La Muerte en Trieste

by Jason, Oscar Palmer (translator)

184 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2024

About the author

John Arne Sæterøy, better known by the pen name Jason, is an internationally acclaimed Norwegian cartoonist. Jason's comics are known for their distinctive, stone-faced anthropomorphic characters as well as their pace reminiscent of classic films.
Jason was born in 1965 and debuted in the early 80's, when still a teenager, in the Norwegian comics magazine 'KonK'. His first graphic novel Pocket Full of Rain (1995) won the Sproing Award, one of the main national awards for cartoonist.
In 2001 Jason started a fruitful collaboration with the American publisher Fantagraphics, which helped him gain international notoriety. Besides Norway and the U.S., his comics have appeared in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil.
Jason's stories feature a peculiar mix of dry humour, surrealism and tropes from a variety of pulp genres, such as noir novels and monster movies. His most celebrated works include: Hey, Wait... (2001), a tale of childhood and trauma; You Can't Get There from Here (2004), a re-telling of the myth of Frankenstein; The Left Bank Gang (2007), featuring fictional versions of Hemingway and other writers living in Paris in the 1920s; I Killed Adolf Hitler (2008), a story that mixes romance and time travel; The Last Musketeer (2009), a love letter to old sci-fi imaginary featuring king's musketeer Athos; Low Moon (2010), one of his many collections of short stories; Werewolves of Montpellier (2010); Isle of 100,000 Graves (2011), a pirate story co-written with French cartoonist Fabien Vehlmann; Lost Cat (2013), a thriller with a surreal spin.
Jason won a Harvey Award for best new talent in 2002 and Eisner Awards in the category 'Best U.S. Edition of International Material' for three consecutive years (2007-2009).
He has lived in Denmark, Belgium, the U.S., eventually setting for Montpellier, France in 2007.

Reviews

[natura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cualquier cosa que cuente Jason es un desafío al lector por ese estilo tan escueto y minimalista tanto en el dibujo como en la narración. Allá te las apañes con el sentido de cada viñeta y de la obra en conjunto. Pero cada uno de sus dibujos atrapa tu atención, y vas encadenando viñetas y diálogos para conseguir ver el resultado final de estos misterios policiacos, aunque te encuentres con que son más un cachondeo que otra cosa.
Me ha resultado especialmente entretenido “El caso Magritte”, con ese sentido del humor tan propio y subliminal. En “Dulces sueños” me he perdido un poco, pero he disfrutado el espíritu dadaísta/surrealista de cada relato, y me sigue pareciendo uno de los mejores autores de cómic actuales.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a while since I read a Jason book. Definitely not his best but it's fun, as always. It's a tryptic of stories that couldn't be more different from each other. The first one is an absurd mystery featuring the Magritte Gang turning people into bowler hat wearing zombies. The second one is a dada poem in visual form, and I didn't understand anything (might go for a reread). The last one is a new wave/psych rock inspired end of the world action comedy. As per usual, there's a ton of pop culture references. Bowie makes a couple of appearances, Pink Floyd as well. Athos is always in the background. And I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff

[Nestor B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stories. The first, about the Magritte Gang, is relatively easy to follow. The same can't be said for the next two, which lack any straightforward narrative. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a common thread — it's just not easy to grasp all the elements or their meaning. But perhaps that’s where Jason is now: creating surreal (even Dadaist) visual poems meant to be experienced rather than fully understood.

[Frode Gaustad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason sine bøker er alltid en glede å lese med sine uventede innfall og vendinger og med morsomme persongallerier med en blanding av «kjendiser», figurer fra tidligere bøker og nye ansikter.

Denne boken er ikke blant hans aller beste, men jeg finner likevel mye her som får meg til både og smile og tenke.