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Rasl Pocket Book One (RASL #1-2)
by
Jeff Smith
From the New York Times best selling author of BONE comes a stark, gritty sci-fi series about a dimension-jumping art thief a man who races through space and time searching for his next big score and trying to escape his past. Known only by the four letter word found spray-painted at the scene of a crime, RASL stumbles across a mystery that spans centuries, and not
...morePaperback, 232 pages
Published
November 1st 2010
by Cartoon Books
(first published 2010)
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If you're unfamiliar with Jeff Smith's Bone you need to stop reading this and find out why it's a comics and cartooning masterpiece and why Jeff Smith is a comics demigod. All set? Cool. RASL is Smith's next long-format work, and is different from Bone in all kinds of interesting ways. Smith's great timing and effortless scenery are on full display, but sadly his clumsiness with depicting "realistic" characters has returned as well. In Bone, more stylized characters like the Bones and the (stupi...more
I was, and still am, madly in love with Jeff Smith's Bone series, so when I saw a new graphic novel volume sitting on the library shelf, I had to read it right away. Smith steps away from the mystical and into straight science fiction with Rasl.
Rasl is an outcast, a former scientist, not art thief, who accomplishes his crimes by jumping back and forth between alternate worlds. A strange ape/lizard-like man is tailing him through the worlds, however, a man who works for the Compound and wants so...more
Rasl is an outcast, a former scientist, not art thief, who accomplishes his crimes by jumping back and forth between alternate worlds. A strange ape/lizard-like man is tailing him through the worlds, however, a man who works for the Compound and wants so...more
Let's just get this out of the way early--if you're coming expecting a tale like Bone or a book for kids like Bone is...don't. This is a completely different, darker tale and most definitely not for kids. It is however, a pretty darn fantastic story.
Rasl lives in a world much like own and a time like our own. But Rasl is not like you or me. He has the ability to travel across dimensions into parallel universes. He uses this unique ability to steal art from other places and sell in his own. But R...more
Rasl lives in a world much like own and a time like our own. But Rasl is not like you or me. He has the ability to travel across dimensions into parallel universes. He uses this unique ability to steal art from other places and sell in his own. But R...more
I have been a fan of Jeff Smith's ever since I first encountered Bone back in 2004/2005. Luckily I bought the b/w complete collection, because I am not sure I would have wanted to wait for issues or even paperback volumes. That book reads as a big fat graphic novel (if the term was ever used correctly).
But this is not about Bone. This is about RASL, Smith's current comics project. So far nine or ten issues are out (seven of which were first collected in two larger-sized-but-thinner volumes and n...more
But this is not about Bone. This is about RASL, Smith's current comics project. So far nine or ten issues are out (seven of which were first collected in two larger-sized-but-thinner volumes and n...more
(RASL #1-7) The story is gripping with a good amount of history of science and bizarre and a pinch of sexy. The drawings are excellent, tight, well-planned. The dialog is smooth and real. Smith executes the conventions of noir as a genre well. I suppose I find some aspects of the genre a bit annoying, especially the lone hero who narrates everything in his thoughts so we can understand what's going on. Still, this is less problematic on the page than it is on the silver screen (that is, reading...more
I’m pretty sure I'm not smart enough for RASL.
I mean, I read it… and I mostly followed it, but I don’t think I got it.
Between the magnetism and the creepy disjointed-eyeball girl and the mazes and the guy who looks like a camel and the art thieving, I was all over the place. (And why is he an art thief anyway? That was the best idea he could come up with, given unlimited access to a myriad assortment of parallel worlds?) I tend to have this issue with time-travel/world-jumping books anyway, an...more
I mean, I read it… and I mostly followed it, but I don’t think I got it.
Between the magnetism and the creepy disjointed-eyeball girl and the mazes and the guy who looks like a camel and the art thieving, I was all over the place. (And why is he an art thief anyway? That was the best idea he could come up with, given unlimited access to a myriad assortment of parallel worlds?) I tend to have this issue with time-travel/world-jumping books anyway, an...more
A merely solid start to Jeff Smith's follow up to Bone, when one might expect more from this venerable artist. The drawings and timing are as masterful as ever, but the story here seems more self-indulgent than Bone. It feels like Jeff Smith just read a few books about Tesla and conspiracy theories and deiced it would make a good story... unfortunately it only makes a decent story.
I do like the interplay between the Character's personal problems with womanizing and the ill-effects of dimension-h...more
I do like the interplay between the Character's personal problems with womanizing and the ill-effects of dimension-h...more
Since I enjoyed Bone so much, I checked out Jeff Smith's other original series, RASL. A much less cartoony, darker "scifi noir" story involving travel between multiple parallel universes and government conspiracies.
I read the first seven issues. It's difficult to describe. Overall it's kind of interesting, but also disturbing and weird and I'm just not into it. He pretty much lost me when the crazy looking waif showed up. To me, the story sat up and said, "Ooh, look, something mysterious!" and...more
I read the first seven issues. It's difficult to describe. Overall it's kind of interesting, but also disturbing and weird and I'm just not into it. He pretty much lost me when the crazy looking waif showed up. To me, the story sat up and said, "Ooh, look, something mysterious!" and...more
Rasl is a parallel universe-hopping art thief on the run from the military for damaging experimental hardware based on the science of Nikola Tesla. He’s being tailed by a lizard-faced man out to capture something valuable in Rasl’s possession. Also each jump – or “drift” – Rasl takes, damages his health to the point where his life is threatened every time he drifts. Full review here!
Picked up book #4, without realizing this was a series. So then I had to start from the beginning. I did not realize that this volume was actually comprised of #1 and #2 of the other series. Gosh I'm so easily confused.
However, as someone who has a minor Tesla obsession, this was enjoyable. I liked the freaky little girl who may have been god. That was the freshest, most evocative detail I've run across anywhere in ages.
However, as someone who has a minor Tesla obsession, this was enjoyable. I liked the freaky little girl who may have been god. That was the freshest, most evocative detail I've run across anywhere in ages.
This book collects the first 7 issues of Jeff Smith's, 'Rasl,' series - a well paced sci-fi thriller that follows the escapades of an art thief who utilizes Tesla technology to hop back and forth through parallel universes. Some of the trappings reminds me of the FOX series 'Fringe,' but since Smith's books came out first then kudos must be given to him for coming up with his unique storyline.
What can I say in praise of Jeff Smith that hasn't already been said? A master, a savant, a builder of art and story par excellence. It's funny to think how his action scenes race by with a perfect, heart-pounding speed, and then realize that he carefully toiled over it, constructing every every frame and angle and beat with symphonic levels of attention and care. It's such a weird contrast.
this is quite good in many ways. It's amazing what author smith can do with very few words and stripped down drawings: transitions, flashbacks, multiple stories, inner dialog, out loud dialog, everything one would find in a prose novel. A fascinating take on Tesla, the good ol usa with edison (zapping elephants to prove HIS DC electricity was safer), FDR, einstein, maxwell equations, a cute Hopi girl...
i cannot wait for v. 2.
i think the women in this novel are not strong characters though, they...more
i cannot wait for v. 2.
i think the women in this novel are not strong characters though, they...more
The art in this is gorgeously sparse. The premise is intriguing,
"drifting" from parallel universe to parallel universe, but the story is just as sparse as the artwork, raising more questions than answers. Still, this has me very interested in the next volume whenever it comes out.
"drifting" from parallel universe to parallel universe, but the story is just as sparse as the artwork, raising more questions than answers. Still, this has me very interested in the next volume whenever it comes out.
Intriguing sci-fi comic from the writer of Bone (however, the only similarity between this and Bone is the good black and white artwork). The book starts off a bit slowly, but becomes more interesting once you really get into the background of the main character.
Drifting to parallel universes, government conspiracies, mad scientists, lots of nipples... what more could you want? Still trying to get used to this raunchier Jeff Smith, but so far RASL has been pretty awesome.
This is a fairly entertaining graphic novel, even if the author does need to take the "your/you're" quiz. Best character: the mysterious zombie girl who drifts in and out as some kind of voiceless omen.
Grabs you right away and doesn't let go. I read the first volume in the larger format which I like a lot better. I want to keep reading but the library doesn't have any more!
Can't wait for volume 2. Rasl kept me up late 2 nights in a row.
I am in a major Graphic novel phase right now and may never get out if I keep finding quality stuff!
:)
I am in a major Graphic novel phase right now and may never get out if I keep finding quality stuff!
:)
Parallel worlds, art thievery, and Nikola Tesla; it's really hard to go wrong with this combo. I loved this first volume of RASL to pieces, and cannot wait for the next.
Gritty, wacky, paranoid, mind-bending with plenty of guns, sex, interdimensional chase scenes and good old Nikola Tesla!
Pretty into it. Liked the simple drawing style. Shoutout to my boy Tesla and his experiments! Nice and sexy.
Intriguing plot and characters, assured storytelling, excellent cartooning - I look forward to reading more.
Now I know why everyone has a hard-on for Nikola Tesla. Can't wait to read more.
I'm not usually one for scientific-military conspiracy stories, but I like this one.
Nov 29, 2012
S.
added it
Good but not enough dragons.
It's ok.
OMG! TELSA!
Slow build. Character driven. Though it's jarring every time it reminds me it's not Bone. (whoooores!)
May 10, 2013
Jarmo Mäntylä
is currently reading it
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Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from B...more
More about Jeff Smith...
Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from B...more
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