By: Jason Publisher: Fantagraphics Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 48 Publication Date: May 31, 2005 Studio: Fantagraphics Books
Product Description: A full-color existential thriller from the creator of Hey, Wait...
Imagine a long-forgotten, never-produced Alfred Hitchcock "wrong man" thriller screenplay discovered, adapted and filmed by a modern minimalist like Jim Jarmusch and you'll have some idea as the unique flavor of Jason's latest graphic novel, Why Are You Doing This? The protagonist, a moody twenty-something wallowing in depression after a breakup with his long-time girlfriend, finds himself drawn into a paranoid's worst nightmare after his best friend is murdered and the blame is pinned on him. With the help of a single mother who spontaneously throws in her lot with him (not to mention her precocious daughter), he sets out to clear his name. Soon new relationships are forged, dark secret from the past are revealed, and the real killer comes back into the picture...with a vengeance.
Although in many ways completely different from such earlier works of Jason's as Hey, Wait..., You Can't Get There from Here and The Iron Wagon (for one thing, it's in full color), Why Are You Doing This? displays the same familiar laconic wit, stylized anthropomorphic characters, and elegant storytelling as these earlier masterpieces.
Rear Window with furries! ^ Jason, Why Are You Doing This? (Fantagraphics, 2004)
The newest short, punchy piece of artwork from single-named artist Jason is a twisted noir tale about a guy who, while taking care of a friend's apartment, sees a man in the window across the way, after which very bad things start happening to everyone around him. It's Rear Window without Jimmy Stewart (and the wheelchair). For a modern graphic novel, it's incredibly short (48 pp., almost the length of your basic comic book), but that better serves to deliver the incredible sense of despair that comes crushing down on our hero. Despite its brevity, the ending packs a serious punch. Good stuff; I'll definitely be checking out more of Jason's work in the future. *** ½
Another winner for Jason ^ Jason, a Norwegian writer and artist -- who, like Madonna, Cher, Bert and Ernie, goes by a single name -- supplies a bittersweet tale about being in the wrong place, making the wrong turn and being mistaken for the wrong man. Sure, it's in Jason's signature style, wherein all of his characters are anthropomorphic animals, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the price Alex (and his friend Claude) must pay for looking through the wrong window at precisely the wrong time.
Alex thinks nothing of it when he sees a man in a window across the street from his friend Claude's apartment, but the man doesn't want any witnesses to his activities there. So the stranger lies in wait and kills Claude when he returns, then frames Alex for the murder. Now Alex is on the run, and only the kindness of shopkeeper Geraldine keeps him beyond the reach of the law.
It's not a straightforward romance by any stretch, and yet a certain tenderness develops between Alex, Geraldine and Geraldine's young daughter. But the police haven't given up on Alex, and the stranger in the window is on his trail, too.
Jason's art is sparing of detail -- his characters' large, oval eyes lack even pupils -- but it communicates a full message regardless. Emotions are clear through a character's posture, the tilt of a head, a closeup of the lines above the eyes. Dialogue is also sparse at times, and yet the powerful story flows without a bump or hesitation.
Sometimes, bad things happen to good people, and justice is not a guarantee. This story -- Jason's first full-color graphic novel -- will tear a little at your heart.
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