Old Caves

by Tyler Landry

Overview

Doug Wright Award Nomination: best small-press book

A retiree dedicates his days to combing a dense, snow-covered forest in pursuit of the unknown and his nights to reminiscing about his wife. Old Caves is a peek through a frost-covered window at isolation, obsession, and the slow erosion of relationships. The high contrast black and white art enhances the sense of absolute solitude. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941250532
Publisher:	Uncivilized Books
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Pages:	106
Sales rank:	694,451
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.75(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tyler Landry lives and draws in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on the east coast of Canada. Over the last 20 years, he has occupied professional roles such as Game Artist, Art Director, Illustrator, Graphic Designer, as well as Cartoonist, Club Organizer, and Comics/Drawing Instructor. These days, inching ever closer to the embrace of death, he tries to devote as much energy as possible to cartooning.

 

Previously published comics include: Dungeonoids, Opal (Dagger Dagger anthology), Trabajar para Sobrevivir (AIA Editorial), Shit and Piss.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Sensitivity for brutality, and the brutality in the sensitive, find both in Tyler Landry." —Jon Chandler, author of The Bemoan.

Editorial Reviews

06/05/2023

This icily spare graphic novel from Landry (Shit and Piss) features a protagonist who pursues an enigmatic quest in utter isolation. The nameless, prematurely old retiree (he “cashed out” early) spends his days in a remote mountain cabin. He scratches out diary entries which refer obliquely to a long-running project, for which he hikes through vast, snow-covered mountain ranges to a mysterious cave. Flashbacks reveal he once lived in these same woods with his wife, who later decamped for civilization to take care of her sister. The contrasts show just how much narrower the man’s life has become, but while he seems entranced by his wife’s letters, his love of the wilderness supersedes his love for her. Landry’s black-and-white art makes lyrical use of negative space, rendering the mountains with magisterial effect. Unlike many tales of self-separating loners, this maintains a profound emotional through line, mostly through the letters: “I could punch and kick and kiss you all at once,” the protagonist’s wife writes. Landry depicts the costs of separation from society with piercing visual poetry. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Doug Wright Award Nomination: best small-press book

"Old Caves is an unusual graphic novel for prioritizing the beauty of landscapes over plot, leading to a contemplative experience. It follows a middle-aged man living in an extremely remote location during winter […] Landry supplies silhouettes in white, and a few black marks, almost abstract to create the impression of animal tracks in the snow. There’s a memorable wordless image viewed from above of the man walking through the woods […] If you’re of the inclination, time and again you’ll pause during reading as another eye-catching depiction of nature catches the eye." —Slings and Arrows

"Landry’s black-and-white art makes lyrical use of negative space, rendering the mountains with magisterial effect. Unlike many tales of self-separating loners, this maintains a profound emotional through line, mostly through the letters: “I could punch and kick and kiss you all at once,” the protagonist’s wife writes. Landry depicts the costs of separation from society with piercing visual poetry."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher