The Clouds Above - Softcover

Crane, Jordan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560979097 ISBN 13: 9781560979098

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2008

Synopsis

On their way through the city to school, Simon and his cat Jack keep taking shortcuts that lead them through fantasy worlds of wooden monsters and insatiable appetites, just for starters. Will they make back home safely? This is undoubtedly one of the more handsome and unique packages in recent memory, with a brilliant graphic novel inside that justifies its elegant format. The Clouds Above calls to mind everything from Where the Wild Things Are to The Wizard of Oz to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with its depiction of a fantastic world that lurks just around the corner from reality and that only children believe exists.

About this title

About the Author:

Jordan Crane lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and children. He created the comic book series Uptight and recently released a collection of postcards through Chronicle Books titled Uptight All Night.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Crane has made his reputation with subtle, heart-tuggingly depressive comics like The Last Lonely Saturday and Keeping Two, so his new project is a delightful surprise: a rip-roaring adventure about a kid named Simon, who skips school one day with his cat, Jack, and climbs a magic staircase leading skyward. There, they encounter a sad cloud named Perch and get mixed up in a conflict involving him, some nasty storm clouds and an irritable flock of birds. Crane's story piles absurdity on delicious absurdity, operating with the peculiarly linear logic of children's storytelling. Everything's exciting, even if it doesn't make much sense, and the dialogue is witty and bubbly ("Don't say fall when we're up so high," Jack tells Simon. "Say autumn"). Crane has a sense of all of his characters' body language—Jack may talk, but his motion and expressions are totally catlike, and the shifting expressions and indistinct, grasping limbs of the clouds are exactly what clouds would look like if they had body parts. The book is a joy to look at—Crane's loose, gliding lines burst with character, and his compositional gifts make every panel worth contemplating on its own. (July)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1560979097
• ISBN 13: 9781560979098
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224