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When you think of Scandinavia you think of cliches like austere and laconic and fatalism — all words which apply to the work of Norwegian cartoonist Jason. The cliches happen to be true but in the happiest, freshest way. As you can tell by reading his blog, Jason is a big fan of classic films and their pacing, and his work mashes up funny animals, ligne claire, noir thrillers, introspective indie movies where people talk in diners for hours and horror icons into his own marvelous style — tightly plotted stories where tall rangy birds and dogs talk without smiling of life, love and death, the very essentials of human existence. Jason characters are unsmiling because they know how deadly serious are the machinations of the human heart; love is a matter of life and death (sometimes undeath) in every Jason story.

In I KILLED ADOLF HITLER, a hitman goes back in time to kill Adolf Hitler…but he messes up and Hitler comes forward in time, a mistake the hitman must rectify. Complicating factor: the time machine needs 50 years to charge up. There’s no need to say any more — at 50 pages the tale is short yet packs several lifetimes of story. The story unfolds both as you expect and then as you never would with a last page that either will break your heart or leave you sitting on a park bench staring into the sky wishing you could go back in time and fix that one thing.

The books I’m giving away in this series are all among my all-time favorite graphic novels — because they are among my favorites, it turned out I had multiple copies. I keep buying or saving the same thing because it’s so close to me. If you’ve never experienced Jason, this is the perfect place to jump on.

DA RULEZ: email your name and address to beatgiveaway at gmail dot com with JASON HITLER in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random. NO ADDRESS, NO WIN. The contest closes tomorrow at 5 pm EST when the next giveaway begins. Books will be mailed next week.

Giveaway open to US and CANADA residents ONLY. Sorry about that! I looked into international shipping but it is just too complicated and expensive. Maybe when I get a sponsor!

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