Fresh Comics

Leading off with the eponymous novella-length thriller, "A Pocketful of rain" is drawn with realistic human beings instead of Jason's trademark blank-faced animal characters-a true revelation for longtime fans. This collection showcases three distinct styles: the artist's earliest "realistic" drawing style (used to unsettling effect in some particularly creepy stories), an intermediate "bighead" cartoony style that still features humans (used for both humor and drama), and the "funny animal" style he's now best known for.

Readers who love Jason's anthropomorphic style won't be disappointed, though. Also included is several tales drawn in that fashion, featuring (among other things) Death, a guy waiting for a bus, and croquet-playing nuns; over 40 "daily strip" format gags; a trio of hilarious parodies of other pop media work including Corto Meowtese and an elaborate riff on Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk done Jason style; and much more.

This new and expanded edition also collects all the images from the limited Swedish edition of Pop!, a collection of Jason's wildly ingenious and graphically pixelated single page pop culture homages. Modern Art meets pop cult, channeled through Jason's keen sense of humor and atmosphere. In this gallery, readers see the cartoonist's takes on Hopper, Magritte, and Kahlo; Moebius, Pratt, and Hergé; musicians like Tom Waits and David Bowie; and many more combinations, tributes, and send-ups. Of special interest are his delightfully ghoulish re-workings of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy, blending in works from David Lynch, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and, of course, the paintings of Sluggo Picasso. Plus, a key to deciphering all of Jason's roguish and inspired takes.