{"id":725,"date":"2015-03-02T20:21:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T20:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/?p=725"},"modified":"2015-03-03T18:54:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T18:54:42","slug":"moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/moscow\/","title":{"rendered":"Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Moscow cover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Russia with love.<\/p>\n

In their comic book travelogue Moscow, Ida Neverdahl and \u00d8ystein Runde give themselves free rein.
\nDo I need to explain what this publication is about?
\nWell, OK. Russia\u2019s largest comic book festival, KomMissia, held in Moscow this year, was visited by a contingent of Norwegians, consisting of the comic book writers Ida Neverdahl, \u00d8ystein Runde and Torbj\u00f8rn Lien, headed by Arild W\u00e6rness. The visit (and particularly the experience of taking part in a modern, Russian 1st of May demonstration), inspired Neverdahl and Runde to make a comic book about the trip and it was launched with panache last weekend.
\nIt isn\u2019t terribly easy to pinpoint what exactly makes Moscow a great read; its episodic nature challenges my relatively rigorous notion of narrative structure and what makes a comic book readable. Much of this confusion is created by Ida Neverdahl. Her success in Norwegian comic-strip circles has come from her combination of the sweet with the bizarre; that is not a bad combination when you want to comment on the chaotic state of affairs in post-Communist Russia. Ida has her own distinctive way of reworking her impressions, something the scene below illustrates perfectly:<\/p>\n

\"48_net\"This is meaningful in the context \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

But perhaps equally important is the fact that Neverdahl and Runde glide more or less seamlessly over into each other in this book. That is surprising to say the least, particularly since the differences are conspicuous enough \u2026 For one thing, the two of them have very different priorities. Whilst Ida draws whatever comes to mind, and mostly lets her imagination run riot, Runde is more down-to-earth, making it clear that he is extremely interested in the political scene. The conversation with the guide \u201cAnna\u201d during the 1st of May demonstration, which Runde repeats, makes this more than evident.<\/p>\n

\"54_net\"<\/p>\n

On the other hand, they move toward each other\u2019s drawing style. Well, in fact, \u00d8ystein draws closer to Ida, than vice versa. Ida has her own distinctive style (manga-inspired na\u00efve art?), and it would be a pity if she compromised it. \u00d8ystein draws himself in much more detail than Ida does, but apart from that it isn\u2019t immediately clear to detect who is who, and what is what, from one artist to the other. Since the duo are in complete agreement in their satire on Putin, that also contributes considerably to the positive overall impression.
\nMoscow is one of this year\u2019s most original, funny and reflective Norwegian comic books. In addition it confirms an earlier impression that Ida Neverdahl is a comic book writer with a great future.<\/p>\n

By Trond S\u00e4tre\u00a0, Serienett\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Translation:\u00a0Agnes S.D. Langeland<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00abIda draws Putin, but it\u00a0doesn\u2019t really look like him\u00bb
\n– Person
\nIda and \u00d8ystein live in different towns.\u00a0They\u2019re best friends.\u00a0They just don\u2019t know about it yet.\u00a0A travelogue about radical Russians,\u00a0handsome Kazakhs, moving moles…\u00a0and unexpected love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centrala.org.uk\/centrala_test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}