Rating: 
Summary: The Stars in their courses
Review: There's a painter who just moved into this house rent by an elderly lady, a Miss "What?", and who is looking for the perfect motive and/or inspiration for his new painting. Next to him lives a writer named Jonathan Rush (a remainder of Rushdie?), who once wrote a controversial 500 pages novel called "Cages" (see?), a "Hammer-of-God" like epic, in which the autor came across several existencial questions about the human condition (later we learn that it was only HIS condition he was trying to express), and which forced him and his wife to hide from the outside world. Another tenant is a jazz musician called Angel, who's playing the piano and the horn and philosophes in long terms about life + death in a Jazz club called "Katakumbe" (just watch that audience!). And then there's an Old Lady (a widow as it may seem) who shares her flat/life only with her parrot (it is ironic: The parrot is the only character in the book who is able to break out of his cage, but only literally: He starts yelling and screaming at the old lady, calling her a "stu_id b_tch"!), contemplating about the loss of her long gone husband (or isn't he?), and looking for her ratatouille (!) receipt. A beautiful woman who lives next to the painter's apartement, is she his (new) muse? There are two uncanny fellows who hide their faces under dark masks, sort of blackmailing the writer and his wife, and harassing little girls in dark street corners. And there's a black cat, some sort of God's very own descendant (or God's own finger), pulling the strings of the lifes of all of them. The nature of god (more: the creation of the universe), the complexity/imposibility of human relationships and/or life out of balance, everything flows together in this book... ....and everyone lives in his own cage and NO ONE is able to break out:
The painter - he's unable to express his art (i.e. his whole life) through his paintings. The woman he met, she's not only trapped in a cage, but in a wood of her own! The writer - he never meant it like that (or was he just right? Later he has to commit himself; and who says that even the two "dark" figures are not trapped in their own cage?). The old lady whose husband passed away long time ago, just won't accept it and still hangs on to the past. She's also traumatised because of an incident she had as a child when she got lost in a dark forest (is it a forest of the mind, as the painter puts it or is this just a connection to the woods of the painter's woman?). Even Angel (nomen est omen), the Jazz musician, remains unable to escape his life and break out of the cage he's trapped in. Although he might do so for a short time when he leaves the "Katakumbe" bar (where even the barkeeper couldn't make up his mind!). But then on his way home, he starts his routine on Jazz scales, finally letting them take over his mind. And.....there's...so much more....... .......Its ideas, themes, metaphors et.al. are masterfully handled throughout the entire book, while the narrative style jumps back and forth in time, switches from one character's POV to the next without ever loosing grip...... ......"Cages" is about art, fear, hope/loss of hope, creation, the creative process in general, about love, lust & despair, strenght and weakness. Masterfully crafted, with an incredible eye for detail (and with heavy doses of surrealism!).
It is about the meanings, signs and wonders of life (not religion, but in a religious way), and all their magic appeals and how we tend to forget/oversee/erase them. Merely it's about the struggle of the human race in an endless game invented by a higher intelligence.... ....but in the end there's a glimpse of light shining through, giving us new hope, because every man and every woman is a star!
Rating:
Summary: Why Are All The Best Books Out Of Print?Cages:Exhibit A
Review: This is probably the best "comic book" ever written. Artist Dave McKean, whose art I have long time admired, proves that he can write as well, or better, than his old partner, Neil Gaiman. He used to do all of Gaiman's art and Gaiman's later work has suffered with the absence of McKean's art work. This is an almost 500 page hardcover book that tells a story about creativity and creative people. There are three central characters: an artist, a writer and a musician-poet. They all live in the same apartment building and they interact with one another as well as the muse that lives inside each of them and torments each of them. The story is not told in stricly linear fashion and McKean frequently will break away from dialogue and narrative and into visuals to carry the story for awhile. He does it all equally well. The rumor I heard is that the publisher went out of business shortly after publication of the book and that is why it is not available. Dave McKean, who is a very successful artist in the UK, should look into his rights in publishing this himself as a reissue since too few people are experiencing the joy of reading and seeing his work.
Rating:
Summary: Deserves 5 stars for the effort alone, but...
Review: This truly is a brilliant work in its own right. 500 pages of magnificent art work coupled with wonderful stories of human interaction, hope, struggle, and triumph. The stories do tend towards the ambiguous side at times, but it doesn't distract from the overall enjoyable time spent reading. This truly is a gem, and should be on the shelf of every comic book fan.
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