Spotlight on: Jason (John Arne Sæterøy)

I’d hesitate to call the works by the Norgwegian-born cartoonist Jason “graphic novels”, at least in our classic understanding of novels as a longer work. These stories are usually the length of three comic books, about 48 pages, and read more like short stories. Likewise, they have a feeling of a short story, focusing more on character and epiphanies rather than plot lines. Jason fills his compositions with pauses and silent reactions, a laconic response in a medium where too many artists tend to fill the action with explanation. In a way he seems to be trying to emulate Hemingway’s style in "Hills Like White Elephants", except Hemingway never wrote about time machines, werewolves and larcenous expatriate cartoonists.

“The Left Bank Gang” (2006) emphasizes Jason’s link to the Lost Generation author since it imagines Hemingway, Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Ezra Pound as starving cartoonists in Paris in the 20s. They hang out at the Deux Magots, deal with harsh critics, spend too much time drawing cartoons, and complain about American tourists, the French, and how tough it is to get work. It’s surprising how much actual biographical material Jason has packed into panels, including scenes with Zelda Fitzgerald, Hadley Hemingway, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein and other contemporaries. The scenarios are generally realistic with each artist worrying about money and their families and obligations, until Hemingway gets the idea to rob the cash office at the boxing ring. The “Pulp Fiction” ending, providing the conclusion to the story from each character’s viewpoint is well done, although I had to re-read the story several times before I understood the outcomes.

The plot of “I Killed Adolf Hitler” (2007) is as simple as any time-travel story. In a world where assassinations are as casual as a visit to the doctor’s office, an unnamed hit-man is hired by a scientist to kill Hitler. The scientist has a time-machine, but so much power is needed that it takes fifty years to charge it up. The assassin goes back in time, fails, and Hitler steals time machine to return to the present. Meanwhile the assassin has survived the past 50 years to complete his task. Like “The Left Bank Gang” the story’s conclusion is told from various viewpoints, although it uses the time-machine as the device for the point of view (pun intended).

His latest book, “Werewolves of Montpellier” (2010) revolves around Sven, an expatriate living in Montpellier, France. By night he’s a thief dressed up in a werewolf costume, by day he longs for Audrey, the girl next door, who is a lesbian and his best friend. The story begins when a photo of Sven in costume appears in the newspaper and the real Brotherhood of Werevolves tries to discover who he is.

The spareness of the stories leave plenty of space for exploring the themes hidden within them. The clean lines and iconic drawings hide deep concepts which Jason seems to be working out as he creates the book.
For example, The themes in “I Killed Adolf Hitler” circle around violence, regret and second chances. At the beginning of the book a man who hired the assassin to kill his first wife complains that he’s starting to get tired of his second wife. The assassin himself is attacked, but kills his opponent, leaving the question: who tried to kill him? At the end of the book we reach enlightenment, but at what price?

The time machine provides many second chances: The scientist gets a chance to kill Hitler, Hitler escapes to the 20th century, giving him a new life. The assassin and his girlfriend both use the time machine for second chances, but second chances don’t always improve things. After a string of mid-day murders the girlfriend complains “Hitler disappeared in 1938. World War II never happened. Shouldn’t the world be a better place?”

This isn’t a spoiler, but once the assassin decides to live life anew he’s killed by a stray bullet. It closely echoes Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,”  but instead of dying heroically he dies casually, accidentally. Did he make a bad decision, or is this Jason’s way of saying “Life is short, make good decisions the first time.”?

In the “Left Bank” Jason struggles with the question of “why write?”  The story is a balance between money and obligations and the quest to create, to spawn your own stories.  In this case the sparse panels work as theatre, spotlighting for example Pound performing his monologue “Why do we do comics?” while at the boxing match.

There’s a fabulous sequence where Hemingway gets the full blast of Gertrude Steins critical capabilities in nine panels. The advice is so pertinent that it could be applied to almost any young writer or cartoonist, and sounds so authentic I imagine Jason enjoyed himself creating this page.

He also has fun with the macho image the writers projected, mapping it onto his cartoonists.  For example, Hemingway punches a critic, then accompanies Fitzgerald to the bathroom to help him determine if his prick is too small.  When they’re accidentally interrupted the embarrassment is only temporary as they take the quest to the art museum to compare themselves to the statues.  In the end they drink, hang out, and draw, draw, draw until the ink stains their fingers.

“Werewolves” takes a different tack.  Instead of the camaraderie of the writers we have a small orbit of outsiders. Sven is an expatriate in France, and he’s also chosen a profession, jewel thief, that makes him an outsider and loner.  On a whim he dresses as a werewolf during his robberies – if anyone sees him they’ll be afraid of him, and he’ll get a chance to escape. Unfortunately, someone photographs him leaping over the roofs of Montpellier, which brings him to the attention of a brotherhood of real werewolves.  Even as a werewolf Sven is an outsider.

He’s also alone in love. He’s in love with Audrery who lives opposite his apartment, but she’s a lesbian and sees him more as a friend and confidante.  Everyone in the story is a planet without a sun, and the more they search the more lost they become. It’s only as Sven and Audrey accept who they are that they find a resolution.

I wonder about Jason’s stylistic decision to draw all his characters as iconic anthropomorphic animals.  One one hand it makes the work more accessible, drawing on a legacy of cartoon characters that goes back to Mickey Mouse.  On the other hand it was difficult for me to see the difference between some characters. In Werewolves it the only visual differences between Sven and the lead werewolf were that the werewolf had a squiggly jaw (whiskers?) and longer ears.  In “Hitler” when the lead character gets left in the past and returns to his girlfriend’s door 50 years later she doesn’t recognize him. Except, I couldn’t tell any difference in the way he was drawn. Is this Jason making his own personal joke?

A documentary on Charles Schulz described how after WWII the cartoonist would draw hundreds of identical objects, perhaps honing his cartooning abilities, or maybe suffering from PTSD.  Perhaps these iconic characters are a similar therapy for Jason?

Jason is the pen-name of John Arne Sæterøy, which is easier to spell than the original, but much harder to find using Google.  You can read more about Jason at Wikipedia, or find his books on Amazon.  Here's an excerpt to "I Killed Hitler."

"The Superman Chronicles Volume 3" by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

The cover of The Superman Chronicles exclaims: “Every Superman story in exact chronological order!”

This volume contains stories from Action Comics #’s 21 – 25 and Superman #’s 4 and 5, as wells as the New York World’s Fair 1940 giveaway, a range in time from Feburary 1940 to “Summer” 1940. Most of the stories are untitled, so DC gave them titles “for reader convenience.”

The stories are so non-canon it’s almost like a different superhero – maybe Kal-el’s distant uncle. In multiple stories Superman either kills the villains, or allows them to die.

Action Comics #22 and #23 are a two part story where Clark and Lois are sent the European country of Luxor as war correspondents. The plot thickens as Clark follows and protects the starlet Lita Laverne (LL!) who turns out to be a spy of some kind. At this point the continuity within the story breaks down as they dock in the country of Toran, a country that plans on invading Galonia. From there Superman gets a chance to join the action, fighting Toranian bombers, submarines, and soldiers. By the end of the issue the headline screams “Korian Army Shake Up!!” with Clark Kent’s byline.

 

In Action Comics #23 the Toran / Galonia war continues until Superman discovers a secret base deep inside a mountain. He learns that the soldiers are being coerced into the war by a mysterious madman named Lex Luthor. In this first appearance of Luthor he’s a heavy-set fellow with red hair who sits in a wooden throne with what appears to be a German Eagle carved on the backrest. Although he looks different, he still has the superior science: a flying city, voice and image projection machines, and green laser beams. Eventually Supes destroys floating city, apparently killing Luthor, and armistice is declared.

In the next issue Luthor is back, threatening Metropolis with earthquakes unless they meet his demands, a premise that’s pretty similar to Action #21 where the villain used an atomic disintegrator to extort money from the city. The story gets interesting, however, when Superman agrees to a challenge from Luthor: “If your muscles can surpass my scientific feats, I will admit defeat. But if I can outdo you, then you are to retire and leave me a clear path.” Luthor is ruthless in his use of henchmen, letting them die right and left, but I noticed Superman never lifted a hand to save them either.

Other than Luthor most of the villains are gangsters trying to extort, steal and kidnap. In “The Slot Machine Racket” Slug Kelly forces shopkeepers to put out slot machines where kids will waste their nickels. In “Terror in the Trucker’s Union” a mob boss takes over the truck drivers’ union, shutting down food distribution, and holding a hungry city hostage for ransom.

 

Two stories echo fears of the great depression, only 10 years earlier. In “The Economic Enemy” a financier has architected an economic crisis. As one henchman explains “a foreign nation promised him important concessions if he’ll wreck America’s economic structure! I just work for him!” And in “Luthor’s Incense Machine” the super scientist has created a statue that talks and spits a narcotic incense, which was “placed in the offices of prominent men throughout the nation, thus enslaving them.” I wonder if this was a wry comment by the writer on the US government.

 

I’d consider “Superman at the World’s Fair” to be the first mature appearance of Superman. The art is less sketchy, more work has been done to detail the backgrounds, and Lois is drawn and written with the personality that’s most familiar to modern readers. Superman has all his trademark traits: he says “up, up!” as he zooms into the sky, the bullets bounce off his chest, and he heaves a car over his head.

My one complaint about this series is that I’d like to see a one or two page introduction giving some insight into the art, writing, editing or even the current events of 1940.

If you’re going to buy any of these series, then this volume, with the introduction of Lex Luthor, and the World’s Fair comic will keep you amused in multiple ways.

"Mercury" by Hope Larson

The graphic novel Mercury by Hope Larson weaves two stories together, sometimes echoing themes, sometimes building one off the other.

The synopsis from the inside cover flap: “In 1859 French Hill, Nova Scotia, Josey Fraser has just met handsome Asa Curry – a man with a mysterious and traveled past. While quickly winning young Josey’s heart, Asa reveals a secret ability to locate gold on the Fraser’s farm. But there is darkness in the woods…and in Asa.

In the same town one hundred fifty years later, Tara Fraser is dealing with the aftermath of her house burning down; a house that has been in her family – and Josey’s – for generations, when Tara discovers a pendant that turns out to be much more than a simple heirloom. As Josey’s story plunges into tragedy, Tara’s emerges with the promise of gold.”

The description sounds like a romance, but it’s much more down to Earth than that. Josey in 1859 lives with her parents on their failing farm. She's doing chores and thinking about the world beyond her house when a stranger knocks on the door. Meanwhile, in 2009 Tara is returning to French Hill High school after a year-long hiatus. Her house burned down and she and her mother had to move north to earn extra money. Tara is back in town, living with her cousin. In the next 234 pages Larson tells how the everyday lives of these two girls intersect in time.

The story grew on me as I read it, and the languid pace goes with the fluid artwork. The whimsy in the art is especially noticeable in the special effects, such as the cursive “flee” when a character runs away, or the elusive “Finish” hovering over the goal in a race.

I like the sense of place. The opening panels show a road in French Hill, Nova Scotia evolving from a forest in the 1400, through Native Americans, settlers, soldiers, farmers and suburbs to the year 2009 when we meet up with Tara jogging past the Hungry Miner Pizzeria. It feels like I could find the remains of Tara’s burned house on Google Maps.  It was also fun to see how Larson compares and contrasts the lives of the two teen girls, Josey and Tara, in the same place, similar situations, years apart.

Although it was less evident at the start, the graphic novel has elements of magical realism. Larson tells the tale as if both girls live in the real world, but by the conclusion there are plot points which make us question reality: malevolent pits, ghost processions and talking crows with human faces. The occasional sparks or lines emitting from characters adds to this impression.

I also like Larson’s general spirit toward her work. She truly wants to reach the teen girl audience. At Stumptown Comics Fest 2010 panel “Comics for Young Readers”, and online on her twitter feed she talked about finding readers.  It's evident in this book that she wants to deliver an honest story, not only for the teen girl audience but for everyone, while sticking with a goal of reaching young readers.

There were only a few distractions from the quality of the novel. If anything, I felt the conclusion could have been extended somewhat. I liked that Tara, as the protagonist, solved her own problems but to me it felt too pat. The redeeming feature, however, was that although magic led her to the solution, Tara had to solve the problem herself.

I was also confused by theme of mercury. Asa has a pendant filled with mercury that he uses to search for gold, and it’s also possible that Tara has a mercuric personality, but it didn’t work for me to link this to the house fire. Although the fire was the impetus for Tara moving away, and subsequently moving back as an outsider, the connection was a weak link for me. That theme was jarring to me, even though it worked well in the plot line.

In summary, Mercury is a great read. It’s an original story, and the artwork stretches comic tropes into new areas. I’d recommend it as fun for kids, teens, or adults. If you’d like to read more about Hope Larson you can visit her website www.hopelarson.com.

"North World: Other Sagas" by Lars Brown

According to the cover, Lars Brown’s North World: Other Sagas contains “slackers, warriors and lovelorn pizza cooks are just a few of the heroes introduced in North World: Other Sagas! Their adventures bring them above the clouds, into cursed forests, and against all manner of evils. Viking raiders, cloud giants, pink Cyclops, demon curses, tribes of angry squirrels – if swords and magic don’t work, kitten throwing just might.”

The blurb, however, doesn’t accurately describe North World, so let’s discuss the short story called “Cloud Story,” as an example. The mercenary swordswoman Nico has hitched a ride with her old friend Capt. Harker on an air-sailing ship. En route, the crew discovers a pair of gods about to have a fight, and they decide to place bets and watch the bout. Nico is so enrapt with the match that she yells loudly enough to capture the gods’ attention, and they chase the air ship. Harker manages to elude the gods, but not before Nico gives one of them a black eye with her sword. As the story closes Nico and Harker make goo-goo eyes at each other.

Likes: My teen son chose to buy this book at Stumptown Comics Fest 2010 based on the cover. After reading it his opinion of North World was it’s a “collection of funny, sort-of cool short stories.” I liked the art – cartoony without being goofy, and it’s nice that Brown can vary his art depending on the story.

Dislikes: My problem was that most of the stories followed a similar pattern: clever set-up, a frisson of love interest, some irony mixed with smashing, and a slightly funny ending. One or two of those in a collection wouldn’t be bad, but 10 in a row became monotonous. Maybe it works better as a web comic (www.north-world.com). Or, maybe I should try North World 1: The Epic of Conrad, which judging by the title promises to be a larger story.

If you’re a teen boy, or into irony, or have ever wondered what Cimmeria would be like if you swapped Conan the Barbarian for Clive the Hipster, then get Lars Brown’s North World: Other Sagas.

"Monster" by Naoki Urasawa

In Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Volume 1, an ice-cold killer is on the loose, and brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him! Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing indictment of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller.

Likes: Art is clean and characters are distinctive. The “camera” angles are almost cinematic… way more dynamic than a soap opera. I also like the oblique nod to Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka by calling the young surgeon Dr. Tenma, just like the name of Astro’s creator/father. I also appreciated the appendix explaining page-by-page the Japanese sound-effect.

Dislikes: Written in 1995, the story feels too much like a cross between “Silence of the Lambs,” (1991) and “General Hospital.” Maybe the characters evolve, but in the first volume the lead character of Dr. Tenma is too naïve to be believable, and the supporting cast of doctors are too one-dimensional. If I’m going to immerse myself in an epic manga, (18 volumes!) I’d rather invest in the quirky and unpredictable 20th Century Boys, or Urusawa’s homage to Astro Boy Pluto: urasawa x tezuka.

If you like soap operas, serial killer stories, or hospital dramas you’ll get hooked on this. Otherwise, head for the 20th Century.

Spotlight on Angoulême

Recently while on vacation in France I was asked if I wanted to visit the Musée de la Bande Dessinée (Museum of Comic Books) in Angoulême. Visit the city that hosts the International Comics Festival, the largest comic convention in Europe? "Mais, oui!" I immediately answered. It was July and the Comics Festival takes place in January, but I was still eager to check out a town that so honors comics.


Angoulême is a medium-sized city built on a hill in France about 50 miles from the Atlantic coast. The town has been connected with paper-making and the printing industry since the 14th century, mainly because of the moderate climate and ready source of water via the Sorgue river. More recently the town has acquired a reputation for its working artists, and I wondered if they were represented in the crowds populating the cafe terraces lining the pedestrian streets in the town center. Mostly wearing leather jackets and blue jeans, bucking the popular direction of France by smoking, they had to either be artists or rejects from a James Dean bio-pic.


In France comics are called B.D. which stands for "Bande Dessinée," or "drawn strip" in English. Franco-Belgian comics have oddly paralleled US and English comics with only a few crossovers such as Tintin, Asterix, and perhaps Lucky Luke. That could lead a non-Francophile to believe there's a paucity of comics in France, but comics are huge. In fact the market for the “ninth art”, as graphic novels and comic books are called in France, has been the most resistant publishing sector to the effects of the economic crisis in the 21st century.

The national Musée de la Bande Dessinée (CNBD) is a relatively new museum in Angoulême dedicated to honoring comics from many countries, although it focuses primarily on French, American, English and Japanese works, in that order. The permanent display of original and hard-to-find older specimens is interestingly laid out by country and chronologically. They also present temporary exhibitions such as "La bande dessinée animalière," showing samples of cartoon animals in 19th and 20th century comics. Across the way from the CNBD is the exposition hall with a movie theater, art gallery, and classes in art techniques and history. Entry to the museum is 6 euros, free to kids under 18 years old. Plan on spending at least an hour, although the museum also has reading tables stocked with hundreds of comics, so you may end up finding a couch and getting comfortable. Photography is forbidden, and the low lighting makes it sometimes difficult to clearly see all the details of the work, so you might be tempted to purchase the museum's catalog at 60 euros, available in the gift shop. In fact, I spent nearly as much time browsing the shop as in the museum itself.

Aside from the museum, Angoulême does its best to represent comics throughout the town. I spotted comic book references everywhere: Wonder Woman and Spider-man promoting scooter-delivered pizza, a Chinese restaurant blatantly exploiting Tintin's "The Blue Lotus", and a painting of Winsor McKay and Little Nemo under a bronze plaque of la Republique Francaise. In the courtyard of the comic museum was a statue of the Italian comic book sailor, Corto Maltese, while near the center of town was a building called Espace Franquin. Apparently a public media center, it's named after the creator of the French comics Gaston and Marsupilami.

Someday maybe I'll go to Angoulême in January and be one of the 200,000 visitors to swarm the city during the four-day festival. But, on a hot day in July, my mind turned to a refreshing Perrier et menthe (Perrier with mint syrup) so I headed back to a bar I'd seen on the pedestrian street. Sipping my bright green drink some colors caught my eye inside the bar, and I went to investigate. Even the bar displayed comics, in this case paintings done by a local satirizing the greed of Scrooge McDuck. Yes, this is a town that takes comic seriously.

The Centre National de la Bande Dessinée et de l'Image can be found at 121 rue de Bordeaux, 16023 Angoulême.  Here's an article from 2009, just before the museum opened.

The Angoulême International Comics Festival has been held in January every year since 1974. Here is a blog entry about the 2009 festival.

 

Zatanna Spell Casting Widget

Zatanna casts her spells by saying them backward.
Use this handy widget to write your own spells and cast them just like Zatanna!

Duckworld Located

GraphJam has posted the "Geek Solar System" and it's nice to see Duckworld on there. It makes sense that Donald Duck's Disney universe is in an orbit close to Melmac, Ork and Fhloston Paradise. I wonder if Howard the Duck and Donald Duck are warring clans from opposite sides of the Duckworld?

This sort of graphic gets me in the same was as mapping out comic book buildings and worlds.

Click here to give justice to the image in its entirety.