



Big Questions Drawn & Quarterly Written and drawn by Anders Nilsen

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With a main story that's more than 550 pages (enclosed in an absolutely beautiful hardcover, though there's a softcover edition too), Big Questions may at first seem a bit daunting. Then you start reading it...and it's cute. And funny. Little birds, pondering philosophical dilemmas.

And then Anders Nilsen drops a bomb into it. Literally.

This initially inert explosive device at once increases the scope and scale of the world of these little wrens, and turns into something of a grand parable about life, death, war, god, ethics—you name it. Throughout, bird logic is hilarious and bird determination is touching, and even though they pretty much look the same, each bird brims with his or her own personality. The art is multilayered as well, with simple birds and more complex and shaded figures in the humans, other animals, nature, and the bombs.

It's clear that Nilsen's ambitions for the story grew from episodic to grandiose over the 15 years he says he took to create it, and his skills deftly grew with that ambition. Overall, it proves largely adorable, but ultimately haunting and thought provoking. A defining work. (www.drawnandquarterly.com)

Author rating: 8/10