Hey, Wait...

Hey, Wait... by Jason, a Norwegian cartoonist and, as it turns out, genius. Here's his Fantagraphics page.

I guess this book is widely considered to be one of the saddest comics there is. I think I could agree with that even though I didn't get any pangs of emotion.

The story's paced in one of the most intelligent and interesting ways I've ever seen a straightforward story paced, and that may or may not be saying something. Nonetheless, I think it's pretty cool. Jason has a way of telling his stories that's beautifully concise. There are a ton of cartoonists who are expert structuralists with regards to panelling out their stories, but since Jason's stories largely physical-based, you can really see his talent shine through on every page. I don't know, it's pretty cool to me.

Anyways, the story itself is great. It really nails the atmosphere of summer when you're a kid and hanging out with your friend. Then it really nails the atmosphere of the tragedy and terror of adulthood. But I don't wanna ruin the plot, since rolling along with it is one of the reasons the story works so well.

I read some more of Finnegans Wake today. It's so good even though I can't ever ever ever possibly say why. Apparently it gets more dense...maybe I won't be so excited then. But for now, on page 11, I'm cruising at a nice speed. I think what Alan Moore said is pretty right:

"[A story is] going to be some kind of information. Now that can be factual information, emotional information, psychological information…it's gonna be some sort of information…it might be non-linear, it might be more like noise than information…sort of like James Joyce, because actually it's the noise that holds the most information."

That's from this interview. It makes sense to me, since it feels like listening to the Wake read and sorta spacing out now and again really helps to sort the story subconsciously in yer mind. If there is a story, which I think there is currently, but I'm not so sure it'll keep up.