"Jar of Fools" is a black and white, perfect-bound, 70-page "graphic novel", which spins a story of how life's magic can be won and lost. Its protagonists are the veteran trickster Al Flosso, now on the run from his bleak life in a nursing home, and his onetime protegee, Ernesto "Ernie" Weiss. Ernie is trying to help Al evade the age police; Al is helping Ernie recover his faith in life, in magic and insome moments he has either lost or feels that he cannot face.
Weiss is plagued -- and driven to drink -- by a plethora of traumas. Since losing faith in (ie the method to make) magic, he possesses little food, no rent money and small sympathy from his neighbours. His brother, an escape artist, has committed suicide some time ago. His once-significant other now lives apart, undergoing struggles of her own. (Here is the key for many of "Jar"'s female following). Weiss has lost his faith in the powers and rationale of magic. Yet "Jar (Part One)" ends on a note of mystery and strange revelation -- and, since it derives from a lively, weekly comics strip -- it also ends quite sharply.
"Jar" runs every week in Seattle's free paper "The Stranger". Here it became such a selling-point that creator Jason Lutes could publish independently. Now, after garnering huge critical praise (samples: "Lutes is a world-class storyteller"; "'Jar' is an instant classic"), parts one and two are avilable from Black Eye Productions. Jason Lutes' next project (also for Black Eye) will be a quarterly, finite series called Berlin, beginning in the fall of 1996. Interested parties should contact: Black Eye Productions,5135 Parc Ave., Suite 5 Montreal, QC H2V 4G3 Canada eye@odyssee.net
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