57th Street

This past Sunday saw a welcome addition to the New York Times Funny Pages from the amazing Norwegian cartoonist “Jason.”

It’s called Low Moon, and I don’t know why you’re not reading it right now.

Much of Jason’s work relies on timing rather than dialog to tell his stories. It’s not unusual for whole pages to pass without a word spoken between any of Jason’s anthropomorphic characters. Jason’s strong lines, and fiercely regular panel work underline an overall feeling of disconnection and silence between his characters. In our modern world, filled with denizens increasingly detached from those around them it sometimes seems a little too real to be comfortable. For many mainstream comic readers, this might feel slow and draggy — verging on the boring.

But Jason is making a new kind of comic. A wittier and more subdued experience instead of the bombastic explosions of extravagance which has long been the staple of the medium. Instead, Jason’s comics carry a quiet weight, and can feel cripplingly lonely at times, and incredibly funny the next.

More off beat artists and writers like Jason have come into the comic market in recent years, and have started to make a mark on the industry. A lot of attention is being given to these so-called “indie” or “indie-style” comics, and it may just revolutionize the industry.