Meow, Baby!

by Jason

by Jason
After books that have ranged from tragedy, to drama, to thriller melodrama, Jason unleashes a big collection of hilarious shorter pieces. God, the Devil, mummies, vampires, zombies, werewolves, reanimated skeletons, space invaders, Death, cavemen, Godzilla and Elvis populate these most-often wordless blackout gags, side by side with Jason's usual Little Orphan Annie-eyed, rabbit-and-bird-head protagonists.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Bande Dessinée, Comic Book

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

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

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2005 book has been out of print for a long time, and no library in the area has it, so I finally ordered it. It's a collection of mostly two page stories, mostly silent, stripped down to the essence of comics storytelling by a master, with no speech bubbles, with minimal backgrounds, mostly gags that reminded me of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin silents, although the subjects are popular culture: an angel, the Devil, mummies, vampires, zombies, werewolves, reanimated skeletons, space invaders, Godzilla, Elvis, and so on--Jason loves pop culture--animated by his anthropomorphic animals dressed in human clothes. The stories have no titles and you only know for sure they are completed by his signature. And the punch line. There is one longer--and titled--short story about mummies. The last section of the book is even punchier, with shorter gags, three panels.

Mostly silly and generally absurdist on the one hand, it is on the other hand a master course in comics, how to tell a story with as little as possible. It lacks the warmth and depth of his longer books, but that's mainly because he is trying to tell stories and gags in as little space possible, often 3 panels, with no words, but it is still Jason, c'mon!

You can read some here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=meow+...

[Tawfek · Rating 3 out of 5]

its the first of a kind.
first collected works comic book i read
there is some good jokes
and some bad ones as expected
jokes arnt made for everyone to laugh about anyway
not the enjoyment i used to get from jason works but its still good :D

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of short humorous strips. Most are silent, with just a couple near the end having any dialogue.

Most of the strips have Universal style monsters in the real world. Frankenstein running from a mob and bumps into Dracula, also running from a mob from the opposite direction. Mummies, Frankenstein, Dracula, skeletons, undead zombies, aliens looking for directions... plus Arnold dressed as the Terminator and Elvis.

[Tony Vacation · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jason cuts loose in this collection of absurdist vignettes about insecure vampires having trouble wooing ladies, werewolves transforming at the most awkward times, zombies worrying about their B.O., bored skeletons tying to come up with ways to pass the longueurs of the grave, urbane cavemen clubbing women and dragging them off to the bedroom, and the Governator trying to find all those perfect conversational chances to say, "I'll be back!" Most of these scenarios run no longer than a page and are all predicated on fairly simple gags. It's all good-natured, harmless fun to shine a smile on a rainy day face.

[Ashique Majeed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would not recommend this book to a newbie in the area of Jason. It would be best if you read other books of Jason like " I killed Adolf Hitler " before reading this one. .

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a lot thicker than Jason's books, being the size of about 3 of his usual sized books combined. It's a shame his publishers have temporarily stopped printing copies but I suspect as with the recent repub of Sshhhh! that it won't be long before we see this as well as "Tell Me Something" and "The Iron Wagon" being reissued.

Unlike a number of Jason's other books, this isn't a 48 page comics novella but rather an assortment of 1 or 2 page stories involving aliens, cavemen, Elvis impersonators, mummies, zombies, skeletons, and vampires to name a few. The tone is very light hearted and funny with running gags involving the Caveman whacking women over the head with a club and dragging them back to his cave, the Vampire looking for a change to his routine, the Alien abducting people, and the Zombie couple eating different people. Though it has no overall narrative it shows Jason's superb ability at telling a story within a few panels without words. Also included is a short story involving mummies.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so later Jason work is thoughtful and nuanced, but this early work is sophomoric at best.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having only read Jason's clever Left-Bank Gang prior to this, I think my expectations for Meow, Baby! were a bit off. This is a collection of short strips that are only connected by the fact that they feature Jason's odd brand of animal characters as old-school monsters--a mummy, a vampire, Frankenstein's monster, etc. The strips are all non sequiturs, and fell into two camps: I got the joke but didn't find it funny, or the humor was lost on me. They all tend to hinge on the absurdity of these characters in urbane situations, as well as hammering home the drudgery of their expected behavior. Ho-hum. Lovely cartooning, though.

[Lauren Salisbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would definitely not advise that anyone read this as their first venture into the work of Jason. Seasoned readers will recognize the style and humor while it's likely virginal readers will be confused and turned off. Read this short story collection of morbid crackups as a follow-up to at least two or three other Jason novellas.

[Ray Nessly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite liked this collection of b/w stories by Norwegian cartoonist Jason (John Arne Sæterøy). Most of the stories are only a few pages, with one longer piece (The Mummy's Secret). The collection wraps up with about fifteen pages of very short (3 panel) cartoons. Recurring characters include Elvis, cavemen, an alien, wolf man, a mummy and various zombies, skeletons ... ie, your assorted walking undead. Mostly sight gags, slapstick, and often delightfully odd and/or surreal. One or two I'm not sure I "got", but hey that's okay, because I found it pretty consistently amusing. Especially liked the wolf man, always finding himself transforming at inopportune moments. Like say, when meeting his lady friend's parents.

[Beatrice Marovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most recent book by this cartoonist is a graphic novel called "I Killed Adolph Hitler", which (although I have not yet read all of it) seems an awful lot like the Maus series... animals playing the role of humans, with different ethnicities/races represented by different animals species. Sort of a Kafkaesque play on the nature of species-- particularly the human.

I guess you could call Meow, Baby Kafkaesque as well. But it's also just, simply, funny. It's not a graphic novel, but a series of cartoons where skeleton creatures socialize with B-movie figures (like tortured, self-conscious zombies who can't get a date, duck vampires), a dog-man who - over the course of the book - becomes increasingly more refined, takes up painting, but still bashes women on the head with a club to get them into the bedroom. And the one human figure is an old bearded man with long hair and a robe-- sort of like a 1970s Hollywood depiction of deity.

So I confess that I sort of love this book. There are very few words, and many strange shocks of poetic recognition (like watching a zombie brush his teeth and make faces at himself in the mirror) that are mediated, sure, in a properly anthropomorphic manner. But, aside from the fact that it's also properly monstropomorphic, it's the sort of thing that makes strange and ridiculous anthropomorphizations seem necessary.

[مصطفي سليمان · Rating 3 out of 5]

انا متأكد انه لو كشفوا علي الراجل دا هيطلع من دماغه بلاوي

الراجل مريب جدا يا جدعان
دي مش رواية

مجموعة شخصيات
زومبي / مصاص دماء / مومياء / رجل كهف / هيكل عظمي
ف مجموعة بانل مختلفة
يعني فيه القصة بتاعت

الفيس بريسلي vs جودزيلا





قصص مريبة بس جذابة لسبب مجهول

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't expect insight or pathos from this gag reel. Just get into its sheer stoogery. Remember, it's only a cartoon!

[Juurakkotukka · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hate the rape "jokes". :(

[Leonardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humor absurdo-surrealista, referencias inteligentes a la cultura pop y un excelente manejo de las convenciones de la narrativa gráfica (específicamente, de las historietas en un limitado número de paneles) hacen de esta antología de humor gráfico de Jason una gran lectura, editaba con gran cuidado por Astiberri (desde la calidad de las tintas, hasta el grosor del papel). Aunque el autor es más reconocido por sus narraciones de más extenso calado, con este libro demuestra que también es capaz de darle su giro personal a las clásicas convenciones de los comics estadounidenses y las bandes desinnées francófonas. Momias, esqueletos, vampiros, cavernícolas, Elvis, extraterrestres, zombies, ángeles y demonios viven aventuras absurdas e hilarantes que no pocas veces nos arrancan risas incómodas.

[Pok Manero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este comic recopila varios materiales cortos de Jason, completamente humorísticos y sin el aspecto particularmente emotivo y a veces trágico de sus historias largas. Algunos son comics experimentales de varias páginas que toman un acercamiento casi surrealista, otras son varias tiras cómicas o lo equivalente a sketches, breves y graciosos. Mis favoritos, sin duda, son el chiste recurrente del cavernícola y el de cuando invitaron al Terminator y a Dracula a una fiesta de disfraces. “I’ll be Bach”. XD

[Nestor B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly short stories, and mostly without dialogue. At this point, Jason is truly honing his unique style — it's all animal figures now, with the more realistic approach he toyed with early on completely abandoned. The humor often comes from fantastical characters (mummies, skeletons, Darth Vader) engaging in mundane, everyday activities. It’s not the most original concept, but with Jason’s distinctive art style, it remains engaging nonetheless.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of one or two pagers, in mostly typical Jason fashion. There's mummies, vampires, werewolves and aliens going about their daily lives. It's far from his best, but I can't lie and say he didn't get a few chuckles out of me. It just felt like it was missing the heart of his other books for the most part.

[Simon Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of madcap, comic shorter works, lacking both the perfectly crafted existentialism and quirky narrative heft which make Jason's long-form output so satisfying and vital. There's a lot to like, though, including some terrific visual gags and a pleasingly zany tone where anything goes.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it still is hit or miss for me, whenever I read Jason, this was an ok book, full of great artwork but the stories were ok, some I liked, some not so much.

A collection of humorous stories of mummies vampires werewolves and whatnot!

It was ok!

[Daniel Andreu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque sea una reacopilación de historias de hace tiempo, es de lo mejor que he leído de Jason últimamente. Domina como nadie el arte adel humor absurdo sin palabras. Le pongo 3 estrellas porque hay una de las tiras recurrentes que me ha resultado problemática y me gustaría pensar que es un desliz.

[Martine Rørstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gjenkjenneleg Jason. Fleire forteljingar i ei bok.

[angelofmine1974]

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-foTX...

Enjoy!

[Mary Helene · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. I didn't think it funny or enlightening. Read about 1/3 of the way through and gave up.
It wasn't wretched; I just didn't like it and life is too short.

[Jesse Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book from Jason that eluded me for years. No reason to not give it 5 stars. Love every stroke of this

[Stein Roar · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Den hemmelighetsfulle mumie" er en samling med korte tegneserier med ofte morsomme og overraskende poenger. Her møter vi mumier, skjeletter, Darth Vader og andre underlige typer.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

Algunas de las historias son de traca y verlas reunidas hace un efecto de potenciación interesante. Otras son perfectamente olvidables, pero en general ha sido un disfrute.

[Edson García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason es de mis autores contemporáneos predilectos. Este libro son historias cortas sobre ansiedades cotidianas con humor y personajes absurdos. La mejor combinación.

[Canavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

✭✭

[Troy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not really fair to give this three stars since it's mainly a collection of shorts that are tenuously connected by iconic characters (a mummy, a vampire, a werewolf, Elvis, Jesus, etc). Many of the shorts are near perfect and damn funny. Some are laugh-out loud funny (for example, I was watching Lost at a friend's house and he got there late, so we rewound and started watching from the beginning on the DVR and while he was watching I was reading this book and kept laughing and laughing, which I knew was killing the taut suspenseful mood Lost is going for, so my friend shot me about twenty dirty looks until I finally realized I was killing the attempt at tautness and suspense, so I went into the other room; eventually, when I finished the book, I went back and watched the end of the episode, but any suspensefulness and tautness were watered down by after-images of Jason's funny-animal monsters living everyday lives). Anyway, some of the stories are just cute, which isn't my thing. But most are funny, some are poignant, most will probably make you laugh, and Jason is not only a master of comic book pacing, but he has one of the best visual styles out there.