Gash

by Søren Mosdal

The first cut is the deepest. Meet Bruce Lee, Bugboy, Clubfoot'n'Krust, Lou Reed the rock'n'roll transvestite junkie, weaselly wee Jonathan Shades and the decadent and depraved Hans Drone. Read vicious short stories, feverish, absurd, satirical and obscure; tales of revolting cruelty that smile as they slip the knife in deep and give it a playful twist. Savour longer, langourous strips -- from the sublime literary eroticism of "HundeGott" to the incestuous horrors of Snikt. Up and coming Danish comics Superstud Soren G Mosdal is the guilty, swine who has taken up the wickedly sharpened nib and carefully, capably, craftily carves these bittersweet billet doux to all that he so affectionately despises. Every fan of the inspired and the icky will want to buy this highly original volume. "Go on do it! I can wait no more!!"

Genres: Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Søren Glosimodt Mosdal was a member of the Fort Knox studio, and studied art in Copenhagen. He has contributed to Fahrenheit magazine since 1994, and was a contributor of comics to the literary magazine Zoe. In 1997, he began a longtime collaboration with this magazine's editor, Jacob Ørsted, who became his scriptwriter.

Reviews

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't know what to make of Gash, a collection of English-language strips from Danish writer/artist Soren Mosdal. There's no doubt Mosdal has talent, as demonstrated in his frenetic, nightmarish visual style (akin to Al Columbia, Barron Storey or Dave McKean at his most manic) and his ability to present his stories in multiple forms, always told with a minimum of elaboration but no less evocative. The stories themselves feel as though they have -- for the most part -- sprung fully-formed from Mosdal's imagination, with the occasional venture into (presumably) autobiography (or at least more realistic stories). This may, however, be my problem with him.
The strips collected here run a broad gamut, both visually and narratively, but perhaps a little more control or even a better eye to editing and arrangement might have done this book well. Some of the pieces seem amateurish to a painful fault, while others show a seemingly more confident artist and writer testing further waters. They appear to be just thrown into the book pell-mell and a better flow would have been nice.
There are only a few continuing characters here, and they show up in about three strips apiece. None of these is particularly engaging, and seem to be more just vehicles for telling the story than anyone we're meant to feel anything for.
I read this book probably every few years since I bought it 15 years ago, and every few years I tentatively put it back on my bookshelf feeling unsatisfied but intrigued. It will stay there for at least a few more...at which point I'll probably go through the whole thing again.