Page 45 Review by Stephen
My BOOK OF THE YEAR!
TONGUES is an exquisitely beautiful, meticulously thought-through, inspired and inspirational very modern mythology.
It's also Page 45 Comicbook Of The Month. I mean, obviously.
Entranced, I've savoured each page's precise yet organic and often surprising composition, hung off every exchange, drooled at its colours, then revelled in its design Heaven and its ecological, war-torn Hell here on Earth.
Let alone the one raging up above.
Prometheus gave mankind fire, long before our Cognitive Revolution. And you could argue about the wisdom of that. Certainly his family continue to. But what was that fire, exactly? What have we done with it? And is Prometheus' eons-old imprisonment truly bound to be eternal? It is an established truth, surely, that nothing lasts forever.
The craft and graft will thrill Chris Ware fans, while what is discussed will resonate with those like me who love Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens etc), for evolution lies at its core.
Evolution of everything: of individuals, relationships, species, ecosystems; of bodies, thought, language, and the scale of impact of single species on all others.
Well reasoned arguments are passionately felt, yet eloquently and level-headedly expressed on both sides. So I also add Alan Moore to the score, especially since this is science-fiction / fantasy with an honest-to-god, full-blooded conflict.
Its cast is much broader and more exotic than I've photographed (pantheons do tend to be large / diverse / argumentative). Gotta save some surprises!
Lots of lovely lichen, bottomless caverns, modern war, ancient feuds, patient power gathering and interior french-flaps which fold out to reveal extended panoramas / growths.
Anders Nilsen has long commanded my fierce respect for (every single one of these and more) PLEASE DON'T GO WHERE I CAN'T FOLLOW, THE END, ALL POETRY IS USELESS, BIG QUESTIONS, DOGS AND WATER (former P45 CBOTM) and oh hello, he's back: the boy with the bear on his back! That's... unexpected.
It's the perfect package for me, thrilling in its intrigue, and lingering long in my mind.
