third section is ‘You Can’t Get There From Here,’ another story of love among lonely people.  Two hunchbacked henchmen having coffee, an evil scientist, his male creation, and female creation in a love triangle.  And then another female creation…what’s her deal?  Torch bearing peasants, betrayal, kidnapping, and unexpected love.  Wow.  Lastly there’s ‘The Living and the Dead,’ a very, very sad story about love during a zombie apocalypse.  A dishwasher who is trying to save up for a visit with a prostitute manages to save her from flesh eaters, and take her on a run for their lives.  Again, it’s weird to find such awful things so cute and funny, while also finding them melancholic.  But that’s what Jason does.  That’s his gift, I guess.  Mad bastard.

    If you haven’t read Jason before…well, you’re not living your life correctly.  But this isn’t the place to start.  It’s not bad.  If you’ve bought this book already, I’m not saying don’t read it.  But if you haven’t (and you should), I would start with something like ‘The Left Bank Gang’ or ‘I Killed Adolf Hitler.’  Every time I read Jason, I feel good and bad, happy and sad.  I think of old loves, and the ass I’ve made of myself.  I think of all the things I wish I’d said, and all the things I really wish I hadn’t.  But I also think of the bittersweet ecstasy of danger that comes with love.  And sometimes, that’s what I need.  Also, I like seeing Elvis and Godzilla fight.

Almost Silent
Author & Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-606-99315-6

-Matt

Comic Reviews: Werewolves of Montpellier & Isle of 100,000 Graves

Werewolves of Montpellier

    Oh, man.  This story of a jewel thief in France is once again both funny and sad in the way only Jason can do.  He’s just a sad guy, hanging out with a woman he really likes, who he can’t be with, and playing chess with a guy who likes looking at ladies.  The conversations are awesome, from a discussion of French actresses to why our hero has trust issues.  Oh, and there are werewolves.  Oops.

    Jason’s work is painful.  It grabs me by the guts and twists.  I understand his characters.  They are me, my fears, my dreams, my moods.  I feel like he’s writing my inner monologue.  I’m still baffled by how he’s able to express so much in such simple art.

Isle of 100,000 Graves

    Good golly.  Jason teams up with Fabien Vehlmann for this weirdass pirate story.  A young girl goes in search of her father, teaming up with a ship full of pirates.  They find much more than they bargained for.  If you’ve read Jason’s other work, you should know what to expect.  It’s all so surreal, so deadpan, so funny, yet so danged sad.

    You’ve got to be down with grim humor, though.  I guess that’s not new for Jason, either.  But the executioner’s school stuff is pretty messed up, but also pretty danged funny.  Strangling finals.  A lesson on unacceptable facial expressions for severed heads.  The headmaster’s philosophical ramblings about the artistic merit of torture and execution being lost on the modern world.  All madness.  If there’s something wrong with you and you know it, you should at least give Jason’s books a try.

Werewolves of Montpellier
Author & Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-6069-9359-0

Islae of 100,000 Graves
Authors: Jason & Fabien Vehlmann
Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-6069-9442-9

-Matt

Comic Reviews: The Left Bank Gang & Skizz

The Left Bank Gang

    Jason is a master of his particular craft.  He makes some of the most beautifully melancholy things I’ve ever read.  His characters are sad, funny, and dangerous.  With fairly simple artwork, he conveys so much emotion.  The slump of a shoulder, the panel of pause, the tilt of a head.  It’s amazing how much can get across his cartoon animal faces.

    This story features those American authors who went to Paris, drank and slept their way through days and nights, and somehow found time to produce a book or two.  Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound, and others all contemplate their lives and chosen careers.  Here Jason manages to sum up the life of a writer so well.  “It’s too late now.  It’s the only thing I know how to do.”  The eventual crime caper somehow manages to become even more profoundly sad.  If you haven’t experienced Jason’s specific brand of comic literature, do yourself a favor and try it out.  He can sometimes be painful to read, but that’s because the truth can hurt.

Skizz

    From the pages of the UK anthology comic, 2000 AD comes Skizz, or Alan Moore’s Howard the Duck.  It’s the story of a goofy looking alien that crash lands in the slums of Birmingham, where he is befriended by a teen punk girl.  A mindlessly evil government goon is out for alien blood.  With the help of a smooth operator and a half-checked out Jason Statham looking goon, the girl does her all to keep Skizz out of harm.

    It’s an enjoyable, if not especially good comic.  Jim Baikie’s art is awesome.  It has that Euro-comic style I enjoy.  2000 AD and Heavy Metal tended to feature a lot of it.  Like a riff on 40s and 50s American comics of Russ Manning, Frank Frazetta, or Mac Raboy, with a punk and rock sensibility.  This is still early Moore, so the writing is a touch dense, but not as sprawling and not at all cluttered.  But when it comes down to it, the story is just too simple.  There’s not much to any of it.  The art is the most interesting thing.

The Left Bank Gang
Author & Artist: Jason
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 978-1-5609-7742-1

Skizz
Author: Alan Moore
Artist: Jim Baikie
Publisher: Titan Books/2000 AD
ISBN: 978-1-840-234450-3

-Matt