Sshhhh!

Sshhhh! is a peculiar and fascinating look at love and life. It is a wordless graphic novel starring an anthropomorphic crow in ten different chapters that might be a continuous story or just random episodes that happen to be compiled here. These stories range from romantic interludes that can be rather mundane but also fantastic, as the couples are beset by villainous vultures, space aliens, and other interlopers.

Other episodes are more metaphysical, with the main character encountering personifications of death, the devil, and, in one instance, himself. The symbolic characteristics of these stories, which feature emotionless faces and characters devoid of affect, leave them widely open for interpretation. They are surreal, strange, and often disturbing, but they also sometimes resemble parables. Some of them are more substantive than others, but I think overall this book took me on a worthwhile roller-coaster ride of situations and emotions.

The prolific Jason is a Norwegian cartoonist who has won a number of awards, including the Inkpot, Harvey, Ignatz, and multiple Eisners. Among his many books are I Killed Hitler, Athos in America, Low Moon, Werewolves of Montpellier, and The Left Bank Gang. He speaks more about his various works in this interview.

The reviews I have read about this book have praised its craft if not always its content. Parabasis called it "a delightful examination of love and loneliness." Jason Michelitch wrote that "Jason’s formal inventiveness is clever and at times breathtakingly elegant, but the...stories presented here don’t have the substance that his style seems to demand." Christian Perring took a more philosophical view of the book and concluded, "As an unusual illustration of core existentialist themes – hell is other people, we live and die alone, the contemplation of suicide – SSHHHH! works remarkably well."

Sshhhh! was published in the US by Fantagraphics, and they have a preview and much more here. Because of its adult themes, some sexual scenes, and some violence, I suggest it for more mature readers.

Sshhhh! has also been adapted into a short film, which you can watch here.

A Couple More Myths and Legends

Today's look at Lerner Publishing's Graphic Universe books features a couple written by Jeff Limke. He is an educator who has written many comics, and he seems to specialize in historical myths and fantasy stories.

Jason: Quest for the Golden Fleece is sort of like the Greek myth version of The Expendables, with a band of Greek heroes, including Heracles and the twins, Castor and Pollux, led by Jason on a series of adventures. In terms of this story, both brute strength and intelligence are necessary elements. I also have to say to those who are familiar with this story that the characters here are more clever than duplicitous (there are a bunch of double crossers in the versions I remember). On the plus side, the story has all kinds of great action/adventure elements, with Jason contending against fire-breathing bulls, skeleton warriors, and even a dragon.

I liked the energy and pacing in this story. The artwork, by Tim Seeley, co-creator of Hack/Slash and Revival, was crisp and very enticing. He also draws great monsters and attractive human beings in a dynamic style, which is very well suited to this particular narrative.

If I had a quibble with this book, it is with the ending, which has Medea tossing her kid brother into the ocean rather than cutting him up into little bits and a happy scene with Jason and Medea pledging their love to each other. I get that this book is geared toward younger readers, but I did blanch a little that the gory details and abject state of affairs Jason finally fell into were omitted.
 

This second book, King Arthur: Excalibur Unsheathed, is an excellent introduction for younger readers into the world of Arthurian legends. Adapted from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, this book recounts tales of King Arthur from his youth, from his pulling the legendary sword from the stone, to his struggles to assert his rule as a young king. He vies with King Pellinore (who will later be his ally), meets Lady Guinevere (who will later be his wife), and adventures with Merlin as he seeks his birthright and a new sword. These are fun, exciting, and extremely well rendered episodes in the time before Arthur grew his beard and came to more complicated and treacherous affairs. Like the Jason book above, the narrative ends before the grim parts of these heroes' lives.

 

Also like the Jason volume, the highlight (not to detract from the good story) is the artwork, here by Thomas Yeates, a very respected comics veteran. His style is intricate, realistic, and somewhat soft, smacking of his influences, Hal Foster, N.C. Wyeth, and Wally Wood.

So, to sum up today's books. They both have well presented stories, excellent artwork, and I recommend them as introductions into the world of myth and legend. I think they would both be popular with upper elementary readers who like action and adventure tales especially.

I Killed Adolf Hitler

I really enjoy time travel stories like The Terminator and Dr. Who, with all their baggage about the ethics of changing the past and possibly damaging the time stream that they bring. This story is ostensibly about that, set in a world where assassins are commonly employed to deal with family troubles, marital strive, or conniving co-workers. One of these assassins is hired to go back in time to kill Adolf Hitler and prevent the horrors of World War II.

The rules are fixed so that there won't be multiple trips back and forth, making for a high stakes trip.

Unfortunately for the protagonist, he does not get things right the first time, and in fact not only muffs the assassination but also allows Hitler to flee to the future, leaving himself trapped in the past. Seeing how he deals with his plight and how all of these actions connect to his relationship with his estranged girlfriend make for some very interesting and all too human character dynamics. The narrative is an unpredictable and subtly complex ride, and it is no surprise to me that this book has been optioned by a British producing company to be made into a movie.

I Killed Adolf Hitler was created by Jason, a Norwegian comics artist whose actual name is John Arne Sæterøy. He has been a prolific author of international renown, publishing many books such as Athos in America, Low Moon, Hey Wait..., and The Left Bank Gang. He has received many accolades, winning an Inkpot Award, multiple Eisner Awards, and a Harvey Award. He speaks about his work and influences in this interview.

As you can see from the excerpts, Jason's style is pretty stylized and spare. Words can be sparse in his panels. The use of anthropomorphic animals adds a creepy vibe to the proceedings; they are deadpan "funny animals" that do not seem funny at all. I think they add a surreal touch to all of his works, and also their expressionless faces and animal identities leave them pretty open to interpretation and expression. I think that they are very sturdy, empty vessels for readers to fill with meaning.

Also, despite the funny animal characters, this is not a book for young children. There is some explicit language as well as bloody violence.

This book won the Eisner Award for best US Edition of International Material, and reviews I have read about it have been very positive. Seth T. Hahne called it "a terse, well-told, and well-managed story that is equal parts humourous, morbid, thoughtful, and touching." Mark Andrew commented that Jason's works, in particular this book, "demonstrate a huge breadth of understanding of the multiple dimensions of the human experience," even if he does draw all that well in his opinion. The reviewer at read/RANT marveled at "the subtle, yet conceptually complex, love story that slowly emerges from the background and transmutes unexpectedly into the main plot."

I Killed Adolf Hitler is published in the US by Fantagraphics, who provide a brief preview and more links here.