Nod Away

Fantagraphics

Feb 22, 2016 Issue # 56 - Best of 2015 - Father John Misty and Wolf Alice By Zach Hollwedel

Nod Away is a near-future sci-fi epic entirely unto itself. Written and illustrated by Joshua W. Cotter, the new Fantagraphics release chronicles Dr. Melody McCabe as she begins her off-Earth term at a company that pioneers an evolution of the Internet called the "innernet," a technological innovation that allows people to stream knowledge directly from other users' brains. Cotter sets his story against the backdrop of colonizing other worlds, speculating about the direction in which mankind is headed.

Right from the outset, Nod Away distinguishes itself through its use of both conventional and extremely atypical storytelling. Cotter's often nonconforming page layouts expertly accentuate the consciousness of the innernet, dropping readers into a cerebral world that exists beyond tangible, dimensional boundaries. Whether set in the physical world or within the innnernet, the book is a mind-warp. A lingering, at times dense, page-turner of a science-fiction achievement. (www.fantagraphics.com)

Author rating: 6.5/10