By: Jason Publisher: Fantagraphics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Fantagraphics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 48 Publication Date: October 22, 2007
Product Description: A contract killer goes back in time to kill Hitler...and fails spectacularly.
For his latest graphic novel (the third in color, the ninth to be published by Fantagraphics) Jason posits a strange, violent world in which contract killers can be hired to rub out pests, be they dysfunctional relatives, abusive co-workers, loud neighbors, or just annoyances in general—and as you might imagine, their services are in heavy demand.
One such killer is given the unique job of traveling back in time to kill Adolf Hitler in 1939...but things go wrong, Hitler overpowers the would-be assassin and sends himself to the present, leaving the killer stranded in the past.
The killer eventually finds his way back into the present by simply waiting the decades out as he ages, and teams up with his now much-younger girlfriend to track down the missing fascist dictator...at which point the book veers further into Jason territory, as the cartoonist's minimalist, wickedly dry sense of humor slows down the story to a crawl: for long patches absolutely nothing happens, but nobody can make nothing happening as riotously entertaining as Jason does...and finally, when the reader isn't paying attention, he brings it together with a shocking, perfectly logical and yet completely unexpected climax which also solves a mystery from the very beginning of the book the reader had forgotten about.
As always, I Killed Adolf Hitler is rendered in Jason's crisp deadpan neo-clear-line style, once again augmented by lovely, understated coloring.
Another instant classic from jason... I love this book. His stories always seem to meander and float along and then at some point they kick into high gear and they twist and twist and twist. Jason is by far my favorite new writer in the indie-comics scene. His stories are smart, witty, funny, horrifying and romantic. All in the same book. All within 48 or so pages. What a marvel. I enjoyed the love story in this one a bit more than his others. It was sweet how the woman waited 50 years just to save her true love and spend the few remaining years they'd have together.
Be true to yourself That's the basic message underlying THE LAST MUSKETEER, the latest graphic novel from Norwegian cartoonist Jason. Once again using his trademark anthropomorphized animals, Jason expands on the story of Alexandre Dumas' famed Three Musketeers in the present day: Aramis has long since retired, and Porthos is absent, but a several-hundred-year-old Athos continues to battle injustice, even going so far as to travel to outer space to stop an alien invasion of Earth. Yep, it sounds crazy (and it is), but it works. In the style of Jason's other stories, there's so much more lurking just behind the premise, including a bittersweet but poignant ending. The only complaint I have is the price - while publisher Fantagraphics does a great job of formatting these editions, it's really not necessary for such short stories. I wouldn't mind paying a few dollars less for a lower-quality printing.
My first exploration of Jason Perhaps the reason I think so positively about this book is that it was my first time reading a story by Jason, but either way it was a very enjoyable read. There's a beautiful play of the way we interpret words and images because his personified or anthropomorphized animals betray little emotions in their faces, but just pour it out of their words and body language. This is a really good example of how an artist can infuse subtle emotion in symbolic action and dialogue.
Jason delivers again The Norwegian cartoonist's latest, out for some time in a French version, is a bent time-travel yarn in which a hit man from the future goes back to 1938 to try to cut Hitler's career short. This being Jason, nothing works out as planned. This being Jason, there's a poignant love story tucked inside the main "poli-sci-fi" escapade. The familiar Jason Repertory Company of flop-eared dogs and nearsighted crows is at the top of its game, lucidly conveying deep emotions with a tilt of the head or a bowed back. There's a little more dialogue than usual but seldom a wasted word, never a wasted panel. There's deadpan humor in an early sequence where guilt-ridden customers struggle to explain why they'd want to order a rub-out. With its arresting title and clever plot lines, could this be Jason's breakthrough book? It would make a more compelling movie than some of the Frank Miller fare that's out there. For people who don't know Jason, this might make a good introduction. It's not his best; he may never top his first - "Hey, Wait ..." - but nobody else will, either.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
