This multifaceted anthology collects over 25 stories from the first decade of Jason's career, including his remarkable calling card, the novella-length thriller "Pocket Full of Rain," which has never before been published in English. Like a number of his initial stories, "Pocket" is actually drawn with realistic human beings instead of blank-faced animal characters — a true revelation for Jason fans. In fact, this book showcases three distinct styles: his earliest "realistic" drawing style (used to unsettling effect in some particularly creepy stories), an intermediate "bighead" cartoony style that still features humans (used for both humor and drama), and the "funny-animal" style he's now best known for.
The book reveals a young cartoonist experimenting with styles, working through his obsessions (love, loneliness, film, Hemingway) and paying tribute to his cartooning heroes (Wolverton, Moebius, Pratt). Also, croquet-playing nuns, sentient cacti, autobiographical drunken escapades, lists of people who deserve to die, and a color gallery featuring God cheating at Trivial Pursuit.
2009 Harvey Award Nominee: Best American Edition of Foreign Material
Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (864 KB) from the title story.
"This collection is all over the place but it's all Jason, and like all his work it's funny and deep and smart and I cannot get enough of it." – James Sturm, from his introduction
"Simplicity, when applied in the right manner, speaks volumes, and Norwegian cartoonist Jason has mastered the art." – Resonance
"One of the medium's finest storytellers." – Publishers Weekly
"The new Jason book, Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories,... kind of kicked my ass... there's some very good stuff in that book. Real nervy, I'm Not Even 30 Years Old and I Can Do Fucking Anything and Everything genre/style/history of the form fusion, reminiscent to me of some of the movies that ruled the day in the mid-'90s, only comics. You want to look at this book." – Jog - The Blog
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