false 539391 1 <B>A full-color existential thriller from the creator of <I>Hey, Wait...</I></B><P> Imagine a long-forgotten, never-produced Alfred Hitchcock "wrong man" thriller screenplay discovered, adapted and filmed by a modern minimalist like Jim Jarmusch and you'll have some idea as the unique flavor of Jason's latest graphic novel, <I>Why Are You Doing This?</I> The protagonist, a moody twenty-something wallowing in depression after a breakup with his long-time girlfriend, finds himself drawn into a paranoid's worst nightmare after his best friend is murdered and the blame is pinned on him. With the help of a single mother who spontaneously throws in her lot with him (not to mention her precocious daughter), he sets out to clear his name. Soon new relationships are forged, dark secret from the past are revealed, and the real killer comes back into the picture...with a vengeance.<P> Although in many ways completely different from such earlier works of Jason's as <I>Hey, Wait..., You Can't Get There from Here</I> and <I>The Iron Wagon</I> (for one thing, it's in full color), <I>Why Are You Doing This?</I> displays the same familiar laconic wit, stylized anthropomorphic characters, and elegant storytelling as these earlier masterpieces. 526778 31 5 2005 Why Are You Doing This? total:177|5:70|4:64|3:37|2:6|1:0| 177 729 239 19 5 2 false false Sat Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 23:01:51 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 23:05:17 -0700 2008
I've never read Jason before, even though- obviously- he is very famous and popular. But he is a genius! I started it and I was like, oh, a mopey indie...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 28 00:16:25 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 28 00:34:25 -0800 2008
What happens when Flannery O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" get together to write a graphic novel? Why of course, we get Jason's "Why Are You Doing This?" published by Seattle's Fantagraphics.

I ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 11:25:32 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 11:38:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 15:43:55 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 15:44:11 -0700 2009 Why Are You doing This? describes the work as Hitchcockian. I suppose that's fair, but only in the most overt sense. On the surface, the graphic novelette is about murder and mistaken identity and a kind of cat-and-mouse between victim and victor. But that's only on the surface.
...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 12:41:35 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 12:42:51 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 20:01:10 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 20:01:33 -0800 2007
In typical Jason style, the tone here is bleak. A friend sees a shadowy figure while h...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 11:36:44 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 12:23:11 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Apr 23 17:26:55 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 17:40:32 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 24 10:52:41 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 24 10:56:05 -0800 2008
Still, Jason's mastery of the bleak and poignant shines through, Jason's simple artistic...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 18 20:59:46 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 08:53:36 -0800 2008 I think I'm gonna buy another one for myself. Such a crazy, clever, funny, and sad whodunnit. ]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 09:49:06 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 09:49:48 -0700 2008 ]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 28 07:14:04 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 06 08:12:18 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jun 26 13:16:16 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 13:18:25 -0700 2008
Fancy a beer and a game of chess?]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jun 08 15:20:45 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 15:21:50 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 09:57:10 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 09:57:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jul 07 10:50:17 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 10:51:28 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sat Jul 05 01:37:19 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 01:37:44 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Aug 23 16:52:20 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 16:53:07 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Jul 30 11:59:15 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 11:59:24 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Nov 08 00:00:36 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 00:00:36 -0800 2009