“Isn’t that what people do?”

Why Are You Doing This?
Jason
2004
Fantagraphics Books

Jason is the cartoonist who, on the back cover flap of his book Why Are You Doing This?, describes himself as follows: “Jason was born in Norway but lives now in France. Like most cartoonists he wears glasses and is balding.” It may not be obvious to most readers, especially those foreign to his stylings, but Jason revels in deadpan humour, monotony, and expressionlessness. You will find those three things in most of his works, and especially so in this translated-from-the-French 48-page comic from Fantagraphics Books.

The premise of this story is considerably similar to a lot of generic Hollywood action/thriller films that unfortunately present themselves every year in the megaplexes around the continent: Alex, recently broken-up from his partner and down on his luck, is miserable and anti-social (though you’d be hard pressed to tell aside from the dialogue since Jason draws majority of characters with the same blank facial expression). His friend Claude tries to help him get over the break-up blues, but with no success. Claude tells Alex that he will be gone for a couple weeks on vacation and asks him to water his plants while he’s away. Alex, to both Claude’s and the reader’s surprise, actually leaves his apartment and does just that. While there, Alex glances outside and notices a strange looking man peering at him in the window of the apartment building across the street from him. It seems weird and harmless, so Alex doesn’t make a big deal of it and instead drinks some bad milk from Claude’s refrigerator before leaving.

Images and (no) words

Before I continue with Jason’s playful satire of Hollywood thrillers I’d like to draw attention to how skillful Jason is at showing and not just telling. As is common with most of his other work, namely the aptly titled Almost Silent (Fantagraphics Books), Jason often draws his characters performing actions with as little dialogue as possible, sometimes with none at all. Jason knows how to convey character and personality through actions rather than relying on words, and he does this well. The aforementioned scene with Alex stealing Claude’s milk demonstrates to the reader that Alex is not necessarily the most honest person. Aside from the fact that, during a conversation with Claude previous to the milk scene, Alex lies to Claude when asked about watering his plants; this lying also suggests that Alex is indeed going through a break-up. People with poor mental health or dealing with grief of some kind often make choices that seem questionable to those in good health, and this is communicated effectively in this scene. What I’m getting at here is that there are various ways to analyze this simple scene that has no dialogue, which in turns makes for a more engaging and stimulating narrative – the reader has some work to do when reading Jason’s work, which is a sign of a skillful author rather than a lazy one who dumps exposition everywhere to ensure the reader thinks as little as possible in his/her endeavor with the book.

After his initial visit, Alex winds up framed for murder upon his next venture to Claude’s apartment, and is all of a sudden involved in something bigger than him. Just like that. Alex then meets a shopkeeper named Geraldine who recognizes Alex’s face from the news and decides, based on some bizarre leap of faith, to take Alex in to her home and hide him from the authorities. For whatever reason, the two fall in love, Alex tries to solve his own case, and then things escalate into parody even further…

One of the many pages in which the characters discuss what matters about existence.

There is a cynicism present in Jason’s work that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is one of Jason’s greatest charms. The characters in this story - namely Alex, Geraldine, Nicolas, Inspector Libens, the nameless killer - all lack a rational sense of morality, which Jason is not shy at all about exploiting. Why does Alex insist on running away from the police when he could explain his situation and have them investigate his side of the story? Why does Geraldine openly invite a wanted killer into her home and into the presence of her only daughter? Why doesn’t Inspector Libens do anything to help catch the real killer after being told the truth of the situation by Nicolas? Did Nicolas actually tell Libens the truth of the matter? What exactly is the “truth” here? Why is the killer doing this?

If it’s not clear by now, Why Are You Doing This? is a metaphor for existential crisis. It’s a briefly discussed topic in the narrative, however ontology and existentialism are key themes running throughout each scene, as Jason pits his protagonist in an ultimate battle against knowingness, or the lack thereof it rather. By the end of the narrative, nothing is resolved and like the characters within the panels, us readers do not know the why of anything in this book, or the why of anything. To close out the book, Jason concludes with a running joke that’s presented itself in various scenes throughout. We’ll (likely) never know the why of our existence, and Jason seems to be having fun reminding us of this constantly throughout the narrative. Bastard.