Comics & Graphic Novels Literary
The Cage
- Publisher
- Coach House Books
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2013
- Category
- Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781552452875
- Publish Date
- Oct 2013
- List Price
- $24.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781770563674
- Publish Date
- Oct 2013
- List Price
- $17.95
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Description
First published in 1975, The Cage was a graphic novel before there was a name for the medium. Cryptic and disturbing, it spurns narrative for atmosphere, guiding us through a labyrinthine series of crumbling facades, disarrayed rooms and desolate landscapes, as time stutters backward and forward. Within the cage's barbed-wire confines, we observe humanity only through its traces: a filmic sequence of discarded objects –headphones, inky stains, dishevelled bedsheets –scored by a deafening cacophony of breaths, cries and unsettling silence.
This new edition, which includes an introduction by comics master Seth, brings Martin Vaughn-James's nightmarish vision to a new generation of readers.
'I don't use the word "masterpiece" lightly. I think The Cage is a masterpiece of comic art.'– Seth
'Vaughn-James remains a significant figure in comics history because his work was singular, literate, experimental, and often unsurpassably good.' – The Walrus
'It is a masterpiece, demonstrating a level of skill and insight very few have even aspired to in the nearly 40 years since its initial publication … this work is strongly recommended for every true fan of the graphic arts.' – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
About the authors
Martin Vaughn-James (1943-2009) was a painter and groundbreaking comics artist who published three graphic novels with Coach House Press: The Projector (1971), The Park (1972) and The Cage (1975). Born in England, he spent much of his youth in Australia before moving to Canada. Vaughn-James is widely recognized as a pioneer in the development of the graphic novel. Later in life, he moved to Belgium, where he focused on painting. Vaughn-James also published two works of prose fiction: Night Train (1989) and The Tomb of Zwaab (1991).
Martin Vaughn-James' profile page
Seth is the cartoonist behind the comic-book series Palookaville, which started in the stone age as a pamphlet and is now a semi-annual hardcover. His comics have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, and McSweeney’s Quarterly. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including the cover of the New Yorker, The Walrus, and Canadian Notes & Queries. He is the subject of a recent documentary from the National Film Board of Canada, Seth’s Dominion. Seth lives in Guelph, Ontario, with his wife Tania and their two cats in an old house he has named “Inkwell’s End.”
Editorial Reviews
'Recalling the impossible landscapes of M.C. Escher, Vaughn-James's surreal visuals encourage readers to lose themselves. ... With every turn of the page, the eye elides the images, creating a kind of floating, amorphous perspective for this abandoned, erratic, irrational world. What is remarkable is that the author-artist is capable of sustaining the sensation of a fragmentary reality over the course of an entire book.' — Quill & Quire (starred review)
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