From the Shadow of the Northern Lights vol.2

by Johannes Klenell (Editor)

The exploding evolution of the Swedish comics scene demands a second volume of the Northern Lights anthology. Never before has this much talent been brewing so close to the arctic circle, and both the media and readers of the world are starting to take notice. This volume gathers the work of Marcus Ivarsson, Sofia Olsson, Sara Graner, Kobeinn Karlsson, Anneli Furmark, and many more.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Sweden

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Johannes Klenell (f. 1979) är förläggare på Galago, serieförlaget som de senaste tio åren varit ett drivhus för några av vår tids bästa samhällskritiker. Han skriver för bland annat Aftonbladet Kultur och Värmlands Folkblad.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The comics in this second edition of Swedish comics range from humorous to philosophical to downright disturbing. There is lots of wonderful artwork throughout, with Anneli Furmark, Kolbeinn Karlsson, Joanna Hellgren and Benjamin Stengard the standouts to these eyes. This book is as good (if not better) than volume one. I missed the About the Contributors section however, which I hope will be reinstated if there is a third in the series.

[Rosie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for the Coco Moodyssen. The rest was not great except for a few standouts (Joanna Hellgren).

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, full-color collection of new comics from Sweden, running all over the spectrum of narrative styles. I particularly enjoyed "Pornographic Saxophones", a reminiscence of the rise and destruction of an uninhibited noise-jazz experimenter, steeped in real details and believable until I actually tried to look up the band in question. Also tragicomic confessional A Piece of Cloth, the designs of The Raft, and many other moments from the 34 pieces here (well, 39, but a couple of those are broken up sections of single works). Not as much of the heavily-designed semi-abstractions I've been into lately (Secret Acres stuff like Theo Ellsworth and Eamon Espey, or Joshua Cotter) but you can't have everything, I guess.

[Julie Rylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so GREAT! I totally want to have the first volume of this!

This is a collective of swedish comic authors/ illustrators.

Fave comics inside:
- The forest boy have very good graphics;
- The girl that couldn't jump from the cliff and the granny says she ought not to because the other ones, unlike her, only swim on the surface. Lovely! just freaking lovely!;
- The Selma and the saxophone. It was so great and funny and tragic. man, no words!;
- The bear that is going to reincarnate and has been given always two narrow choices that won't bring him nowhere;
- The girl that is describing all her mom's boyfriends;
- The silly existentialist story about the woodpecker;
- The Whitney Houston one about women abuse and how it's brilliantly executed. This "and Iiiiiiiii eeee iiiiiiiiii" thing circulating the whole page until it comes to the end "will always love you".

[Marj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the art and stories were absolutely beautiful, while others left me thinking "Swedish people are friggin' WEIRD." But alas, I guess as stated in the prologue, it gives us a peek into Swedish culture and humor and how it differs from ours. While the compilation was definitely... interesting, to say the least, I would not pick up another volume.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Look, I like boner jokes and gross stuff more than a lot of people, but this didn't really work for me. Most of the art is bad, and the sex stuff is mostly heckuva creepy . . . I don't know, there's just too much of it, comic after comic, overwhelming the collection.