Triple X [Paperback]

Arnold (Author), Jacob Pander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 1997

In Amsterdam, 2033, life is at a boiling point. The world is being sliced up by the corporations, and the corporations are being sliced up by Thexoll, a megalomaniac with designs on godhood. A backlash movement is forming in the streets. The people are ready to take back what is theirs. Into the middle of the chaos comes Hans. He's already lived through rioting and upheaval, and now he just wants to disappear. Unfortunately, with assassination plots, underground newspapers, and a secret, yet volatile, family history, the anonymity Hans desires may be an impossibility. This complex and challenging collection was crafted by the award-winning writer/artist team whose unique visual style has graced the pages of Grendel and Exquisite Corpse. A special section of sketches featuring the Pander brothers' early design concepts and character development will be included in this impressive volume.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (June 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569712182
• ISBN-13: 978-1569712184
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,105,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic tale of the individual victory over state tyranny, November 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Triple X (Paperback)

The Pander Brothers, known among hipsters and cognoscenti as underground artists, filmmakers and DJs from Portland, OR, worked for almost a decade on this graphic novel, a thrilling and inspiring story of the struggle for free expression and individuality in the face of an Orwellian society designed to crush the human spirit. Not to be confused with the recent movie "XXX," and definitely not to be confused with porn, the Pander Brothers achievement has to be one of the greatest graphic novels of the past decade or so.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More timely with every passing year, February 25, 2010

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Triple X (Paperback)

What's hip & cutting edge at the moment often tends to age badly & all too quickly -- but not in the case of this thoughtful & passionate graphic novel from 1997, set in the very near future. Multi-national corporations pretty much run things, with local government & the mainstream media cozily in bed with them. A wealthy elite lives very comfortably, without a care or concern for the misery of the less fortunate -- and of course Third World peoples don't even qualify as human beings, existing merely as cheap & disposable labor.

Dissidents survive precariously on the margins, struggling to find ways of combating the corporate colossus -- do they resort to violence, or does that simply play into the hands of the powerful? Can they find a voice loud enough & convincing enough to sway the public? Or is the truth nothing more than a quaint relic of an abandoned past?

Set in Amsterdam, we follow American expat Hans as he returns to the home of his dead grandfather, who once published the underground paper Triple X. Hans has seen protests crushed brutally in New York City, and he wants out of that world. But as events unfold around him, he's faced with the ultimate moral choice: does he overcome his fear & rejoin the struggle, even at the cost of his own life, or does he simply give in & go along? While this might seem all too familiar, the Pander Brothers make you care about Hans. His dilemma has real weight, demanding that the reader examine his/her own conscience as well.

Needless to say, the world has been inching closer to this sort of future since the initial publication of this superb graphic novel. Far more than the glut of adolescent power fantasies currently on the stands, this work needs to be kept in print -- highly recommended!