Old Caves

by Tyler Landry

A retiree dedicates his days to combing a dense, snow-covered forest in pursuit of the unknown, and his nights to reminiscing about his wife. Old Caves is a peek through a frost-covered window at isolation, obsession, and the slow erosion of relationships. The high contrast black and white art enhances the sense of absolute solitude. Old Caves is one of the best looking graphic novel debuts in recent memory.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Canada

106 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2023

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The snowtime illustrations are very bold in black and white, and I felt particularly mesmerized by the full page or spread graphics. There’s not a lot of time that passes, but with some flashbacks, a short story, or more so a character, develops.

[Annalisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is short and a bit minimalist in its art and details, but it still manages to convey quite a bit emotionally.

[Sarah Guldenbrein · Rating 4 out of 5]

So beautiful! It does a lot in a book you can read in one short sitting, but it left me wanting more.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older man lives an isolated life in a remote snowy location with only some tangential connections to the outside world. The story unfolds in a nonlinear fashion as we learn why this man chooses his solitary lifestyle, and is told mostly through radio broadcasts and diary entries. There isn't a tight narrative to Old Caves - instead the story takes a backseat to the general melancholic atmosphere and sweeping winter landscapes. Tyler Landry's black & white artwork captures some interesting bits of contrast between the limited black lines and the negative white space of the page. It's not really a unique approach, but I'd say Landry is honing the style into something very eye-catching. The details in the artwork are rather subtle which makes Old Caves much more of a visual experiment than a narrative one. Story wise, there wasn't all that much that grabbed me beyond the general meditative tone but the artwork really made this a worthwhile time overall.

[Ags · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really moving. I loved this. The art is phenomenal; the ending pages in particular took my breath away.

A short, sweeping snapshot and awesome example of the graphic novel (graphic short story?) form! I especially liked the scene with the radio messages, and the subtle way this character is built out, which really relies on the drawings. The scenes/panels blend/blur together, and the references to big foot in multiple drawings was very cool.

As the other character wrote to the main character: "I could punch and kick and kiss you all at once."

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved how the black and white art made so much use of contrasts and negative spaces. This has a really interesting art style that I haven't seen often and the story was definitely meant to be a graphic novel - an aspect I loved. The imagery conveyed a lot of emotions regarding solitude, exploration, and companionship. I also really appreciate stories that leave questions unanswered, and only give information in scattered bits. It inspired a lot of curiosity and was definitely a page turner since it's such a quick read (~15 min.)

[Ryan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is less important than the mood of the art—stark, high-contrast, lots of empty space. In many ways, the abundant space is what makes this short graphic story worth reading. As the protagonist moves farther into his wilderness space, he also moves farther into isolation, which is not given a positive or negative value—it just is.

[John Stockton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but poweful black and white graphic novel. A man's obsessive search for something in the frozen forest depths, which ultimately leads to the loss of his relationship with his wife
Loved the art!

[jane bro]

this was a reccomendation from an animator friend. i don’t read comics much at all but i loved the tone of solitude that the noir minimalist style conveys in this story about loss and memory. very monastic, reminded me of the revenant but less violent.

[Laurent Gariépy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to be objective as I'm friends with the author, but it's still a very very good read!

[Sabrina Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there were more meat to the story. I was fully invested, but everything was left pretty vague

[Trevor]

Stark and striking. Does a whole lot with just a little.

[neen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I start thinking far too intensely about the way elders are viewed in different geographic and culturally spaces. Beautiful art.