Big Questions #14 by Anders Nilsen: Title and Deed

The Idiot. The tears. The drama. 

Next issue will be the last. How will I ever-

Buy/preview.

Red Book by David Shrigley

I spent the whole afternoon in that coffee bar reading a few pages at a time, to even out the laughter. Having been a great fan for half a decade or so, I must say Red Book turned out to be one of Shrigley's most brilliant works. 

Read this red book. And visit the artist's website. 

Big Questions #12 by Anders Nilsen: A Young Crowe's Guide to Hunting

Enter the crows.

And I am, as always, in awe of Nilsen's long running series Big Questions. One issue/20-30 pages per year, as it's been the past few, is never enough but still quite - it is with the tiny gestures; the turning of a head, the widening of an eye, that Nilsen's drama becomes what it is. Perfect.

Cover here.

Have a look at his website.

Det är bara lite AIDS by Sara Granér

You can't handle the truth.

The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 by Thomas Ott

Finally the new Thomas Ott (remember the last). I was going to save it for the perfect reading moment, but literally halfway out of bed this morning I figured I could at least have a little look at the first page - and before I knew it half an hour had past and 100 or so pages had ben scanned. Couldn't help it. I blame the genius. Oh, and it seems like it's his first full-length graphic novel, too.

Over at Fantagraphics there's a downloadable chapter for registered users, they also put up this on their Flickr.

By the way, fans of Ott might want to have a look at the wonderful cover for Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle:



That whole Penguin series with favourite artists' jackets I would like to have just to hold. Anders Nilsen, Daniel Clowes, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, it's too much!

Bullefältet by Amanda Vähämäki

When we were kids, my cousin Oskar and I used to draw a lot together. Sometimes we made our own magazines. I remember his style being much more advanced than mine - he knew how to draw bears and monsters and his characters would usually be saying smart and political things I knew nothing about at the time. He would even draw his own mixtape covers, with very cool handwriting to match.

Amanda Vähämäki's wonderful pencil drawings remind me of Oskar's. And Bullefältet (also available in Italian and Finnish) is a magical and surreal graphic novel that stands for itself. I'm very happy to have had my copy signed with a beautiful drawing by the artist at the Stockholm spx08 this weekend.

Another one of Vähämäki's stories, The Prophet can be found over at Electrocomics.

Galago #92

Galago is usually thick and on point. Once again I laugh out loud over Liv Strömquist's story where Swedish Minister of Finance Anders Borg ponders the question which movie is his favourite of all time: Pretty Woman. Fantastic.

Also in this issue the great Tardi, Tom Karlsson, Emma Rendel, Sara Granér and more and more.

The End #1 by Anders Nilsen

And it goes on.

The End #1 is about surviving the loss of one's beloved; "now every day this other person descends into hell or heaven"; talking to his former self the way he was before he knew, when everything was still well.

More.

Big Questions #7 by Anders Nilsen

Biq Questions is certainly up there on that list of stuff essential for (after) survival that I keep in my head, together with for example Ipoh bean sprouts, char siu bao and dogs who sigh in their sleep (the latter which Anders Nilsen already told a story about in Dogs and Water).

Danish blog Metabunker has a long interview with Nilsen.

Old posts of mine here, here, here and here

Milk Teeth by Julie Morstad

Julie Morstad is the best thing since... Everything, mostly. Milk Teeth just came out on Drawn and Quarterly and if I would compare it to something else it would be the meticulous penning of Gorey's and the wonderful themes of Anders Nilsen's. It is wordless art that's not really sequential. And it sort of tells the story of my life. If I could really draw, this is what I would want my stuff to look like.

The Funny Pages

The New York Times is our friend. Not only does their website feature an interactive page on the Visual Language of Graphic Novels for all of ye who don't already know (where artists like Art Spiegelman and Chester Brown talk about why they've chosen the graphic novel as their medium), they're also running Daniel Clowes' Mister Wonderful!

Big Questions 10: The Hand that Feeds by Anders Nilsen

Once again: the finches, the crows, the Idiot, the wild dogs. Anders Nilsen is my hero and probably my favourite comic book artist ever.

More here.
And here.

Ants Have Sex in Your Beer by David Shrigley

We are not allowed in Shrigley's hell. We must stay in our own hells.

Skissbok by Marcus Nyblom

Great wordless art from Swedish artist Marcus Nyblom! Buy here.

This Is a Paper Trinket for You to Wear by David Shrigley

J. got a Shrigley tee at the Tate Modern store. It's hilarious.

"This Is..." is not as heavy hitting as some of his earlier work, but it sure has its moments.

All I've been thinking of since London is the Shrigley drawing Battle Dress as I became crazy with the thought of Comme des Garçons' tar perfume.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (with Cheryl Weaver)

Spring 2005 Anders Nilsen's fiancé Cheryl was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away later that year. The couple's clippings, letters, drawings, photographs make up a beautiful book that breaks one's heart. It is one of the best things I have read about loss.

Read an excerpt at publisher Drawn & Quarterly.

The Book of Shrigley by David Shrigley

I finally got to get Scottish artist David Shrigley's collection The Book of Shrigley for J's birthday. It is, of course, genius. As all his work is. Love the format and the heavy paper with rounded edges. Perhaps I'd have done better without all the colors and nice dizign though, as I always like my Shrigley especially dry and concise in black and white. However, I suppose this is a good introduction for people who don't know his work.

Other nice ones: Let's Wrestle, Grip and Err (please skip the Swedish translated version). Most great thingies are featured on his website.