An experimental collection of art, humor and philosophy. Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes takes up where the artist's first volume, Monologues for the Coming Plague, left off. Like the Coming Plague, the Density of Black Holes is a creatively experimental laboratory, comprising a collection of free flowing stream-of-consciousness gags, strips, and drawings that slowly coalesce into an unexpectedly compelling and complex narrative. The hints of story that came together in Coming Plague are extrapolated and expanded upon and grow to incorporate some of Nilsen's other outre strips from the anthology MOME, two of which are reprinted here in expanded form. The book is an audacious investigation into the rhythms of storytelling, the blurring of media, and an exercise in reconciling contrasts. It is playful, provocative and serious all at once - another tour de force by Anders Nilsen, impeccably and uniquely designed, in black and white and color.
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The scribble-headed guy returns from Monologues for the Coming Plague (2006) and eventually interacts with a faceless guy who, first seen solo, immediately discards hair, collar, and the under-the-shirt pillow that initially made him look tubby. “I’m not me,” he says, “I’m someone else. I’m just masquerading as me.” A clean-up guy comes in, vacuums up faceless’ castoffs, and leaves. Faceless talks about a credit-card statement, watching reality shows, his psychologist and masseuse, going on Oprah, a note from his mother, getting locked in the bathroom by burglars, and digging a tunnel to a neighbor’s apartment with a soap dish. He digs in his pockets for the note. But, “Wait. This cartoon should have ended pages and pages ago.” He calls scribble-head for an explanation. There are 360 more pages of this, 31 of them mounting faceless on full-color aerial photos and maps. Other characters drop in, sometimes taking over for pages. The note is never completely forgotten. The only famous artworks that fascinate like Nilsen’s stream-of-consciousness, existential farces are Samuel Beckett’s absurdist comedies.
Review
Anders Nilsen's comics have the rare power to generate queasy laughter... Random cruelty, futility, ennui, and an implied assault on human complacency are the order of the day. When Nilsen wants you to feel his boredom, or taunt you for your own, he's merciless... Nilsen is a relentlessly interesting comics creator. ...I'm looking forward to his next performance in the wasteland. (Byron Kerman - PLAYBACK:stl )
Spare and scratchy where Nilsen's other work was detailed; loose and spontaneous where his other work was considered; and funny where his other work was melancholy. It's interesting to see the many influences that inform Monologues; there's a bit of absurdists like Ionesco, elements of Tom Stoppard's wit and philosophical musings, stream of consciousness dada in the style of Tristan Tzara, and oblique New Yorker type gags with the scratchy looseness of James Thurber and Saul Steinberg. (Rob Clough )
The only famous artworks that fascinate like Nilsen’s stream-of-consciousness, existential farces are Samuel Beckett’s absurdist comedies. (Booklist )
Anders Nilsen has placed himself alongside other young comic luminaries like Kevin Huizenga and Sammy Harkham...His beautiful meditations on grief and life after loss, have made his name one that readers can rely on for work that in not only good but also meaningful....definitely one of the more rewarding reading experiences of this very young year. (Bryan Hood - Anthem )
Anders Nilsen is a weird dude…[Monologues] help[s] cement his odd sensibilities and fantastic art…It’s a wild, gorgeous sketched ride from one of the more prominent members of the graphic novel elite. (Jason Schueppert - Word on the Street )
Anders Nilsen’s deceptively ordinary drawings are used here at first to depict the common theme of isolation, loneliness, dejection and alienation—all in a seemingly unremarkable narrative set of light pencil drawings and straightforward narrative device…the book stops talking with words, and shows pure graphic simplicity the degradation of the human soul….a progression of grotesque images which convey the impossible maze of our own minds. (Dig Comics )
Spare and scratchy where Nilsen's other work was detailed; loose and spontaneous where his other work was considered; and funny where his other work was melancholy. It's interesting to see the many influences that inform Monologues; there's a bit of absurdists like Ionesco, elements of Tom Stoppard's wit and philosophical musings, stream of consciousness dada in the style of Tristan Tzara, and oblique New Yorker type gags with the scratchy looseness of James Thurber and Saul Steinberg. (Rob Clough )
The only famous artworks that fascinate like Nilsen’s stream-of-consciousness, existential farces are Samuel Beckett’s absurdist comedies. (Booklist )
Anders Nilsen has placed himself alongside other young comic luminaries like Kevin Huizenga and Sammy Harkham...His beautiful meditations on grief and life after loss, have made his name one that readers can rely on for work that in not only good but also meaningful....definitely one of the more rewarding reading experiences of this very young year. (Bryan Hood - Anthem )
Anders Nilsen is a weird dude…[Monologues] help[s] cement his odd sensibilities and fantastic art…It’s a wild, gorgeous sketched ride from one of the more prominent members of the graphic novel elite. (Jason Schueppert - Word on the Street )
Anders Nilsen’s deceptively ordinary drawings are used here at first to depict the common theme of isolation, loneliness, dejection and alienation—all in a seemingly unremarkable narrative set of light pencil drawings and straightforward narrative device…the book stops talking with words, and shows pure graphic simplicity the degradation of the human soul….a progression of grotesque images which convey the impossible maze of our own minds. (Dig Comics )
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