I read, but couldn’t think of anything much to say about, Jason’s The Living and the Dead (note: this does not mean that I did not enjoy the book). Fortunately, other writers on the web, as usual, are on the job, with thoughts to spare.

It took me a while to pick an excerpt from One of the Jones Boys’ excellent discursive review, which delves into the history and anthropological implications of the zombie genre, as well as its recent resurgence in comics of all kinds, before getting down to the specific book in hand, but I finally settled on this one:

[...] Jason’s characters are uniquely well-placed to survive the apocalypse. The devil himself could appear on the page, rape a thousand schoolchildren and destroy the universe. At most, Jason’s characters might show a few flying sweat beads in alarm; the final panel would matter-of-factly show the earth exploding, seen from outer space. Dealing with a horde of zombies out for their flesh? Child’s play. …more

Jones writes the kind of criticism I’d like to be able to provide, here, at GNR — connecting the contextual dots around the endeavor in an unpretentious, meaningful way, while, at the same time, doing the simpler work of a thumbs-up thumbs-down analysis, too. He is, in other words, one of the best critics on the scene, making my own efforts look weak and drab by comparison. I must unpleasantly destroy this man at some point, if man he truly be.

Over at the Daily Cross Hatch, Brian Heater complains a bit about how quickly the book can be read, at a flimsy fifty mostly-wordless pages, though his final judgment falls onto the “positive” side of the scale:

Prostitutes, shitty jobs, blood thirsty zombies—by the end, all of the pieces fit neatly in place, an achievement that has as much to do with Jason’s skill as a storyteller, as it does with the ultimate dose of earnest humanity that he is able to bestow upon his undead subjects. …more

On the other hand, Dylan Kurlansky, writing for the collaborative pop culture review site Undress Me Robot, enjoys the silence:

It is a nearly silent book (there are only seven lines of dialogue total), which in and of itself can be dangerous. However, Jason’s minimalist artwork shoulders the burden and soars. …more

And, in what is becoming an “Elsewhere on the Web” tradition, the indefatigable Tom Spurgeon has posted an insightful but brief interview with everybody’s favorite deadpan Norwegian cartoonist, which includes several full-page scans from the book.

SPURGEON: What effect did you hope to achieve through the silent movie-style panels of dialog, as opposed to, say, going with an all-silent approach? Why is that effect dropped after a certain point?

JASON: I’ve already done completely wordless strips, like “Shhh!”, so that was no longer a challenge. I wanted some dialog in the beginning, mostly to say something about the characters. After that introduction though that was no longer necessary. When the zombies show up it’s pretty much all action, one big chase sequence, that worked better with no words. …more

I said I couldn’t think of much to say about the book. I did think of one thing. I love the casual, distracted way the zombies eat human flesh — like they’re munching on popcorn while staring at a movie screen. I think you’ll agree that that’s not enough to hang a review on. But that’s all I got! Woe!

(The image in this post is a detail from The Living and the Dead, copyright (c) 2007 Jason)

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