First published in 1975, The Cage was a graphic novel before there was a name for the medium. Cryptic and disturbing, it spurns narrative for atmosphere, guiding us through a labyrinthine series of crumbling facades, disarrayed rooms and desolate landscapes, as time stutters backward and forward. Within the cage's barbed-wire confines, we observe humanity only through its traces: a filmic sequence of discarded objects –headphones, inky stains, dishevelled bedsheets –scored by a deafening cacophony of breaths, cries and unsettling silence.
This new edition, which includes an introduction by comics master Seth, brings Martin Vaughn-James's nightmarish vision to a new generation of readers.
'I don't use the word "masterpiece" lightly. I think The Cage is a masterpiece of comic art.'– Seth
'Vaughn-James remains a significant figure in comics history because his work was singular, literate, experimental, and often unsurpassably good.' – The Walrus
'It is a masterpiece, demonstrating a level of skill and insight very few have even aspired to in the nearly 40 years since its initial publication … this work is strongly recommended for every true fan of the graphic arts.' – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Reviews
'Recalling the impossible landscapes of M. C. Escher, Vaughn-James's surreal visuals encourage readers to lose themselves. . .. With every turn of the page, the eye elides the images, creating a kind of floating, amorphous perspective for this abandoned, erratic, irrational world. What is remarkable is that the author-artist is capable of sustaining the sensation of a fragmentary reality over the course of an entire book. ' — Quill & Quire (starred review)