20 km/h

by Woshibai

A slow-motion drive-by view of a collapsing universe meant to sit in the palm of your hand

How fast can you go in a buggy drawn by the flap of a butterfly’s wings? How do you measure the speed of waking from a dream? Such abstract inquiries into the unrelenting absurdity of contemporary life make up this omnibus of meditative vignettes from one of mainland China’s most prolific and recognizable—yet anonymous—new underground cartoonists of the current generation.

Every story in 20 km/h toes the line between pun and poetry, and lands somewhere just short of a zen come back to it as often as you like, it will never quite read the same way twice. A nondescript figure awakes from an assembly line of identically-fashioned companions and boards a rowboat destined for the unknown. A man holds the key to sleep in his hand and uses it to disappear into his mattress. The moon is plucked from the sky and fed into a vending machine for a can of soda.

Woshibai’s minimalist renderings are a startlingly delightful cocktail of existential dread and silent slapstick that arrest the mind’s eye with equal parts humor and grace.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Manga, China, Short Stories, Graphic Novels Comics, Art

376 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of silent short stories. Really clever use of images and inverting expectations.

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple yet powerful and reflective. I was initially skeptical because the thing about wordless graphic novels is either you understand them or you don't. But this book manages to be both minimalistic and impactful at once, conveying so much in zero colour and words. I particularly love how it examines the power of perspective and the societal value that we place on things.

An impressive read with much to offer!

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

This collection appears to subscribe to the less is more ethos and these quirky, spare and provocative little vignettes turn out to be good value. I enjoyed the way these play with perspective and perception and keep you guessing. They are enigmatic, funny and imaginative, the drawing style is simple, clean and pretty effective and their offbeat and surreal style can push you into some interesting and memorable places.

[aqilahreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think im just weird enough to enjoy this whimsical wordless collection of illustrated vignettes where some didnt even make any sense or just too abstract for my brain LMAOOO but ugh i really love the minimal monochrome art style ((somehow reminded me of noritake's art, which i absolutely luv & look up to)). 🥹⁣
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ofc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for a such an enjoyable read and i love how it kinda emphasizes on perspective and how theres so much more to an object or something simple if you take a moment and see it from a different angle. 📐 that its all about your POV and how you see things at the end of the day. 👀 a common theme in his art would probably be characters reaching out and grabbing background objects and bringing them into the foreground and sometimes in reverse. it also kinda reminds me of one of my fave wordless picture books, zoom by istvan banyai. ⁣
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it also made me realize how powerful wordless books can be, that sometimes you dont have to always read words/fully understand the actual meaning in order to enjoy a book. 💚 ⁣
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this is such a feel-good collection, i could totally see myself picking it up, admiring & appreciating it all over again and maybe finding myself having a different interpretation of things each time. 💫
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[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is less a book you read and a more a series of surreal thoughts, plays on words and phrases and dreamlike life lessons. This is the type of comic you can “read” in one sitting and then return to later- the way the reader feels, thinks and ponders is really what makes the book.

I tried to take a short break between each piece and think what is this story about? Sometimes I felt like I totally nailed what the story was, other times I felt lost- but I known if I read this again in a month or year down the line I’d have totally new ideas and thoughts.

This is without saying the art is so crisp, it feels like a computer in the best way possible

[Chris Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess some of these are clever? An omnibus collection of short, black and white vignette comics by an apparently up and coming Chinese illustrator. A very quick read but I'm not sure any of these will really stick with me.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whim pickup at my local county library branch. I don’t know anything about Woshibai or this particular collection, but I did notice it was put out by Drawn & Quarterly (possibly just for release in the US?). This reminded me quite a bit of War and Peas, but obviously devoid of dialogue and less overtly funny. There seems to be a lot going on here with scale, creation, destruction, and what would normally fall under “abstract postmodern angst” for me, but actually often seems more peaceful (or resigned?) here. Definitely worth a look, but more as a checkout than to own.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abstract and unconventional are the words for this one.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

偶然在图书馆看到。短篇合集。有一些反复出现的意象。有的很温柔，有的看不太懂，但大多数都非常浪漫！

[Emma Ratshin · Rating 4 out of 5]

hard to review this collection of wordless comics. i’ve always loved woshibai’s clean style and whimsical distortion of the mundane. i prefer his more narrative works like the stuff he did during the shanghai lockdowns but this was delightful

[Macho · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a Drawn & Quarterly-published series (or a compilation?) of minimalish short manga with no words/dialogue (or virtually none) other than each one has a title. With that description in mind, I think I anticipated something more like Yoshihiro Tatsumi's "The Push Man and Other Stories", which I really liked. But where Tatsumi foregrounds brooding alienation, this just read more like a too-quaint webcomic. To give an example, in one a nondescript guy who grabs a cloud from the sky stuffs it in his duvet cover. Then he lays down with it on and it floats out of his door. And that's it. And they're mostly all just like that.

[Claudia DCD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read of existential dread. That numb kind of dread where you just realize, the comics may be hitting just too close to home. I didn't get all the cartoons. Then again, I was reading them pretty quickly and there might be a cultural divide? But whatever cultural divide there could've been, since the author is from China, didn't keep me from connecting with some cartoons, since no translation was necessary. Wordless and mostly universal, the feeling of being lost in the vastness of the world and meaning.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but it caught my eye and I had to give it a try. It was like lots of little stories. Some were really clever, a few made me smile and some were a little sad. I can't say I understood them all but it was amazing the amount of emotion that even such simple pictures could elicit.

https://sabrinasbooktails.blogspot.co...

[Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short comics are poetic and surreal, I love the original and imaginative ideas here. There is a man calling a number and summoning a cloud, someone trapped in a cabin endlessly trying and failing to make a key to unlock the door. A lot of these ideas feel like metaphors for the creativity: feeling stuck at times but then finding seemingly magical or impossible solutions that are an escape hatch from the world.

[XUE · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so surprised our library has his book in digital format! I've seen snippets of his work online but never in a collection. His style is so distinct. Minimal, whimsical, imaginative...some stories are quite funny and clever, some are a little bit philosophical, a few of them made no sense but I still enjoyed reading them. He has a quite unique way of observing life.

[Dan P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading comics like this always makes me feel close to my grandfather. He drew a comic strip for a local paper for a while, which is part of why I love comics so much today. His comic strip was a lot like this collection with its absurd metatextual gags and simple striking panels. He would have loved this book

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The comics were hit or miss. Some were clever, some were amusing, some made a point, and others seemed pointless. When I was 2/3 done I showed my 8-year-old and he liked the two comics I shared, we read the entire book together, and he gave it 5 stars. I give it 3.

[Dinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being Woshibai's follower for a while I was really interested in buying the compilation of his comics. Even though most of his plots were already published on Instagram, the book is nice to hold and open on random pages for a koan, observation, or a laugh.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

hard to describe, or even categorize. This collection made me think hard like a book of poems while feeling oddly accessible. I recommend for anyone who can keep an open mind, but take it a few at a time; otherwise the pieces can start to blend together

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like animation: brilliantly framed and paced. Truly amazing how much story is given with so little space. I loved the orbs showing up in multiple stories. The sense of meaninglessness so devastating. Beds, clouds, boulders, pillows, ladders. It's all here and it's all you need.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quietly existential, yet not bleak. These wordless vignettes mesmerize.

[Fiore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dark, a lot of visual cleverness.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simplistic art but I liked its minimalism. More conceptual than narrative and definitely not my thing cause I like plots.

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

For when you want a visually clever, wordless experience

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy smile.

[Henri · Rating 3 out of 5]

對我而言，性價比不是很高。
兒童看看或許不錯。

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had this on the coffee table for a month or two and would just pick it up instead of my phone or randomly. Deceptively simple metaphysical gags. Every strip made me chuckle. One to revisit often.

[Sabrina Schioppa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely incredible.

[Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, not as clever as some people find it.