Athos In America HC - Hardcover

Jason

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606994786 ISBN 13: 9781606994788

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2012

Synopsis

• Athos in America takes its title from the lead story, a prequel of sorts to the graphic novel The Last Musketeer, in which the seemingly ageless swashbuckler turns up in a bar in 1920 New York and relates the tale of how he went to Hollywood to play himself in a film version of The Three Musketeers. Another tie-in with a previous Jason story occurs in “The Smiling Horse,” in which the characters from the story “&” in Low Moon attempt to kidnap a woman. Also in this volume: “The Brain That Wouldn’t Virginia Woolf,” a mash-up of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, told in reverse chronological order; the Bukowski pastiche “A Cat From Heaven” in which Jason works on his comic, has a reading in a comic book store, and gets drunk and makes a fool of himself; the dialogue-free (all the text occurs in thought balloons) “Tom Waits on the Moon,” in which we follow four people (one of them a scientist working on a teleportation machine) until something goes wrong; and “So Long Mary Ann,” a prison-escape love-triangle story.

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.

Review:

“What’s amazing is how much [Jason] can squeeze from so little. Though their emotional register usually falls somewhere between disappointment and death, the stories make an eclectic bunch.... Sure, Jason’s following his muse down the wormiest of rabbit holes these days, but you wouldn’t want him any less weird.”
- Ian Chipman, Booklist

“If you have not read any of Jason, I can not think of a better way to start than with Athos. Most likely not be the last work of this author that passes through your hands.”
- Héctor G. Olarte, el Mundo

“Besides a particularly gleeful dark humour, this collection of short stories by Norweigan artist Jason is tied together by a certain obsession with Hollywood genres . . . Jason infuses them with both a slightly tweaked pathos and a taste for melancholy macabre. ...[F]antastic stuff for sad bastards and the people who love them.”
- David Berry, National Post

“Has Jason become more embittered and misanthropic as he’s aged [?]. . . Athos in America is up to his usual standards, full of stories that build slowly, with plenty of subtle detail in its stone-­faced panels.... The execution, as it always is with both Jason and Fantagraphics, is stellar.”
- Hillary Brown, Paste

“Visually exciting, at times hilarious and at times devastating, Athos in America will only add to Jason’s well­-deserved reputation as a star of the graphic novel world.”
- Publishers Weekly

“One of the medium’s finest storytellers.”
- Publishers Weekly

“Any new work from Norwegian cartoonist Jason is worthy of a comics fan’s full attention, but the new, all­-original short ­story collection Athos in America is one of the best books of Jason’s career, which automatically makes it one of the best books of this year.”
- Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

“Although Jason’s art is attractive... it’s his grasp of sociopathy that stays with you. Jason is a master of frisson.”
- Boston Sunday Globe

“...Jason is quite effective in modulating emotion from story to story, going from gags to violence to tragedy . . . Jason is in total control of all aspects of his storytelling, and, even after a decade straight of ambitious publishing, it seems as if he’s just getting warmed up.”
- Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

“Athos in America is a tour de force that showcases Jason’s immense talents as both an artist and a storyteller. These haunting stories will stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Rating: 10 out of 10”
- Edward Kaye, Newsarama

About this edition

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1606994786
• ISBN 13: 9781606994788
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200