{mosimage}The Norwegian cartoonist Jason combines a poker-faced minimalist anthropomorphic style with more than a passing nod to the “clear-line” ethos of Hergé. As he has shown in a series of acclaimed graphic novels, this seemingly limited approach has proven amazingly versatile, allowing Jason to create gag comedy (Meow, Baby!), romantic melodramas (Tell Me Something), dramas (Hey, Wait…), and genuine thrillers (the period detective novel The Iron Wagon) — often without even the benefit of words, and using a stylishly minimalist color palette to boot. Jason won the Norwegian “Sproing” Award for “Best Norwegian Comic Book” twice, in 1995 and 2000. The American edition of Hey, Wait… was nominated for two Harvey Awards, as well as being cited as the second best comic of 2001 by Time.com. His books have won three consecutive Eisner Awards for Best U.S. Edition of International Material: The Left Bank Gang in 2007, I Killed Adolf Hitler in 2008, and The Last Musketeer in 2009. Jason’s short story “Low Moon” was serialized in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in 2008 and collected with four other tales in a book of the same title in 2009. In 2010, Fantagraphics began compiling Jason’s out-of-print early books in hardcover collections starting with Almost Silent in February, followed by What I Did in Fall. Jason remained prolific in 2011, with Isle of 100,000 Graves, his collaboration with writer Fabien Vehlmann, in Spring, the rarities/interview/tribute comic book Jason Conquers America in Winter, and his new short story collection Athos in America completed in 2011 to be published in early 2012. His current work in progress, Lost Cat, a 150-page detective story (his longest story to date), should be completed in time for a 2013 publishing date. Jason, whose work has been translated into Swedish, Finnish, German, Italian and French in addition to English, is living in Montpellier, France. He blogs regularly at Cats Without Dogs.
“One of the medium’s finest storytellers.” – Publishers Weekly
“Although Jason’s art is attractive and his use of color superb — the colors are crisp, oddly autumnal, and as lucid as the action — it’s his grasp of sociopathy that stays with you. Jason is a master of frisson.” – Boston Sunday Globe
“Jason’s sardonic, deadpan, and mostly dialogue-less comics are some of the best western comics of the last half-decade. His simple line work belies a deeper complexity in the story and an artist who fully understands the visual narrative possibilities of comics.” – The Comicbook Bin
“The graphic novel’s cinematic qualities have rarely been so well wielded as they are by the artist known only as Jason.” – Bookslut
“When I read Jason for the first time, I was just as excited and devastated as the first time I read the poems of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Jason’s work is poetry. Beautiful and frightening. Redemptive and hopeless. He is the Kafka and Keats of the comic world.” – Sherman Alexie
Featured books by Jason (click covers for complete product details & ordering information)
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