First published in 1975,
The Cage
was a graphic novel before there was a name for the genre. Considered an early masterpiece of the genre, the Canadian cult comic has been out of print for decades. The new edition includes an introduction by Canadian comics master and Lemony Snicket collaborator Seth (
Palookaville; It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
).
Cryptic and disturbing, like Dave Gibbons (
Watchmen
) illustrating a film by Ozu,
spurns narrative for atmosphere, guiding us through a series of disarrayed rooms and desolate landscapes, tracking a stuttering and circling time and a sequence of objects: headphones, inky stains, bedsheets. It's not about where we're going but how – if – we get there.