Nobrow 9: It's Oh So Quiet(Nobrow Magazine)

As we hurtle along at breakneck speed accompanied by the great cacophony of modern life, we rarely experience a moment of silence. Silence, with its implication of stillness and absolute purity, is increasingly difficult to find. So how does an artist approach such a profound theme? Can an auditory ideal be conveyed through illustration and comics? Nobrow 9 explores silence with sixteen of the best comic creators and over thirty star illustrators in this unique, international showcase of contemporary illustration and comics art.

About the Author :
Sam Arthur & Alex Spiro are joint creative directors of Nobrow Press London.

Review :
A Salon Top Ten Graphic Novel of 2014 "In the ninth issue, the theme is silence, and the results are magnificent and full of surprises. The comics, each told in images only, range from atmospheric to trippy to jokey to melancholy to epic to creepy. But the two-page illustrations are even more powerful, even if it’s not always easy to see how they pertain to the overall concept of silence. Well, except perhaps for the fact that so many of them left me utterly dumbstruck with visual delight." —Salon "These comics and illustrations may be silent, but that doesn’t diminish their impact. It’s astonishing how much substance the comic artists pack into their four-page stories without the use of text." —AV Club "Rather than limiting the artists’ creativity, Nobrow’s proscribed color mandate has the opposite effect, freeing them to explore the theme to its furthest possible extent (and sometimes miles beyond). It also ties the art in the book to older printing traditions where the use of spot colors was a technological necessity and not a choice. The result is a wonderful achievement as a collection of both art and visual storytelling." —Publisher’s Weekly "Nobrow 9 is a gift, a collection of quiet moments, moment in the art of cartooning, illustration and storytelling; and a souvenir of what a great time it is to be reading comics." —Comics Bulletin "Nobrow have not only produced one of their best anthologies to date, but also one that serves as a showcase for the eloquence and power of silent comics. I could easily sit here and go through the merits of each contribution, but I think you'd be much better served to simply buy it and immerse yourself in what is currently the foremost (Eisner award nominated!) graphic art anthology around." —Zainab Akhtar "McNaught’s hoodie-clad shopper peruses garden statues, each swathed in blue-gray shadow and black strokes. […] For me, there isn’t a more tedious way to wind down time on a Saturday than by suffering domestic chores, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t marvel over McNaught’s beautiful comic. —Dominic Umile "Once more, Nobrow Magazine sets the standard for comic art, with a superb selection of artists and exquisite production values. From established pros to up-and-coming creators, art directors Alex Spiro and Sam Arthur make each issue a pure comics artifact to treasure." —Broken Frontier "The theme of this year's volume is "Oh so quiet," and the comics portion is made up of wordless strips while the other half is a two-page spread of illustrations. Cartooning and illustration are often conflated and, while they’re obviously related forms of art, they can require some different disciplines and skills. When you take away the words from comics it becomes even more interesting?and harder?to discern the differences." —Mental Floss "a publication to be savored, to linger over pages and think about what's so quiet about a particular picture. It's full of interesting art and ideas." —Andrew Wheeler, Antick Musings "If you are someone who enjoys great comics you'll quite like the book, and if you're a fan of great art you'll absolutely love it. —The Newest Rant