The End: Revised and Expanded

by Anders Nilsen

Assembled from work done in Anders Nilsen’s sketchbooks over the course of the year following the death of his fiancée, Cheryl Weaver, in 2005, The End is a collection of short strips about loss, paralysis, waiting, and transformation ― a physical manifestation of grief. The End is a concept album in different styles, a meditation on paying attention, an abstracted autobiography and a metaphysical travelogue, reflecting the progress of his struggle to reconcile the great upheaval of a death, and to find a new life on the other side. The book blends Nilsen’s disparate styles, from iconic simplicity to collaged art to finely rendered pieces. This new edition of The End is substantially expanded and revised ― it is almost twice as long as the original edition ― incorporating new work from the past 15 years that adds greater perspective to an already intimate window into the way we grieve, a process that can span decades. The new material includes added content from the original sketchbooks, over a dozen pages of new comics, a new afterword by the author, additional notes, and over 20 pages of Cheryl Weaver’s work. Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Art, Grief, Memoir, Graphic Novels Comics

150 pages, Hardcover

First published August 2, 2022

About the author

Anders Nilsen is an American illustration and comics artist. He is the author of ten books including Big Questions, The End, and Poetry is Useless as well as the coloring book A Walk in Eden. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Poetry Magazine, Kramer's Ergot, Pitchfork, Medium and elsewhere. His comics have been translated into several languages overseas and his painting and drawing have been exhibited internationally. Nilsen's work has received three Ignatz awards as well as the Lynd Ward Prize for the Graphic Novel and Big Questions was listed as a New York Times Notable Book in 2011. Nilsen grew up in Minneapolis and Northern New Hampshire. He studied art in New Mexico and lived in Chicago for over a decade. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adapt my review of The End, the first edition, now that, sixteen years later, Anders Nilsen has doubled the size of his book.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is a book Nilsen put together after the death of his partner, a kind of scrapbook initially devised exclusively for his family and friends as a kind of remembrance. The End is culled from his sketchbooks and letters and photographs, and it is of course about grieving, and grief, and getting through, and all the things he went through, which is, as it turns out, not all that different from what we all go through when we grieve, or at least many of the same motions, all those stages. And can we learn from Nilsen's meditations about death and dying and grief, like all the novels and memoirs about it? Of course, and in this one it is no different, really. Even if he didn't really construct it for us outsiders. Maybe in a way it is even more powerful because of that, that it is not self-consciously "literary." I found Don't Go Where I Can't Follow more moving because it felt more raw and immediate and in the moment of a young man's baffling loss of a loving partner. Its focus is more on her.

So Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is a kind of family tribute album that gained a following, and Nilsen decided to withdraw it from publication; it was too personal, and at the time when he maybe cared more about "career trajectory" he didn't want the book to define the core of his work. And besides, he was starting to see someone else, and it was emotional complicated to be talking all the time about his dead fiancee. But then, he wrote Th End, more about himself and his process of grieving than her, and sixteen years later, the reflective and philosophical comics writer (Big Questions) revisits that grief, which of course never completely goes away.

The End is more contemplative, more about Nilsen, and his coping and failures to cope and his trying to regain his sense of humor. They are a very nice and affecting pair, these two books, and well worth checking out. There's a vulnerability and spareness to The End that is typical of his work, but in the spareness there is much depth, I find. It's almost like a principle of comics; the more detail you provide, the less connected you feel with the story (McCloud talks about that in Understanding Comics). Here, this story, so much his, also feels like it is yours, or that you share a kind of intimacy with him. I'm thankful I read the book and highly recommend them, but as a pair.

What is valuable about this much-expanded edition (including a 16-page color section) is that it helps us consider the long term effects of grief. How is different than the raw grief of the immediate circumstances? Very useful, for all of us (and I mean all) who go through this process (in my last meeting with a valued mentor who was dying, I asked him what he was thinking about, and he said he felt at times just as he did when he was a little boy; he missed his mother, and wanted her to come and comfort him and tell him things would be all right and cuddle him. This moves me even now as I now think of how much I miss my parents, twenty years gone, even as I myself enter old age). I really liked the intimacy of this book.

[Hilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally made me ugly sob. One time my gf and I were asking how long it would take for the other to move on and fall in love if one of us were to die… we said our answers at the same time. I said 20 and she said 5??? Wthelly??

[M. (they) · Rating 5 out of 5]

reading time: 1:53:46

if you’re going through the process of grieving, of any kind, read this book.

[spoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'mon on!!!!! C'mon on???? Collages?!??!?!

[Sarp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This new edition still doesn’t fail to make me sob.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really beautiful and poetic reflection on grief.

[Briana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best writing about loss, grief, wonder, meaning, and love, that I've read. It's especially relevant to me to recognize the giant swing of emotions that come with loss and intense grief.... one moment the unstoppable crying has removed all the breath from your body, and you might even become afraid that your lungs won't expand again, and the next you are consumed with an explosion of joy and gratefulness for the gift of loving someone so much. Thank you, Anders.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anders Nilsen is a tremendously contemplative and imaginative cartoonist, and those elements definitely come through in this thorough exploration of grief. However, the artwork didn't quite connect with me in the way some of his other works have had in the past. Nilsen's style has always been minimalist in execution, but there usually is some intricacy folded in. In The End, I found the sparseness of the artwork to be a little too much.

All that aside, the writing is extremely poignant and touching. It's clear this book came together with a lot of introspection and thoughtfulness, and a lot of this connected with me emotionally. The part that got to me the most was when Nilsen reflected on the possibilities of his life:

"I could be all of these things. One at a time or all at once. What I can't be is me, with you."

This is definitely not an easy book to read, but it could be a very important read for a lot of people.

[Ada]

***WHO SUCKED ME IN***
Omar of Near Mint Condition on YouTube in their Fantagraphics Collected Editions | Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: The Golden Nugget Boat| Meläg | video published on 12 september 2022.

To him it was a powerful read. It looks interesting. A bit experimental but I do like that at times.

[Jokin Abio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anders is always poignant, precise and ethereal. I found Poetry is useless by chance at a bookstore and got immediately hooked to his storytelling and message. I snatch every book of his I can find, letting myself enjoy finding one of my favorite authors works wherever they might be sitting. I never got the chance to read the original The end, so this book felt like an interesting introduction to all of his themes and aesthetic. Thank you.

[Samhita Sonti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've clearly been in the middle of a graphic novel binge, thanks to a class I'm taking this semester, and this one might just be the best of my list. I've never read anything quite like this. It deals with grief in a way that leaves out so much but somehow conveys the deepest, truest parts. Nilsen does an incredible job of getting the reader to empathize with feelings about an incident that is so heavy and unfathomable, and I am grateful for the experience of having read it.

[Chris Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Anders Nilsen and am working toward owning all his books. After reading "Don't Go Where I Can't Follow", which had everything, this one didn't grab me as strongly. Part of the issue is that I found a lot of it difficult to read-- really tiny fonts in light colors. Nilsen's deliberate, unhurried pacing is as sharp as ever, but I didn't enjoy the art as much and had trouble connecting. My love of Nilsen has not diminished, though! Definitely explore his work.

[James G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like these so much more. And maybe the whole idea is just so sad to me. And, so, if I can’t relate, it means it might not be like this? I dunno. I very intimate book. In a way, I wish it were more cathartic for me; and, of course, not. I certainly have sympathy but it’s not what it requests of the reader, I think. Some drawings are divine. The wife’s work so sweetly familiar, like a dear friend.

[chrstphre campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Telling a story about nothing important ( . )

Some people are driven to tell ‘some’ story, & without a good real or made up story, they settle for something marginally real, thinking that a real story validates itself, making it mote significant than any made up story, even ones that have received grandiose praise ( ! ) But this story is vaguely real, so it’s more significant ( ! )
( ? )

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was struck by the artwork and the assumed promise of a quick wallow in sadness, so I picked it up.

It's a biography of a man coping with the loss of his girlfriend. It didn't quite hit home for me because I haven't been through it, but it did stress me out to think about the possibility.

Recommended for anyone not wanting to feel alone in their mourning.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profound work of therapy in ink on a page

Many quiet and subtle nods to how society fails to treat the grieving with understanding and lots of good conversation around loss that many people fail to share with each other in an honest and vulnerable way.

[Devin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I’m just not in the mindset for a book such as this. It felt like this was written as poetry initially then turned into a comic.

I didn’t feel engaged, but I love how others connected with it.

Maybe I’m an outlier.

[Jeffrey McCullough · Rating 3 out of 5]

A palatable expression of grief, but perhaps missing the rawness you might otherwise expect in a work on this topic. Pretty good, but hardly exceptional.

[Peter Hollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and yet heartwarming. Anders Nilsen is one of the greatest cartoonists of the current age and his writing on grief and loss is a revelation, especially in this revised edition.

[Pandaduh · Rating 5 out of 5]

See review of other edition.

[Randi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning, earnest, painful portrait of grief. Fantastic.

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anders Nilsen 的一本关于death and grief的书，是他怀念病故女友的作品的合集和更新版，收录了2007年和2013年的同名作品的一些内容。作为图像作品，文字的内容更多一些，有点散文诗配图的感觉，调性是很悲伤的，不过女友都离世快十七年了，与其说是纪念对方，不如说是对自己过去人生的一个交代。

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 2 out of 5]

He may have been a better boyfriend than a graphic novelist. Or maybe not?

The dissociative nature of grief I don't doubt (and live in such fear of it, that I effectively have been grieving on the installment plan for decades it seems).

The abstract representations of that are interesting - like some primitive broken circuit design or unsolvable maze. That said some of the self-talking-to-self-as-ghost-of-other-half became a bit of a trying conceit; the two panels atop pp72 sure felt like the crystalline center of the process. I little part of my soul evaporated and left the tale then.

The rest of me did stick around, the bonus material at the End of this latest, revised and expanded end included a sort of Twilight Zone book-reading event, and then several pages of Cheryl's art work. Peace to her, the author and their families and friends.

[Ser Togni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo Big Questions, siamo fortunati a poter leggere in italiano anche The End, appena pubblicato nella sua ultima forma espansa del 2022. E d'altronde questo è uno degli aspetti più interessanti del libro, vedere come l'autore ritorna, edizione dopo edizione, in maniera diversa all'origine di questo racconto. Tutti i libri dovrebbero essere un mix di testi, poesia, sketch e immagini come questo, e come effetto il trasporto è molto alto, nonostante effettivamente i discorsi sul tema del lutto rimangano sempre a un livello molto astratto e filosofico (vedi Big Questions...). Difatti il lutto viene affrontato anche negli aspetti più inusuali e esistenziali, che coinvolgono la scomparsa in generale. Bellissima lettura.