Vowels

by Skye Ogden, Wolfgang Bylsma (Editor)

Spanning five imaginary eras, VOWELS examines the human condition through eyes that aren't human at all and serves as a gentle reminder to look at ourselves and all that we are capable of. Simple forms, detailed worlds, real characters. VOWELS marks the graphic novel debut of Skye Ogden, following on from the inclusion of his critically acclaimed short story in Gestalt Publishing's CHARACTER SKETCHES 2007 anthology "Awesome art direction and narrative. Truly an inspiring and reflective piece of brutality and beauty that deserves to be read by all." - Justin Randall

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

88 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2007

Reviews

[Ross McLean]

I found Vowels to be pretty baffling and I'm not sure that I managed to get anything out of it. I'm usually a fan of abstract and minimalist works, but they always run the risk of just passing you by, and that seems to be what happened here.

I guess there were some general themes that I could identify, and there seemed to be some level of interaction between the development of man, unending barbarism, jealousy, and good deeds going unrewarded. However, I'm not sure I understood it outside of the broadest of strokes. There was something about the presentation that I found difficult to follow despite its clean art and focus on small movements between panels.

I dug the line work and unusual anatomy, but I just couldn't seem to find anything to connect to. I feel like there could be something special hidden away here, but I didn't even come close to finding it.

[Juan Morais · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring idea, a 'muted' comic book. The beauty of it is that, while most of us will understand what's the purpose of the story, every single dialog will be different. One general topic, many ideas. I've to say that it wasn't easy to "read" at first, because when used to reading words, not images, imagination has a really big play into it. Nevertheless, I felt touched by the end of this beautiful comic.