Nil: A Land Beyond Belief

(Slave Labor, 2005)
™ and © 2005 James Turner

This black and white graphic novel from writer-artist James Turner and the folks at Slave Labor Graphics is a sharp, multi-faceted piece of social commentary that is drop-dead funny. The tale is set in the country of Nil, where nihilism is the guiding ideology of the day, and the crews of the deconstruction ships respond to developing belief systems and eradicate them before they can take hold among the populace. Our hero is Proun Nul, a crewman on the Derrida; like a good Nil citizen, he believes in nothing—until a co-worker is murdered and Nul is forced to run and fight to prove his innocence. Once Nul has something to believe in—namely, his own innocence, the foolishness of his world becomes clear to him, and we, as readers, struggle with him as he leads us through a landscape populated by Hypocripopes, Uncardinals, and political pundits who are more sound and fury than substance. Scan every panel of this book since Turner’s ideas are to be found in every nook and cranny of every panel.

— Thomas Moudry

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist

#1

April, 2005
Cover Price: $12.95
No copies available

James Turner