Jar of Fools

Rating:
Summary: Tragic yet illuminating
Review: Indeed, tragic in its scope. Varying degrees of human suffering are revealed by Lutes' sketches. Illumination is found in identification with the characters' woes. For me, the scene in which the stage magician stares out through a rain spattered window looking out on an apartment-cluttered alley set off a surprising emotional trigger. What misery pervades the lives of each character, the reader is able to mirror to some measure in their own lives.

An admirable work- not as depressing as 'Jimmy Corrigan' by any stretch, but still a charming, well-written, aptly-illustrated tale. I look forward to future volumes of his Berlin work.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Jar of Fools is an amazing story that stands as one the best graphic novels ever written. Jason Lutes is an author to be watched.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best realistic graphic novels of all time
Review: Not to be hyperbolic, but Jar of Fools is quite literally one of the best realistic graphic novels ever produced. Yet for some reason, very few people have heard of the work, which is quite a shame. Its creator, writer/artist Jason Lutes, has been brilliant in his recent series Berlin, in which he explores the characters of an ensemble cast in the historical setting of Germany between the two World Wars. Jar of Fools should be similarly noted and acclaimed for its fantastic characterization, albeit in a more modern setting.

Currently published through Drawn and Quarterly (as is Berlin), Jar of Fools revolves around failed stage magician Ernie Weiss. Ernie's life has been headed downhill since an unfortunate "accident" involving his brother's act as an escape artist. Now alcoholic and destitute, Ernie feels trapped by his past and is unable to overcome the demons that plague him. At the same time Ernie's former girlfriend Esther is stuck in a relationship that's going nowhere and in a dead-end job she hates, while Ernie's mentor Al Flosso tries desperately to escape both his nursing home and his memories of brighter days.

The revelations about each of these characters as the narrative unfolds are both heartbreaking and, paradoxically, uplifting. These characters have each metaphorically "lost the magic" in their lives and long to be free from the problems they face in their daily lives: their sexual dysfunctions, their inability to form relationships, their lack of self-worth. Yet the story focuses not on the endless tragedies they must endure but instead on how, by coming together, each of these people are able to conquer difficulties that overwhelmed them when alone. This is not a story about hitting rock bottom, but one about climbing back up again, about the hope that we draw from even the simplest contact with our fellow man.

These themes are explored with such power and subtlety through Lutes's inspired use of symbolism. For example, the ball and chain Ernie's brother wore as part of his escape act repeatedly appears and represents how Ernie is weighed down by his past, as does the top hat Al Flosso constantly wears. Dreams also play a large part of this narrative and reveal a great deal about the characters, especially Ernie's recurring dream remembrances of the day of his brother's death.

Rich in symbolic meaning, rife with very human characters, and permeated with thematic exploration, Jar of Fools is the epitome of what graphic narratives can offer. I have used the book in my classroom and would use it again, for it is not just a brilliant comic. It is a brilliant work of fiction, standing up to any work of literature in any other medium. It deserves to be studied alongside those other great works, to have a place not only in the classroom but on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: A gem of a tale
Review: Since it's a comic people probably don't pay as much attention to it as they should, but those people would be wrong. What Lutes has created here is a neat little tale that is both poignant and beautiful, tragic and uplifting, all at the same time. The story of a failed magician, doubly haunted by both the death of his brother and the failure of his last relationship, watching his mentor slip into senility, Lutes weaves the themes of magic and loss into the stories of his characters. None of the characters, from the con-man trying to raise his daughter, to the ex-girlfriend trapped in a dull existance, seem to be where they want to be, but that seems to be as much their own fault as the fault of life itself. Lutes evokes a sense of sympathy for his characters, even when they fail to see what their actions do to themselves and the thrill of the story is seeing whether they'll realize it in time. Lutes uses the comic format to its fullest, creating a fine synthesis of words and pictures, letting the art speak for the story when necessary (the silent moments are perhaps the story's finest pages) without forcing it to labor under weighted prose. In the end he creates a tale as richly detailed as any prose story, made that much better by the comic (I'm sorry "graphic novel") format, a medium he does his part to prove it can be so much better than it is. Get this and maybe more comics like this possible.

Rating:
Summary: A gem of a tale
Review: Since it's a comic people probably don't pay as much attention to it as they should, but those people would be wrong. What Lutes has created here is a neat little tale that is both poignant and beautiful, tragic and uplifting, all at the same time. The story of a failed magician, doubly haunted by both the death of his brother and the failure of his last relationship, watching his mentor slip into senility, Lutes weaves the themes of magic and loss into the stories of his characters. None of the characters, from the con-man trying to raise his daughter, to the ex-girlfriend trapped in a dull existance, seem to be where they want to be, but that seems to be as much their own fault as the fault of life itself. Lutes evokes a sense of sympathy for his characters, even when they fail to see what their actions do to themselves and the thrill of the story is seeing whether they'll realize it in time. Lutes uses the comic format to its fullest, creating a fine synthesis of words and pictures, letting the art speak for the story when necessary (the silent moments are perhaps the story's finest pages) without forcing it to labor under weighted prose. In the end he creates a tale as richly detailed as any prose story, made that much better by the comic (I'm sorry "graphic novel") format, a medium he does his part to prove it can be so much better than it is. Get this and maybe more comics like this possible.

Rating:
Summary: Well-done mix of outside influences to the format
Review: The artistic influences of Jason Lutes' "picture novel," Jar of Fools, are fairly easy to spot. The drawing style is European, with the clean lines of Herge of Tintin fame, while the storyline is contemporary Americana of such short story writers as Raymond Carter. But Lutes is good enough, and his story strong enough, that it transcends being merely a reflection of his study, and the combination of the disparete pair make this graphic novel something unusual among the others on the shelf.

The story is about a troubled young man whose brother was an escape-artist who failed a straitjacket-river trick, whose romance has failed, and whose stage magician mentor is further slipping into Alzheimer's daily. At the same time, his ex-girlfriend is attempting to put her life together. When these lives intersect with a young girl and her con-artist father, magic happens--but not the fantastic type, just the magic of people finally connecting to life.

I hate to simply keep comparing it to other works, but sometimes the mind just works that way. With its magician characters and realistic depiction of street life, it recalled for me Nicholas Christopher's Veronica much more than any previous graphic novel. And while the story was interesting and the art entirely appropriate, the sum of it all still left me with a slightly vauge dissatisfaction, likely due to the somewhat downer ending with its open-ended quality (again, reminiscent of modern short stories, where the end is as much a beginning as anything). It's not going to appeal to action-adventure readers at all, but if you liked Clowes' Ghost World or Will Eisner's A Contract with God, you might enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: Well-done mix of outside influences to the format
Review: The artistic influences of Jason Lutes' "picture novel," Jar of Fools, are fairly easy to spot. The drawing style is European, with the clean lines of Herge of Tintin fame, while the storyline is contemporary Americana of such short story writers as Raymond Carter. But Lutes is good enough, and his story strong enough, that it transcends being merely a reflection of his study, and the combination of the disparete pair make this graphic novel something unusual among the others on the shelf.

The story is about a troubled young man whose brother was an escape-artist who failed a straitjacket-river trick, whose romance has failed, and whose stage magician mentor is further slipping into Alzheimer's daily. At the same time, his ex-girlfriend is attempting to put her life together. When these lives intersect with a young girl and her con-artist father, magic happens--but not the fantastic type, just the magic of people finally connecting to life.

I hate to simply keep comparing it to other works, but sometimes the mind just works that way. With its magician characters and realistic depiction of street life, it recalled for me Nicholas Christopher's Veronica much more than any previous graphic novel. And while the story was interesting and the art entirely appropriate, the sum of it all still left me with a slightly vauge dissatisfaction, likely due to the somewhat downer ending with its open-ended quality (again, reminiscent of modern short stories, where the end is as much a beginning as anything). It's not going to appeal to action-adventure readers at all, but if you liked Clowes' Ghost World or Will Eisner's A Contract with God, you might enjoy this one.