Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories - Softcover

Jason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560979348 ISBN 13: 9781560979340

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2008

Synopsis

An anthology of masterful shorts from the creator of I Killed Adolf Hitler.

This multifaceted anthology―our 12th Jason graphic novel―wraps up Fantagraphics' near-complete collection of Jason's oeuvre (minus just a few pieces of juvenilia) by printing selections from Jason's early-1990s work, including his remarkable calling card, the novella-length thriller Pocket Full of Rain, which has never before been published in English.

Like a number of his initial stories, Pocket is actually drawn with realistic human beings instead of blank-faced animal characters―a true revelation for Jason fans. In fact, this book showcases three distinct styles: his earliest "realistic" drawing style (used to unsettling effect in some particularly creepy stories), an intermediate "bighead" cartoony style that still features humans (used for both humor and drama), and the "funny-animal" style he's now best known for.

Readers who like Jason's anthropomorphic style won't be disappointed, though, as the book includes a number of tales done in that fashion, featuring (among other things) Death, a guy waiting for a bus, and croquet-playing nuns; over 40 "daily strip" format gags; a trio of hilarious parodies of other pop media work including Corto Mjautese and an elaborate riff on Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk done Jason style; and much more.

Also included are a color section featuring Jason's painted covers for his original Norwegian magazine Mjau Mjau, color strips and illustrations, and more. Plus―God cheating at Trivial Pursuit.

About this title

About the Author

Jason hails from Oslo, Norway, but currently resides in Montpellier, France. He's won multiple Eisners, a Harvey, and an Inkpot award.

From Booklist

Not quite sui generis, Woodring’s speechless stories about anthropomorphic rodent-feline Frank, his often antagonistic acquaintances Manhog (a humanoid pig) and Whim (a stick man with a crescent-moon head), and Pupshaw, his cat-valise pet resemble early-1930s animated cartoons and the psychedelic ’60s comics of Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso. As far as plots go, the Frank stories have slightly less than the old cartoons did and rather more than Griffin and Moscoso ever provided. Each story portrays a journey of some kind, fraught with surprises, discoveries, perils, transformations, and reconciliations. They occur in a vast and varied landscape dotted with onion-dome houses, in dreams, and on the other side of the sky. Flying creatures resembling tops, spindles, Christmas-tree ornaments (these seem to be fruit), and rays figure prominently in many stories. In general, things are back to status quo ante for Frank at each story’s end. Woodring is so accomplished an artist, and his narrative imagination, while abstract and whimsical, is so steady-going that his not fully explicable stories are as enchanting as dreams you want to have. --Ray Olson

About this edition

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1560979348
• ISBN 13: 9781560979340
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 184