Sleeper Car

by Theo Ellsworth

Sleeper Car is Theo Ellsworth s next hilarious and inventive leap away from the inward journey and into pure fantasy. This small collection of short stories features gambling robots, a thrilling space mission, a whimsical train ride and a coterie of generous sky gnomes. With his unique blend of humor, wild creativity, and artwork as intricate as ever, Ellsworth realizes worlds unknown. Sleeper Car is about discovery, exploration and the benefits of letting your imagination guide you.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2009

About the author

Theo Ellsworth is a self-taught artist and storyteller who grew up in the mountains of Montana. He developed his art while wandering the United States in a motor powered vehicle. He is uncommonly fond of clouds, monsters, trees, and impossible objects. He is prone to fits of whimsy, and his mind is filled with preposterous notions, yet he still manages to come across as semi-normal. He now lives in Portland, Oregon with a witch doctor and a slightly evil cat, and spends as much time as possible making comics, art zines, and imaginary phenomenon. He also helps run the Pony Club gallery, which he co-founded. He has replaced his motor powered vehicle with a two-wheeled, human-powered contraption.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 32 page comic with a variety of stories, all of them great. The one page stories "How to Build a Pajama Tent" and "Frontier" were especially beautiful. One of the best comics I've read in my life.

[Rick Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of absurd and highly hilarious short comics by Theo Ellsworth. While every story is a banger here, the longest story in this collection, entitled "Norman Eight's Left Arm", was just amazing. It follows two robots who bet on the existence of gnomes and that's all there is to it. The humor is sharp and lands its punches well, but it's Ellsworth's loose yet somehow meticulous linework that really makes this such an entertaining comic. Everything about Sleeper Car is bizarre, but there is a definite method to the madness here. People should be running at the opportunity to read more comics like this one.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that anyone's interested, but Theo also did the front cover for Intuit, by Ramona Falls, and Brent Knopf (also of Menomena), is everything, so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eqZH...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxkHg...

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theo Ellsworth draws strange nocturnal characters and cityscapes, meticulously detailed but with a warm imprecision. I'd characterize his design sense as "Neo-Mezo-American Psychedlia" and he is concerned largely with tracking the mysterious denizens of his own bizarre subconscious.

With Capacity, Ellsworth collected his prior comic series along with the tricky process of getting them out of his dreams and brain and onto paper. And, strangely, it was exactly those self-reflexive accounts of the creative process that stood out brightest compared to the ups and downs of the actual stories. Capacity concludes with Theo's successful unlocking of his own imagination, and for some reason this gave me confidence that his next work would be fantastic. And so it was: the 34 excellent pages of Sleeper Car.

[Jaina Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could spread sparkles all over this review, it still wouldn't convey the thrills (literally!) this book gives me. Even if you aren't a fan of "graphic novels" (or whatever the kids are calling it these days), the introduction alone is such a spine-tinglingly spot-on description of the creative process that anyone could appreciate it. The rest of the book is a guided tour of where Theo's creative journey has taken him— deep into the deepest, strangest lands of the imagination! As I finished this book, my eyes filled with tears. Amazing. Phenomenal.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate to host Theo's reading and visual presentation at Powell's recently and he totally rocked it. His comics are elaborate acid trips filtered through dreamlike fairy tales, like a robot that lives in the forest whose head detaches to search for gnomes. Crazy good.

[Mykle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Norman Eight's Left Arm" is totally hilarious and cute -- probably the funniest thing Theo has written.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun little comic. The robot one was my favorite.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brief comic book is clever and beautiful and kind of weird, and I love it in that unidentifiable way characteristic of my favorite books/art.