What do you think?
Rate this book
Pssst!
The second book from one of Europe's most acclaimed young artists. Entirely told in pantomime, this suite of short tales veers from the funny to the terrifying to the surreal to the touching. Like Chris Ware's, Jason's clean, deadpan style (featuring animal-headed characters with mask-like faces) hides a wealth of emotion and human complexity, leavened with a wicked wit. Jason's work has also drawn comparisons to Art Spiegelman for the similar ways both artists utilize anthropomorphic stylizations to reach deeper, more general truths, and to create elegantly minimalist panels whose emotional depth-charge comes as an even greater shock. His dark wit and supremely bold use of "jump-cuts" from one scene to the next are endlessly surprising and exhilarating.
Jason's previous book, the graphic novella Hey, Wait..., was released in English to great acclaim in September of 2001. This second book is very much in the same graphic and narrative style.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
672 people want to read
About the author
Jason
115 books706 followersJohn 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
April 19, 2021
Sshhhh! is a collection of ten loosely linked silent or wordless black and white comics shorts by comics master Jason that tell the life story of one man. The links are largely made through attempts at form, different ways of telling stories, though recurrent characters emerge. As with all other Jason comics. the characters are anthropomorphic animals and birds--this one mainly birds--but the unique thing about this early comic is that he plays with the idea of the main character as a bird, having him live in a nest in the first and last stories.
In One, our hero, a street musician with a tin whistle, walks through a park, looks at lovers, longs for this himself, throws a rock off a bridge and a woman is suddenly there. Though bird man lives in a nest, they develop a relationship, and so go apartment hunting. In one witty image, they—two birds—are watching Hitchcock’s The Birds. She becomes sick, and while there, he draws an adventure of his rescuing her from Death in a castle prison. She gets out of the hospital, but then she is hit by a car and dies. We see Death in the crowd that forms. He walks back to that bridge, throws a rock into the water, and looks around for her, for anyone. No one is there. A sad sweet story. But this guy is haunted by Death thereafter. In Ten, bird man returns to his nest and takes out his tin whistle.
What to make of these stories? A life, told through ten minimalist demonstrations of different subtle tones one can accomplish in comics stories. Sad, black comedies, pantomimes, tributes to silent films but decidedly not films. Comics.
In One, our hero, a street musician with a tin whistle, walks through a park, looks at lovers, longs for this himself, throws a rock off a bridge and a woman is suddenly there. Though bird man lives in a nest, they develop a relationship, and so go apartment hunting. In one witty image, they—two birds—are watching Hitchcock’s The Birds. She becomes sick, and while there, he draws an adventure of his rescuing her from Death in a castle prison. She gets out of the hospital, but then she is hit by a car and dies. We see Death in the crowd that forms. He walks back to that bridge, throws a rock into the water, and looks around for her, for anyone. No one is there. A sad sweet story. But this guy is haunted by Death thereafter. In Ten, bird man returns to his nest and takes out his tin whistle.
What to make of these stories? A life, told through ten minimalist demonstrations of different subtle tones one can accomplish in comics stories. Sad, black comedies, pantomimes, tributes to silent films but decidedly not films. Comics.
July 30, 2017
When I encountered with Jason's books. I decided immediately that I'll be reading all of his books.
He brings life in his characters.
He brings life in his characters.
August 25, 2016
U ovom stripu Jason (Norvežanin John Arne Sæterøy) kroz svoje antropomorfne životinjske likove bez ijedne riječi priča priče iz života.
Crtež je jednostavan, inspiriran Hergéovim ligne claire stilom.
Uz dobar humor Jason se igra formom, reže dijelove jedne priče i lijepi ih u drugu, ponekad pobjegne i u surealizam, a ponekad u posvetu Monster B filmovima. Tim izostavljanjem dijelova čitatelju prepušta popunjavanje praznina, pa vjerujem da se ovaj strip drugačije doživi na svako čitanje, ovisno o trenutnom raspoloženju. Zanimljiv koncept.
Crtež je jednostavan, inspiriran Hergéovim ligne claire stilom.
Uz dobar humor Jason se igra formom, reže dijelove jedne priče i lijepi ih u drugu, ponekad pobjegne i u surealizam, a ponekad u posvetu Monster B filmovima. Tim izostavljanjem dijelova čitatelju prepušta popunjavanje praznina, pa vjerujem da se ovaj strip drugačije doživi na svako čitanje, ovisno o trenutnom raspoloženju. Zanimljiv koncept.
September 4, 2019
¿Qué es esto? ¿Un libro sin palabras? ¿Amerita siquiera comentarlo en un sitio web dedicado a la lectura? Bueno, sí. La lectura es un acto que excede a la palabra escrita. Algo de esto dije ya en mi reseña de The Arrival de Shaun Tan. Jason también nos tortura con el silencio. Hasta el título del libro es difícil de pronunciar. ¿Trataron de hacerlo?
“Estoy leyendo Chhht! ”
O, en español:
“Estoy leyendo ¡Shhhh!”
No sólo el título es una onomatopeya, lo que ya sería un tema; es una onomatopeya que no sabemos pronunciar sin darle ese significado de “hacé silencio”.
Terrible.
Jason, además, se caracteriza por dibujar siempre animales antropomórficos con un mínimo de expresividad. Las caras están siempre imperturbables; los ojos ni siquiera tienen pupilas. Todo en esta obra de Jason, y en las que leí hasta ahora, está narrado en este lenguaje minimalista. Las viñetas nos van mostrando a los personajes, en situaciones que por lo general son bastante surrealistas, y nosotros tenemos que hacer el resto.
Mucha gente que ha leído esta obra dice que no, que los personajes de Jason no son inexpresivos, que siempre se sabe lo que están pensando y sintiendo. Esta afirmación, objetivamente, no se sostiene. Lo que ocurre en todo caso es que el lector imprime sus propias conclusiones en los rostros imperturbables de los personajes. Esta alquimia está facilitada por el hecho de que no son rostros humanos. Las caricaturas de animales son más icónicas, y por eso es más fácil identificarse con ellas, según la certera observación de Scott McLeod.
Cuando vemos el dibujo de una cara humana, tendemos a identificarlo con otra persona, pero si el dibujo es lo bastante esquemático, empezamos a asociarlo con la imagen mental, por lo general rudimentaria, que tenemos de nosotros mismos. Es por eso que en los productos dirigidos al público infantil abundan los animales y los objetos antropomórficos. Los niños responden mejor a estos personajes porque se identifican con ellos, y la identificación es un componente fundamental del aprendizaje en esa etapa de la vida. El hecho de que los adultos ya no la necesitemos tanto no significa que seamos menos susceptibles a ella.
En fin, ¿en qué estaba? Ah, sí; no dejen este cómic al alcance de los niños.
También iba a decir que Chhht! es un cómic verdaderamente extraordinario; una muestra de lo que es capaz el arte de Jason, pero también el medio en general.
Cuando lo leemos (por ponerle un verbo), se nos obliga a darle un sentido a las imágenes surrealistas que se van sucediendo. En algunos momentos parece claro; en general, esquivo, o directamente absurdo. Las experiencias de este cuervo antropomórfico son, en resumen, un reflejo de nuestro propio vacío existencial.
Los hechos se limitan a ocurrir. Podemos asignarles un significado, ordenarlos para que formen parte de una narrativa, pero al fin de cuentas son solamente eso, hechos. Ningún Dios va a aparecer con palabras (logos) inequívocas y explicarnos de qué demonios se trata todo esto.
Como The Arrival, pero con un objetivo muy diferente Chhht! convierte el silencio en su principal medio expresivo. Es una decisión estética que, además, sirve para reafirmar la independencia de los cómics: una novela no puede prescindir de las palabras, pero la misma restricción claramente no afecta a las “novelas gráficas”.
El lenguaje de los cómics se compone de dos elementos fundamentales: la imagen y el espacio en blanco. Este último, y vuelvo inevitablemente a citar a McLeod, es el más idiosincrático del medio. El blanco nos requiere formar una secuencia, cerrar sentidos, y es algo que hacemos con naturalidad, casi sin notarlo. Jason quiere que lo notemos. Sus cómics nos obligan a quedarnos en la elipsis, a buscar sentidos imposibles entre una viñeta y otra. Al leer, o lo que sea, Chhht!, noto que los cómics están hechos fundamentalmente de blancos, igual que los objetos sólidos están hechos fundamentalmente de vacío.
Como dice el Tao Te King, el espacio entre los radios es el que hace mover a la rueda.
“Estoy leyendo Chhht! ”
O, en español:
“Estoy leyendo ¡Shhhh!”
No sólo el título es una onomatopeya, lo que ya sería un tema; es una onomatopeya que no sabemos pronunciar sin darle ese significado de “hacé silencio”.
Terrible.
Jason, además, se caracteriza por dibujar siempre animales antropomórficos con un mínimo de expresividad. Las caras están siempre imperturbables; los ojos ni siquiera tienen pupilas. Todo en esta obra de Jason, y en las que leí hasta ahora, está narrado en este lenguaje minimalista. Las viñetas nos van mostrando a los personajes, en situaciones que por lo general son bastante surrealistas, y nosotros tenemos que hacer el resto.
Mucha gente que ha leído esta obra dice que no, que los personajes de Jason no son inexpresivos, que siempre se sabe lo que están pensando y sintiendo. Esta afirmación, objetivamente, no se sostiene. Lo que ocurre en todo caso es que el lector imprime sus propias conclusiones en los rostros imperturbables de los personajes. Esta alquimia está facilitada por el hecho de que no son rostros humanos. Las caricaturas de animales son más icónicas, y por eso es más fácil identificarse con ellas, según la certera observación de Scott McLeod.
Cuando vemos el dibujo de una cara humana, tendemos a identificarlo con otra persona, pero si el dibujo es lo bastante esquemático, empezamos a asociarlo con la imagen mental, por lo general rudimentaria, que tenemos de nosotros mismos. Es por eso que en los productos dirigidos al público infantil abundan los animales y los objetos antropomórficos. Los niños responden mejor a estos personajes porque se identifican con ellos, y la identificación es un componente fundamental del aprendizaje en esa etapa de la vida. El hecho de que los adultos ya no la necesitemos tanto no significa que seamos menos susceptibles a ella.
En fin, ¿en qué estaba? Ah, sí; no dejen este cómic al alcance de los niños.
También iba a decir que Chhht! es un cómic verdaderamente extraordinario; una muestra de lo que es capaz el arte de Jason, pero también el medio en general.
Cuando lo leemos (por ponerle un verbo), se nos obliga a darle un sentido a las imágenes surrealistas que se van sucediendo. En algunos momentos parece claro; en general, esquivo, o directamente absurdo. Las experiencias de este cuervo antropomórfico son, en resumen, un reflejo de nuestro propio vacío existencial.
Los hechos se limitan a ocurrir. Podemos asignarles un significado, ordenarlos para que formen parte de una narrativa, pero al fin de cuentas son solamente eso, hechos. Ningún Dios va a aparecer con palabras (logos) inequívocas y explicarnos de qué demonios se trata todo esto.
Como The Arrival, pero con un objetivo muy diferente Chhht! convierte el silencio en su principal medio expresivo. Es una decisión estética que, además, sirve para reafirmar la independencia de los cómics: una novela no puede prescindir de las palabras, pero la misma restricción claramente no afecta a las “novelas gráficas”.
El lenguaje de los cómics se compone de dos elementos fundamentales: la imagen y el espacio en blanco. Este último, y vuelvo inevitablemente a citar a McLeod, es el más idiosincrático del medio. El blanco nos requiere formar una secuencia, cerrar sentidos, y es algo que hacemos con naturalidad, casi sin notarlo. Jason quiere que lo notemos. Sus cómics nos obligan a quedarnos en la elipsis, a buscar sentidos imposibles entre una viñeta y otra. Al leer, o lo que sea, Chhht!, noto que los cómics están hechos fundamentalmente de blancos, igual que los objetos sólidos están hechos fundamentalmente de vacío.
Como dice el Tao Te King, el espacio entre los radios es el que hace mover a la rueda.
November 28, 2021
The back of my edition presents Sshhhh! as a series of vignettes about one (bird-)man’s life, and the reviews I’ve read all seem to suggest a similar reading. There’s certainly evidence to support this view, particularly in the way that the ending ties back to the beginning, but my interpretation is a bit different. Although the protagonist looks identical in each of the ten chapters, I don’t see him as a consistent character, but rather as a blank slate that’s used for whatever purpose the particular story requires. Indeed, apart from two chapters that seem to run directly one into the other (six and seven), there’s no sense of continuity between the chapters, and each one has its own plot and style, largely functioning as a short comic in its own right. In other words, I view this not as a single cohesive work, but as ten distinct, essentially unrelated shorts.
Considering each of these ten comics on its own merit, as I think it makes sense to do, I find myself dividing them into three basic categories. Chapters one and three, which stand out as my favourites, are without a doubt the most human comics here, tackling big themes like love, loss and family in powerful, nuanced and moving ways to which I think any reader should be able to relate. The comics of the second category – chapters five, six and ten – are also excellent, but largely impress me with their cleverness rather than connecting with me on a deeper emotional level; each one feels like the exploration of a single idea, and although these ideas are explored in fascinating ways, these comics don’t quite hit me with the visceral gut-punches of chapters one and three. The final category (encompassing chapters two, four, seven, eight and nine) consists of short, simple, surreal comics in which not much happens; like in the second category, each of these comics revolves around a single idea, but these comics don’t really explore their idea so much as just present it and then end. I certainly don’t dislike this third group, but I can’t rightly say I get much out of them, beyond some gentle amusement and an appreciation of their visual qualities.
Despite consisting of ten very distinct pieces, Sshhhh! is cohesive and consistent in terms of appearance and storytelling language. The key word is minimalism: no colour, no dialogue, no narration, almost no facial expressions, clear lines, sparse backgrounds, simple anthropomorphic character designs, and total adherence to a six-panel grid. It might be a little spartan, but it looks fantastic and the reading experience is almost hypnotic. And thanks to Jason’s unique cartooning, the whole of Sshhhh! is a pleasure to read, even when the stories don’t amount to much.
Considering each of these ten comics on its own merit, as I think it makes sense to do, I find myself dividing them into three basic categories. Chapters one and three, which stand out as my favourites, are without a doubt the most human comics here, tackling big themes like love, loss and family in powerful, nuanced and moving ways to which I think any reader should be able to relate. The comics of the second category – chapters five, six and ten – are also excellent, but largely impress me with their cleverness rather than connecting with me on a deeper emotional level; each one feels like the exploration of a single idea, and although these ideas are explored in fascinating ways, these comics don’t quite hit me with the visceral gut-punches of chapters one and three. The final category (encompassing chapters two, four, seven, eight and nine) consists of short, simple, surreal comics in which not much happens; like in the second category, each of these comics revolves around a single idea, but these comics don’t really explore their idea so much as just present it and then end. I certainly don’t dislike this third group, but I can’t rightly say I get much out of them, beyond some gentle amusement and an appreciation of their visual qualities.
Despite consisting of ten very distinct pieces, Sshhhh! is cohesive and consistent in terms of appearance and storytelling language. The key word is minimalism: no colour, no dialogue, no narration, almost no facial expressions, clear lines, sparse backgrounds, simple anthropomorphic character designs, and total adherence to a six-panel grid. It might be a little spartan, but it looks fantastic and the reading experience is almost hypnotic. And thanks to Jason’s unique cartooning, the whole of Sshhhh! is a pleasure to read, even when the stories don’t amount to much.
August 7, 2019
Says a lot about life.
May 10, 2024
Short stories, that will make you little sad sometimes, sometimes smile and always think about life universe and everything...
July 15, 2021
Os quadrinhos de Jason são sempre um primor de narrativa que se reflete na nossa leitura. Leitura num quadrinho silencioso? Sim, leitura de imagens que justapostas causam um "efeito narrativo" no leitor. Essa é a magia das histórias em quadrinhos, em que o leitor é quem dá o sentido para aquilo que vê. E se fazer uma história curta somente com imagens já parece complicado, imagina traçar um álbum inteiro dessa forma. Em Sshhhh!, Jason nos traz dez narrativas acompanhando o mesmo personagens em situações bastante peculiares, mas que por mais nonsense que se apresentem, fazem sentido nessa leitura de imagens e quebra-cabeças de significados que o leitor de uma história em quadrinhos silenciosa monta em sua mente. Sempre é muito recompensador ler os quadrinhos que Jason traz através da narrativa silenciosa e os animais antropomorfizados que são uma marca de seus trabalhos.
May 15, 2010
Grim, bleak sense of humor only more enhanced by the placid face of his anonymous animals. They embark on journeys, either simple (going to work) or heroic (rescuing the princess from the castle) with the same dreadful eye-open stare. This creates that dramatic pause that is so prevalent in comedy today, the breaking of the fourth wall (Like Jim in The Office). It is like his big eyed birds are staring at you as they confront awkward situations. This book is very jumpy allowing years to happen in frames and relationships to be connected without precedence. It is good because it creates a sort of surreal momentum that enables the story to be what it is, a rushed anecdote about a benign moral lesson that is ironic in its telling because it doesn't have to be known. A kid building an airplane to escape the cowardice of his father means nothing without the fragile music in the background to make our emotions giddy for sentimentality. And a lottery winner forsaking his mansion for a bird's nest and a flute is the same rehashing of modesty as opposed to riches. But because it's quick, it's cute and it's wide open-eyed and you can see him chuckling, all his characters chuckling under their strict, puppet skin it is a good read.
Scott McCloud said that the more out of touch a character is the more we have the ability to place ourselves in his stead. These stories create the perfect dolls for a simple catharsis.
I recommend you read it in the bookstore, as it only takes a half an hour. or buy it for a child.
Scott McCloud said that the more out of touch a character is the more we have the ability to place ourselves in his stead. These stories create the perfect dolls for a simple catharsis.
I recommend you read it in the bookstore, as it only takes a half an hour. or buy it for a child.
January 12, 2015
This comic is very interesting in the sense that it can fully offer a compelling story about a bird living in a modern world in absolute silence but the artwork offers more dialogue than words can say. I can see exactly how the bird (Jason?) is feeling at every moment. He's a very dynamic character through the dead silence of just pictures. I can hear him in my thoughts if you kind of know what I mean
January 9, 2018
Jason je môj obľúbenec. Príbehy v tejto zbierke sú bez slov a predsa veľavravné, postavy bez výrazu a predsa plné emócií, "rozprávanie" cez obrázky stručné a predsa rezonujúce. Na veľmi malom priestore toho autor dokáže nesmierne veľa - porozprávať príbehy samoty, straty, nájdenia, nádeje, života, smrti, dospievania, starnutia, hľadania samého seba i úteku pred sebou samým a ešte omnoho, omnoho viac, to všetko prostredníctvom antropomorfných zvieracích postavičiek, ktoré absolútne bezvýrazným pohľadom civia čitateľovi priamo do duše. V Jasonovom minimalistickom čierno-bielom štýle je dôležitý každý detail - každá čiarka, vlas, tvar rámčeka, farba pozadia. A to je na tom to krásne - zdanlivo jednoduchý komiks si vyžaduje pomerne pozorného čitateľa a pokojne znesie aj opätovné "čítanie".
February 11, 2015
Jason powoli awansuje do miana mojego ulubionego twórcy komiksów. Nie przeszkadza mi, że ta pozycja (podobnie jak "Stój...") jest dziełkiem mrocznym i depresyjnym. Pozornie abstrakcyjne opowieści o samotności, śmierci i jeszcze kilku ważnych sprawach, z aktorami o zwierzęcych buźkach kompletnie pozbawionych emocji. Mistrz.
May 31, 2017
How amazingly perceptive these were!
Love how there were no lines spoken and no explanations like "Meanwhile, accross the galaxy..."
The drawings were simple but they worked really well and the blank look on the "main character's" face was brilliant.
Laughed the most at the baby coming through the mailbox and the burning of the clock.
Loved how it all kind of came full circle in the end.
Love how there were no lines spoken and no explanations like "Meanwhile, accross the galaxy..."
The drawings were simple but they worked really well and the blank look on the "main character's" face was brilliant.
Laughed the most at the baby coming through the mailbox and the burning of the clock.
Loved how it all kind of came full circle in the end.
December 30, 2019
¡Por fin lo conseguí! ¿Cómo no lo pensé antes? Lo conseguí en francés. Pero uno podría leerlo en cualquier idioma, son dibujos y los sentimientos son universales. Es increíble lo que logra este muchacho.
September 30, 2020
Good. Short.
A lot of hypothetical scenarios play out. It has that solemn tone that makes me enjoy this cartoonist’s work. Spare on words, which makes it read fast, but also can make things disorienting. Only a little disorienting in this book. One of the better ones I have read by this author so far.
A lot of hypothetical scenarios play out. It has that solemn tone that makes me enjoy this cartoonist’s work. Spare on words, which makes it read fast, but also can make things disorienting. Only a little disorienting in this book. One of the better ones I have read by this author so far.
March 9, 2019
¡Cuánto demoré en entrar en este increíble autor noruego! Dibujo sencillo, historia igual de sencilla, pero, a no engañarse, al terminar el tomo se siente la desolación que Jason quiere transmitir. Maravilla total.
February 5, 2022
Foi meu primeiro contato com o autor e me impressionei bastante com a capacidade dele nestas dez histórias curtas sem sequer uma linha de diálogo. O traço de Jason é bastante estilizado e todos os seus personagens são animais antropomórficos e isso é o bastante para narrar um cotidiano tão banal quanto cheio de significado.
March 1, 2022
(Read in Feb 2022 as part of the collection, What I Did)
Collection of b&w stories. Mostly bird characters in this one. No dialogue. Some sound effects like Boom! Ring etc.
Collection of b&w stories. Mostly bird characters in this one. No dialogue. Some sound effects like Boom! Ring etc.
January 20, 2023
Olipas paljon puhuvaa kuvakieltä! Muutaman kerran tipahdin, mutta pääosin kuvat puhuivat enemmänkin kuin sanat. Pidin.
March 21, 2023
Viva Jason
February 29, 2024
Não é que não tenha gostado, mas não me encantou.
Desenhos interessantes, ideias bem conseguidas e bem transmitidas.
Mas ficou por aqui...
Esperava mais!
Desenhos interessantes, ideias bem conseguidas e bem transmitidas.
Mas ficou por aqui...
Esperava mais!
March 6, 2025
Jason strings together a series of wordless strips in Sshhhh!. Though somewhat interconnected by using the same tweed coat and fedora wearing bird-man protagonist, the individual stories are more or less standalone strips. Taken together, a panoramic view of this man's life is pieced together, though given the sheer divergence in tone and variety of stories, I choose to find them to be unrelated stories with a shared protagonist. Jason's subtle humor is on stark display in the wordless comics format, and from there Sshhhh! is able to deliver absurd, surreal, melancholic and even violent vignettes. The charming quality of Jason's minimalistic compositions add a ton of weight to these offbeat strips, making the sum quality of Sshhhh! a lot loftier than one would expect.
July 4, 2007
Probably my favorite graphic novel. A collection of short stories all done completely visually--no words. Jason has a great anthropomorphic, minimalist style. This book holds up to multiple readings, which is important given the high cost of graphic novels.
March 30, 2016
A wordless graphic novel depicting various life happenings, often depicting the casual and everyday or the tragic. You won't see any smiling characters, just characters going through the motions. Weirdly existential for a book showing situations without dialogue.
January 23, 2009
We're publishing a new edition of this book this fall.
Read
June 2, 2014I liked how he was able to tell the story very well without words you can easily tell what's happening and how the characters feel without reading anything and it was just an all around good book
May 24, 2021
Again, a classic Jason comic which is less of easy humour and more of dark humour. His comics, like this one, makes you think deeply and wonder and analyse everything around you.
February 22, 2022
The best Jason book I've read. This is a series of wordless stories featuring his anthropomorphized dog and bird characters. They are all very well done.
May 7, 2019
I've greatly enjoyed the works of Jason ever since I picked up I Killed Adolf Hitler. His deadpan writing and art style, his haunting blend of dark comedy and tragedy, and his vibrant imagination keep me reading, and even when he falls a little short I still enjoy what I read of his. "Sshhhh!" isn't my favorite of his works, but it's still an absurd but entertaining collection of short stories, mixing the mundane with the bizarre and giving us some profound looks at our own lives.
"Sshhhh!" follows a nameless anthropomorphic crow on a series of absurd short stories -- raising a son he finds in his mailbox, reliving a Groundhog-Day-style cycle of revenge upon a former lover, being followed by a skeleton, etc. The circumstances of these stories are often strange, often tragic, and often touching on elements of our own lives that we can relate to all too well, whether it's dealing with the pain of a breakup, watching a child grow up and grow away, the unavoidable spectre of death, etc. And while there's no dialogue to speak of and the characters' facial expressions are limited (Jason's art style leaves his characters with masklike faces that don't emote well), there's still quite a bit of emotion depicted in each short story.
Despite the cartoony animals, this isn't a book for kids. It deals with mature themes and contains nudity (though it's exceptionally weird seeing human breasts on a bird...).
An absurd little book, "Sshhhh!" is still an intriguing read, and even if it's not my favorite work by Jason, it's still worth a look if you're a fan of the author/artist.
"Sshhhh!" follows a nameless anthropomorphic crow on a series of absurd short stories -- raising a son he finds in his mailbox, reliving a Groundhog-Day-style cycle of revenge upon a former lover, being followed by a skeleton, etc. The circumstances of these stories are often strange, often tragic, and often touching on elements of our own lives that we can relate to all too well, whether it's dealing with the pain of a breakup, watching a child grow up and grow away, the unavoidable spectre of death, etc. And while there's no dialogue to speak of and the characters' facial expressions are limited (Jason's art style leaves his characters with masklike faces that don't emote well), there's still quite a bit of emotion depicted in each short story.
Despite the cartoony animals, this isn't a book for kids. It deals with mature themes and contains nudity (though it's exceptionally weird seeing human breasts on a bird...).
An absurd little book, "Sshhhh!" is still an intriguing read, and even if it's not my favorite work by Jason, it's still worth a look if you're a fan of the author/artist.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews