Poland, Jason – The Flying Castle and Other Tales

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The Flying Castle and Other Tales

Just a general note to the universe: if Jason isn’t filthy rich in ten years from now after illustrating a series of children’s book, something is seriously wrong with everything. Or maybe he decided that that wasn’t the way to go, but that’s the only reason why it shouldn’t work out. Hell, the only real objection to his current books being marketed that way could be due to the fact that they’re too “weird,” but try making that objection after watching any of a number of successful cartoons. Anyway, tangent over, what about the actual content? Less substantial than his previous book (purely in terms of page count), but it’s still damned funny and full of those little moments that completely won me over the last time around. The title story alone is a masterpiece of “what-the-fuckery” (OK, maybe he could switch over to making children’s books, but he may have a hard time using any quotes from me), as Bobby and his friend accidentally smash a window while trying to master kickball. Said window belongs to a floating castle that appears just as the ball is flying through the air, which makes it hard to place too much blame on the youngsters, but logic is for the weak! From there (without spoiling anything if I can help it) there are blood magnets, a giant eyeball that takes the glasses from one of the characters, the drunken ghosts and their lack of a corkscrew, the eventual discovery of the owner of the castle, and everything that happens after this fact, which I mostly can’t mention due to those spoilers. There are also two other stories, one about Bobby and his cursed bike that doesn’t let him ever get bored (and the reactions of his friends to this happening) and the introduction to the universe of two talking bears (“He is boring garbage” being the line that almost got me in trouble at work). It’s ridiculously entertaining, he uses color rarely but appropriately, and I’ve already established the fact that this guy should be rich and famous. Maybe buy that last volume if you want a more varied collection of his work, but after you do you’ll be scrambling to check out his other comics, so you’d really be better off buying all of his stuff at once. $12.99