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The Cage
First published in 1975, The Cage was a graphic novel before there was a name for the genre. Considered an early masterpiece of the genre, the Canadian cult comic has been out of print for decades. The new edition includes an introduction by Canadian comics master and Lemony Snicket collaborator Seth (Palookaville; It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken).
Cryptic and disturb ...more
Cryptic and disturb ...more
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Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
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445)
May 22, 2014
Nate D
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
An aperture opening out of void space and into unknown
Recommended to Nate D by:
a tracking shot through a universe in decline
This is flawless. Recurring and interlinked motifs -- a cage or machine, a hospital bed, an explosive gout of ink or blood, sequential images, architectural desolation, the passage of time, monitoring devices -- trace an oblique story steeped in menace and isolation, conveyed through dissociated image (exacting, perfect, cold, still) and narration (hypnotic, abstract, eliding between meanings, slipping unexpectedly from detachment to violence), lapsing in and out of sync but in constant dialogue
...more
This 1975 "visual novel" offers a unique collision of words and images. Imagine an Alain Robbe-Grille novel illustrated by Roland Torpor (Fantastic Planet, etc) and you're partway there. Or perhaps an architectural manual storyboarded by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Deeply cryptic and evocative of something or other.
When Seth calls something a masterwork, I listen. When he calls the artist a "national treasure" such as Marshall McLuhan or Norman McLaren or Glenn Gould, I pay attention. His fine prefatory essay begins to get at how this 1972 comic novel explores and capitalizes on the resources of the comics medium. And there is a short intro by Vaughn-James himself, which, like Seth's own words, doesn't help us know what this text is really about. I am not sure it matters. There are many works of the imagin
...more
There's an inside joke in academia that goes something like this: if you want to submit a paper to a conference and present it there, change the first two sentences of whatever you're working on to reflect the theme of said conference and send it along. You've got a chance. Rinse and repeat.
I mention it because this book is High Art with a capital HA, and as such, it causes me to think of it in light of every paper I wrote. Is this book Duchampian, or am I just recycling every thought I've ever ...more
I mention it because this book is High Art with a capital HA, and as such, it causes me to think of it in light of every paper I wrote. Is this book Duchampian, or am I just recycling every thought I've ever ...more
This is a book that I wish I had encountered maybe 27 years ago and read again today, so that I could compare my reaction then and now. Probably when I was about 18 or 19, I remember constant excitement as I was discovering unconventional and weird books, art, and films. The Cage read back then would likely have had so much significance, and so much of it would have felt so personal.
But reading it now with a layer of objectivity built up over the years and a strong base of material already disc ...more
But reading it now with a layer of objectivity built up over the years and a strong base of material already disc ...more
As usual I didn't pay for this book but instead got it for the purposes of review. Also as usual despite that kindness I give my candid thoughts below.
This is the part of the review where I usually sum up the plot in a few quick sentences. I'm not going to do that this time because even after reading it I just don't know. In fact, according to the introduction, even people who have studied the book at length don't really know what it's about. Even the author himself doesn't claim complete knowle ...more
This is the part of the review where I usually sum up the plot in a few quick sentences. I'm not going to do that this time because even after reading it I just don't know. In fact, according to the introduction, even people who have studied the book at length don't really know what it's about. Even the author himself doesn't claim complete knowle ...more
The Cage was first published in 1976 by Coach House Press in Canada, in an edition of 1500 copies. Now 37 years later, the publisher has reissued it. After reading a recent newspaper review of The Cage, I searched it out at my local library. I couldn't believe it, they didn't have the new edition, they had the original book, one of the 1500 copies. Amazingly it was still in circulation. I was thrilled to be holding it in my hands. The Cage is an evocative nightmare of an unidentified totalitaria
...more
Beautiful. Haunting. Weird. Delightfully weird.
This is surrealistic comics at its best. Do not try with this one, just let it happen. This is a dream, a nightmare maybe, unfolding. Disjointed.
If you hated "Waiting for Godot" or "La jetée", this will also bother you. ;)
This is surrealistic comics at its best. Do not try with this one, just let it happen. This is a dream, a nightmare maybe, unfolding. Disjointed.
If you hated "Waiting for Godot" or "La jetée", this will also bother you. ;)
Sorry, but this is a bunch of pretentious nonsense. The words are hyped-up overwrought baloney. The art is technically accurate but soulless. Maybe I'd be impressed if I was high.
This is a very interesting and unique graphic novel.
The format of this graphic novel is one that I haven’t really seen before. Each page has one picture, almost like a snippet of a larger picture, and some text that aids in telling the story. I found the format interesting and thought that it added a lot to the overall story.
The overall story itself is hard to comprehend. It’s pretty deep and I think I’ll have to reread the book before I can even begin to understand what the overall message is. ...more
The format of this graphic novel is one that I haven’t really seen before. Each page has one picture, almost like a snippet of a larger picture, and some text that aids in telling the story. I found the format interesting and thought that it added a lot to the overall story.
The overall story itself is hard to comprehend. It’s pretty deep and I think I’ll have to reread the book before I can even begin to understand what the overall message is. ...more
READ TWICE, BACK TO BACK, IN 2013
12/15/13 & 12/16/13
FOR A MORE 'COMPREHENSIVE' REVIEW:
http://htmlgiant.com/reviews/an-odd-e...
2008
Possibly the best thing I've read all year.
SECOND (Third? Fourth?) READING, 2009
Having read all of Martin Vaughn-James's graphic works since reading this, I am pleased to discover this is still his masterpiece. The best thing to say about the text (which is still mostly impenetrable, but in a really pleasant way) would be to compare it to Philippe Sollers. It's be ...more
12/15/13 & 12/16/13
FOR A MORE 'COMPREHENSIVE' REVIEW:
http://htmlgiant.com/reviews/an-odd-e...
2008
Possibly the best thing I've read all year.
SECOND (Third? Fourth?) READING, 2009
Having read all of Martin Vaughn-James's graphic works since reading this, I am pleased to discover this is still his masterpiece. The best thing to say about the text (which is still mostly impenetrable, but in a really pleasant way) would be to compare it to Philippe Sollers. It's be ...more
This stunned me more than any comic I've read since The Trumpets They Play! It's Beckett's deconstruction through disintegration (and his tumbling words), Tarr's immanent apocalypse, the last minutes of L'Eclisse, a self-referencing machine, a metaphor machine in comics form. One of the best things I've ever read.
Nov 05, 2014
Rachel
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphica-for-adults
A graphic novel unlike any other. Eschewing the normal multi-panel form, characters, and basic plot for an experience that defies logical thought, the Cage is not for all. These detailed, inked drawings evoke something in us, what that something is, is hard to define. Pages, images, and words are strung together in one continuous flow. We the readers move through these images as if we are in a first person game, observing the cage, rooms, streets, and the reminders of the life that is now absent
...more
This review is courtesy of an Advance Review Copy through the good folks at NetGalley (for the re-released edition).
"Unfortunately no-one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." - Morpheus, The Matrix
That epigraph may be trite, but is nonetheless apt. I could sit here and tell you all about The Cage, its history as a graphic novel before that was a thing, whether it's worth reading, what it means to me, all the usuals. But the thing is, I reckon The Cage will mean marke ...more
"Unfortunately no-one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." - Morpheus, The Matrix
That epigraph may be trite, but is nonetheless apt. I could sit here and tell you all about The Cage, its history as a graphic novel before that was a thing, whether it's worth reading, what it means to me, all the usuals. But the thing is, I reckon The Cage will mean marke ...more
Touted as "an early masterpiece of the graphic novel medium," The Cage is an interesting book. I found it evocative but in the end, kind of soulless. It isn't about plot or character in any traditional way. The loosely connected jumble of images and almost nonsensical captions are pretty dadaist. It forces the viewer/reader to extract clues to build a story (or not) that is more a collection of guesses. The empty and decaying landscape reminded me in tone of Vandermeer's Annihilation. The sharpn
...more
I can't really say much about this. Everything stated about it in the Introduction by Seth is quite true. I found it too esoteric to be able to really write about. I found more enjoyment in looking at the pictures without reading the text. I also found that I could see faces in many of the illustrations and sometimes the entire head. Perhaps this is my own mind playing tricks on me or are they really there. The hidden people in these images. I didn't enjoy the work enough to try and analyze it;
...more
Rarely do I read book's prefaces, especially that of a graphic novel. I did so with this book and am glad I did. Seth himself, admitted to not really liking the book or understanding it. What is it really about?
Holocaust? Mental illness? Hoarding? Drug trip? Nightmare? Art installation?
Reading like a long description of a crime scene without a period in sight, I immediately wanted to write the author and ask "Why?"
Maybe we are imprisoning ourselves by asking what it IS about?
I wanted to read i ...more
Holocaust? Mental illness? Hoarding? Drug trip? Nightmare? Art installation?
Reading like a long description of a crime scene without a period in sight, I immediately wanted to write the author and ask "Why?"
Maybe we are imprisoning ourselves by asking what it IS about?
I wanted to read i ...more
There are things beyond us, challenging our understanding and enduring as unfathomable mysteries.
In 1975, Martin Vaughn-James published The Cage, his "visual novel " in a succession of books that explore the natural notion of "if two pages (of comics), why not ten ?".
The Cage is characterized by the absence of characters. All human existence is suggested by the spaces and objects of sensorial disposition (as Seth shrewdly states in the introduction). Each page a panel, a window into corridors an ...more
In 1975, Martin Vaughn-James published The Cage, his "visual novel " in a succession of books that explore the natural notion of "if two pages (of comics), why not ten ?".
The Cage is characterized by the absence of characters. All human existence is suggested by the spaces and objects of sensorial disposition (as Seth shrewdly states in the introduction). Each page a panel, a window into corridors an ...more
The Cage is a strange and unique book. It has been called the first graphic novel, and while there are pictures on every page, the story it tells defies easy description. There is text that goes along with the story. Sometimes it describes what the viewer is seeing, and sometimes not.
The whole thing takes place in what seems to be an abandoned building with a cage in it. Objects float in the space, bricks are decaying, objects appear and disappear between frames. It appears to be a prison or int ...more
The whole thing takes place in what seems to be an abandoned building with a cage in it. Objects float in the space, bricks are decaying, objects appear and disappear between frames. It appears to be a prison or int ...more
***Advanced Readers Copy from Net Galley***
I had no idea who Martin Vaughn-James was until I found this on Netgalley. Graphic novels are a pretty new thing for me, they were never around when I was growing up, and they weren't even called 'Graphic novels', they were simply called 'comic books' or 'pretty cartoon books with pretty colors in it'. Lately I noticed graphic novels are really darn powerful, beautiful, especially after reading a volume of of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.
This graphic nov ...more
I had no idea who Martin Vaughn-James was until I found this on Netgalley. Graphic novels are a pretty new thing for me, they were never around when I was growing up, and they weren't even called 'Graphic novels', they were simply called 'comic books' or 'pretty cartoon books with pretty colors in it'. Lately I noticed graphic novels are really darn powerful, beautiful, especially after reading a volume of of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.
This graphic nov ...more
I received an e-galley received from NetGalley for review.
A 'graphic novel' like none I've ever encountered. I can't say I'd heard of this work before, which is why it's so great that it's being re-published for a whole new generation of readers.
I was very grateful for Seth's introduction, which set me in the right frame of mind do proceed, and I think without it I would have felt like an uneducated fool who was missing something important. The point of this work of art, which is what it is, is ...more
A 'graphic novel' like none I've ever encountered. I can't say I'd heard of this work before, which is why it's so great that it's being re-published for a whole new generation of readers.
I was very grateful for Seth's introduction, which set me in the right frame of mind do proceed, and I think without it I would have felt like an uneducated fool who was missing something important. The point of this work of art, which is what it is, is ...more
Reading The Cage has been pretty torturous for me. It vaguely makes sense - like maybe if I cared a lot more, studied it for weeks and had a higher IQ than I would see the genius. None of that's happening. Just because something is hard to understand, doesn't mean it's good. I'm pretty sure he talks about perspective and time, maybe something about a hospital, scraps of canvas or paper, noise and a tape recorder or VCR. Actually, not a VCR, this was published in 1975 and Betamax was just startin
...more
Jan 23, 2014
Allie
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
comics-and-graphic-novels,
arcs-giveaways
This review/rating is based on an e-ARC I got from netgalley.
So strange. So so strange. Seth's introduction was really illuminating, which I read after reading about half of the book, feeling lost, and going back to the beginning. Vaughn-James cites Last Year at Marienbad as an inspiration and boy howdy does that comparison ring true.
The description (and Seth's introduction) call this is a proto-graphic novel. Vaughn-James's earlier work definitely seems to build to this, and there is more comi ...more
So strange. So so strange. Seth's introduction was really illuminating, which I read after reading about half of the book, feeling lost, and going back to the beginning. Vaughn-James cites Last Year at Marienbad as an inspiration and boy howdy does that comparison ring true.
The description (and Seth's introduction) call this is a proto-graphic novel. Vaughn-James's earlier work definitely seems to build to this, and there is more comi ...more
I keep reading reviews for this book about how obscure and complex it is. In the foreword, Seth talks about how he still does not know exactly what this book it about, and yet, it’s is ground-breaking work. I don’t quite get that. I thought the art was interesting, the writing beautiful for a while until you get bored of it for not really meaning anything. I get that I may not be smart enough to actually understand the deeper meaning of this book, I just know that I didn’t enjoy reading it.
Honestly, I have no idea what the heck really happened in this book--but neither does the author, so that makes me feel better, ha. I couldn't help but be reminded of another book's title while reading this graphic-novel-before-graphic-novels-were-even-a-genre: "Everything Ravaged, Everything Ruined." Those interested in the history of graphic novels, comic art--and more importantly, Canadian literary heritage--should definitely check this out.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book.
I think it's safe to say that I have no idea what the book is about. All I can think of as I was reading it, and after finishing it, was that it constantly reminded me of war. I don't know why, but I felt that the book was an abstract image of all wars combined together, and of course, the after effects.
The illustrations are beautiful. Very simple, yet still very strong. However, I don't think I would call it a graphic novel. I couldn't see any r ...more
I think it's safe to say that I have no idea what the book is about. All I can think of as I was reading it, and after finishing it, was that it constantly reminded me of war. I don't know why, but I felt that the book was an abstract image of all wars combined together, and of course, the after effects.
The illustrations are beautiful. Very simple, yet still very strong. However, I don't think I would call it a graphic novel. I couldn't see any r ...more
Jul 12, 2014
Sasha Boersma
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
canadian,
graphic-novels
It's a difficult book to get through due to the narrative structure (it has a very poetic feel), but when you think about what it brought to the literature landscape in 1975 to the art we now know as the graphic novel, it's worth the bump up to 3-stars. Vaughn-James' title is to graphic novels/comic art what Norman McLaren brought to animation.
Some interesting drawings, though not in my favorite style. Some did come across as slightly eerie or creepy but I never really connected with the material. I read through some of the reviews after I finished to see if I was possibly missing something but can only conclude that it's too high brow for me.
*3.5 Stars*
The Cage presents both an intricate prose poem and an artful series of illustrations. The two seem incomplete and unrelated, but they interact in the mind after reading. My imagination made the cage a city, a circumstance, a home, a dream, and more.
The Cage presents both an intricate prose poem and an artful series of illustrations. The two seem incomplete and unrelated, but they interact in the mind after reading. My imagination made the cage a city, a circumstance, a home, a dream, and more.
This book marries draftsmanlike drawings with snatches of phrases, almost like a symbiotic poetry between two art forms. There are definite statements made throughout the text, but the reader is left to wonder and dream. Evocative more than inspiring or edifying
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“... the cylinder itself has only just begun its revolutions ... as it gathers speed the objects grouped around its fulcrum assume, collectively ... no ... as it gathers speed the whole intricate system of cords, weights, metal spikes and rods, brass plates engraved with labyrinthine patterns, bricks, scraps of fabric, paper, canvas, unmarked sheets ... the entire elaborate network of components begins to shudder into wild spasmodic motion, rattling almost farcically within the framework of the machine.”
—
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