"Jesse Jacobs creates beautiful art and his comics have a fantasy dreamlike aspect that is at once charming and horrifying." and#151; Bryan Munn,
Sequentialand#147;The back-to-the-land arch doesnand#8217;t quite capture how sublimely strange Jacobsand#8217; world is, but it gets to the message all the same: itand#8217;s the alienation from the land that makes the place horrible.and#8221; and#151; David Berry, National Post
and#147;Every page of this book could be torn out and framed. Seriously.and#8221; and#151; Nadxi Nieto, Electric Literature
and#147;and#133;itand#8217;s the art that elevates it into exceptional territory; appropriately lush, splendidly intricate sequences and#151; each page gorgeously psychedelic with much to pore over.and#8221; and#151; Zainab Akhtar, Comics and Cola
and#147;Jacobsand#8217; book is not only a weird and whimsical visual treat, but an example of equally strong storytelling that holds its own, elevating it way above your typical and#145;art comic.and#8217;and#8221; and#151; Whit Taylor
and#147;Part jungle adventure, part and#147;psychedelic sojournand#8221;, part biblical allegory, part gender study, part contemporary commentary, Safari Honeymoon is much more than the sum of its parts; it becomes its own thing by being unlike almost anything else.and#8221; and#151; Daniel Elkin, Your Chicken Enemy
and#147;Like the characters, the reader is pulled deeper and deeper into the terrain as Jacobs reveals more of this landand#8217;s hidden secrets. This makes for an especially enchanting read, even during the moments of grotesque horror.and#8221; and#151; Oliver Sava, A.V. Club
and#147;A demented exploration of unfamiliar wilderness, Jacobsand#8217; absurdist horror story deftly comments on and sends up invasive species and Western explorers alike.and#8221; and#151; Jeff VanderMeer, Electric Lit
and#147;Presenting nature as a pitiless arena for survival of the fittest isnand#8217;t the most original of scenarios, but Jacobsand#8217; presentation is wonderfully fresh and drolly humorous and#150; a genuinely personal vision and#133; [he] is a cartoonist giftedand#160;with tremendous imagination and one-of-a-kind visual acumen.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Rob Kirby,and#160;The Comics Journal
and#147;The work of an ingenious and fertile imagination this is a bookand#160;where visual execution is unashamedly at the forefront of narrative drive in immersing the reader in a most intricately constructedand#160;realm of weirdness.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Andy Oliver,and#160;Broken Frontier
and#147;Safari Honeymoonand#160;is Summer 2014and#8217;s sleeper hit of acid.and#8221; and#151; Greg Mannix,and#160;End of the Universe
and#147;When reading Jesse Jacobsand#8217;and#160;Safari Honeymoonand#160;the primary feeling is one of total immersion. Itand#8217;s not just a graphic novel about a newlywed couple taking their honeymoon in a strange, dangerous environment, itand#8217;s a sensory experience that engulfs the reader in an intricately detailed biosystem of horrific parasites, alien foliage, and geometric spirits.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Oliver Sava,and#160;A.V. Club
and#147;In a recent interview, Jacobs said that if he werenand#8217;t a cartoonist he would probably have been a farmer. Withand#160;Safari Honeymoonand#160;it seems that Jacobs has managed to be both at once, albeit a farmer in which the reader is the field to be planted.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Jared Gardner, Ohio State University Professor of English and Film,and#160;Public Books
and#147;Prime strange amusement.and#8221; and#151; Ray Olson, Booklist
and#147;In a recent interview, Jacobs said that if he werenand#8217;t a cartoonist he would probably have been a farmer. Withand#160;Safari Honeymoonand#160;it seems that Jacobs has managed to be both at once, albeit a farmer in which the reader is the field to be planted.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Jared Gardner,and#160;Public Books
and#147;What at first seems like a familiar story trope and#151; an older, rich lout and nubile, young wife go on safari led by a macho, knowledgeable guide and#151; becomes under Jacobsand#8217; hands something altogether strange, haunting, unexpected and altogether extraordinary.and#8221; and#151; Chris Mautner, Comic Book Resources
and#147;Pixelated robots, ropey organisms, swirling creatures of the cosmos, and even a bundle of intergalactic puppies feature in Jesseand#8217;s work, and we really cannot get enough of the meteoric illustrations.and#8221; and#151; Madeleine Morley,and#160;Itand#8217;s Nice That
and#147;Safari Honeymoon, Jacobsand#8217;s new book, is narrower in scope [thanand#160;By This Shall You Know Him], but in many ways even stranger and more impressive.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Gabriel Winslow-Yost,and#160;The New York Review of Books
and#147;Jacobs makes some of the most intricate, most fascinating, and oddest stories in comics today.and#8221; and#151;and#160;Publishers Weekly
and#147;The central motif here is parasitic transformation and#151; one species crawling into another and overtaking its body and#151; and, by its end, the book has shifted from an eccentric satire to a vision of union with monstrous nature.and#8221; and#151; Douglas Wolk,and#160;The New York Times
and#147;That the London, Ontario cartoonist cut his teeth working on TVand#8217;sand#160;Adventure Timeand#160;makes sense, given the almost stop-motion quality of his critters throughout. But the artistand#8217;s concern with the squishy, tactile processes of mutation, infection, and evolution goes beyond what animation captures of life, and gestures instead toward the natural world in all its bewildering complexity.and#8221; and#151; Sean Rogers,and#160;The Globe and Mail
and#147;Jesse Jacobsand#8217; last graphic noveland#151;By This You Shall Know Himand#151;is probably one of my top 5 favorite comics of the past half decade, making his latestand#151;Safari Honeymoonand#151;one of the books Iand#8217;ve been most anticipating this year. His comics are weird, smart, beautifully designed and always surprising.and#8221; and#151; Rich Barrett,and#160;mental_floss
and#147;Part jungle adventure, part and#147;psychedelic sojournand#8221;, part biblical allegory, part gender study, part contemporary commentary, Safari Honeymoon is much more than the sum of its parts; it becomes its own thing by being unlike almost anything else.and#8221; and#151; Daniel Elkin, Comics Bulletin
and#147;Safari Honeymoon, as an exemplar of the next generation of comics storytelling, takes the medium to a different place, a place that may be best analogous to poetry.and#8221; and#151; Jason Sacks, Comics Bulletin
and#147;An exciting work for anyone interested in comics form and the mediumand#8217;s possibilities, it rewards multiple readings and close analysisand#133;for me, itand#8217;s one of the best graphic novels to come along in years. I couldnand#8217;t recommend it more enthusiastically.and#8221; and#151; Ken Parille,and#160;The Comics Journal
and#147;My favourite of Jesse Jacobsand#8217; books, and another treasured addition to my Koyama Press shelf.and#8221; and#151; Camilla Barboza, Orbital Comics
and#147;It's not a matter of whether you'll get it or not; Jacobs has once again put together beautiful work that's worthwhile, and so unique that it will have you talking for quite some time. Seriously, you won't find anything else like it out this year.and#8221;and#160;and#151;and#160;Ollie Ottoman,and#160;Ground Control Magazine
and#147;The best thing about my reading of Safari Honeymoon is how frequently I was surprised. For instance, the relationship between the couple is portrayed sweetly rather than cynically; they seem a pair of mismatched souls working through elements common to all of our engagements with others that rarely get explored: choice, inexplicable desire, awe, gratitude, grace. I'll buy that ticket anytime it's offered.and#8221; and#151; Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
and#147;Jesse Jacobsand#8217; work here accentuates everything that comics are great at, and serves as a perfect example of what the comics medium can really achieve that no other medium can in quite the same way.and#8221; and#151; John Seven, Damnopedia
and#147;Jacobs subverts jungle fantasy tropes by presenting just how precarious life is in the wild without the virtue of a total technological advantage and details that the only way out is to understand how the dominant species manages to adapt.and#8221;and#160;and#151; Rob Clough,and#160;High-Low
and#147;The writer and artist, Jesse Jacobs, has a history of the delightfully weird through his work on the cartoonand#160;Adventure Time, so didnand#8217;t we expect him to toy with our perceptions of reality? And if there hadnand#8217;t been strange creatures, comics would have felt left out.and#8221; and#151; Hannah Means-Shannon,and#160;Bleeding Cool
Praise for By This Shall You Know Him
"An art comics creation myth, cosmic, disturbing, and beautifully rendered in ice-blue and contrasting purples, with a style that welds the lovely to the grotesque...By This Shall You Know Him is (further) proof that fantasy in comics need not be hollow, generic, or ingratiating. It can be troubling instead. An inspired comic!" and#151; Author and academic, Charles Hatfield (Alternative Comics, and Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby University Press of Mississippi, 2005 and 2012)
and#147;I went in expecting a psychedelic vision quest, and I came out having experienced a stunning new creation myth. Intricate, upsetting, and fun.and#8221; and#151; Jeremy Tinder, Boing Boing
A pair of newlyweds honeymoon in a truly exotic location as they delve deep into a mysterious forest and themselves.
Jesse Jacobs was born in Moncton, New Brunswick, and now draws comics and things from his home in London, Ontario. In 2009, his books Small Victories and Blue Winter were short listed at the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning. He received the Gene Day Award for best Canadian Comic Book Self-Publisher of 2008. Even the Giants (AdHouse, 2011) marked his major publishing debut after several award-winning, self-published titles. He has worked on the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time, and his work has appeared in the acclaimed Latvian comics anthology and#353;!, as well as the 2012 and 2013 editions of Best American Comics published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.