If the words, "Hey, wait...," had been spoken just a second or two sooner, this story would have been a very different one.

The two best friends (here portrayed as anthropomorphic rabbits, although certainly not in looneytoons fashion) would have continued through school, living common lives, maturing into a deeper friendship or, perhaps, drifting apart as friends sometimes do. Their story, with all of its ups and downs, would have been ordinary.

But the one youngster hesitated before speaking that vital phrase, and life took a dramatic turn that Norwegian writer/artist Jason brings into heartbreaking focus in new graphic novel, Hey, Wait..., recently reprinted by Fantagraphics.

The story is told entirely in black and white, and the stark, colorless pages are perfectly suited to the tale. The rich, thick paper ensures you never forget that this is a graphic novel, not a comic book by any stretch of the imagination.

There is very little dialogue, and that too helps to establish atmosphere. Almost wordlessly, Jason allows us to feel the simple innocence and joy of two boys for whom life is an endless summer, interrupted by occasional periods of school. This is not just prelude, however; their youth is fully developed and explored, with all the subtle nuances of a typical school-age friendship: classes, parents, comic books and adolescence among them.

In the same way, Jason sets a heavy weight over the readers' heart, sucking us down into a mixture of despair, melancholy and the sort of bland sameness that makes a life without spark.

Read Hey, Wait... carefully, and in one sitting. Set the book down slowly and think about it for a while. Breathe, and swallow -- you may have a lump in your throat. Then read it again.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 27 November 2004