Customer Reviews

Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories

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One of the most interesting and original comics artists/writers of the last 10 years to emerge is the Scandinavian cartoonist Jason with his surreal, funny, and touching stories featuring strange animal-headed characters. But how does someone like this come to be? Well, "Pocket Full of Rain" is the pre-Jason, the book that features a number of early strips from the '90s where the artist would hone his craft and become the storyteller he is today.

It's odd to see human characters in Jason's books but the title story has just that. A police sketch artist starts a relationship with a girl only to find she has a jealous ex who happens to be a hitman. When they rip him off, they go on the run but he's hot on his trail. As is another mysterious character... Jason's excellent storytelling instincts are present in this piece and are instantly recognisable from other later works like "Tell Me Something", even if the artwork here is different. There are the surreal elements here that would go on to play a big part in later works. Bank robbing aliens, picnics on the moon, helpful ostriches, homeless zombies, hat rains, and a werewolf. This is the length of his regular 48 page books and just as good. Oftentimes seeing the human characters rather than animal ones, it feels like you're watching a David Lynch or David Cronenberg film. It's easily the best part of the book.

There are early strips of the animal characters doing everyday things - stories about Jason's alcoholic landlord in France, going to the movies, drinking in cafes, nuns playing polo in a deserted street. One of the most interesting is a 3 page strip called "Kill the Cat!" which features a man with a suitcase walking down the street being accosted by a crazy homeless man yelling at him "Kill the Cat!". I won't ruin the ending but it's a brilliant strip. Jason also tries horror in "Glass" where a lodger tricks a young boy into his room.

There's a series of newspaper strips featuring a little prisoner who gets into odd scrapes in a twilit world of ghosts and talking cactuses. They're very funny and reminded me of the work in "Meow, Baby!".

All of these strips are in black and white but there's a colour section at the back with all of Jason's painted covers from his Scandinavian comics publication "Mjau Mjau"that're excellent and round off a superb book.

If you're a fan of Jason's you'll want to have this book as it shows off an incredible talent in his early years, but even then producing some brilliant works. For any comics fan or would be comics artist this is a fascinating collection of how someone finds their artistic voice and develops it. But for me, I just really enjoyed reading it. Jason is, as always, an amazing storyteller and "Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories" is no exception. Fantastic read, highly recommended.