An Entity Observes All Things

by Box Brown

Stories of science fiction and mental exploration from Box Brown, New York Times-bestselling author of Andre the Giant: Life and Legend.. Lizard aliens! New Physics! Electromages! Wastelands! Star Warrior robots! Social media cults! Pizza!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy

152 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Box Brown’s biographies of Andre the Giant and Andy Kauffman. I’m not a gamer so his Tetris book, not so much, though his artwork is always bright and sharp and attractive and everywhere he is both earnest and light-hearted. He makes me smile. I’m not primarily a sci-fi guy and An Entity Observes All Things is a weird sci-fi shorts collection, a range of stuff, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes silly.

* I liked and found a little moving “Memorexia,” a futuristic tale where you can go in a CAT-Scan- type machine and relive a specific time in your past; a guy goes back and relives a painfully and (surprisingly) sad incident he has with his father.

* “Mundo Jelly” is about a crazy food podcaster who travels to some strange planet to sample some tasty sauce (liquid derived from gods?) that will make the Best Waffle Ever. “Watch the way the waffle reacts with the jelly. No one has ever tasted anything with such a high flavor-quotient before. I may become delusional. I may die.” Ha.

* ”The Voyage of the Golden Retriever” is about a hunt for valuable ocean debris in a craft called the Golden Retriever, and finding underwater cave art where ancient people worshipped pizza. Also known as “Operation Pizza.” Silly, fun.

* “Lizard,” the last story is, like the first story, “Memorexia” about memory, and being tormented by the past. “I can’t help thinking of 1989!” With a lizard’s help, a woman manages to obliterate memory.

I know, it sounds like I loved this. I liked some of them quite a bit because they are bright and strange and quirky. I like Brown’s biographies better, okay?! I say 3.5 and am not sure if I will round up or down. Stay tuned.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

There wasn't much here. Most of the short stories - I might even say all of them - were just a bunch of stuff happening, with no real beginning, nor end. No narrative, just... events.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

box brown is box brown is box brown.
i like box brown.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't prepared for the "Black Mirror" meets "Love, Death & Robots" short form stories and the impact they left well after I finished reading them. The surrealist and, often uncomfortable, series of stories jump started my mind to making bleak connections within our current post-modern-techno dystopia. I loved the time this book spent in my hands.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I enjoyed this collection, but feel like I'll need another read-through to more fully appreciate and understand it.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first story made me cry, which I was completely unprepared for. Every comic in this book is a gem.

[Thomas Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm continuing my box brown series after reading his Andy Kaufman graphic novel and his illegal possession of cannabis graphic novel. I read, an entity observes all things, which I think is one of his earlier books, perhaps self published, or a smaller label than the larger biography, graphic novels. It was a very interesting and bizarre series of stories. Each one more curious than the last. A bit reminiscent of that weird show on Netflix midnight gospel I think it is. Each story is stranger than the last involving space regeneration, cults alien abductions, for the better. People's lives being improved by removing their egos forgetting the past and focusing on the future. It's amazing the lengths that imagination can go in a graphic novel, how inexpensive it is compared to movies or television. How the artists can truly create anything with a pencil and a page flip. The convention of using boxes to tell time and different scenes and a few word bubbles added on top. It seems like you can could go almost anywhere. And it seems like we did go almost everywhere. When we read an entity observes all things by Box Brown

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

[Aad Kamsteeg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant wondering on existence that is vastly different from what is known about universal existence and existence as a general concept. It digs deep through the very existence of both the characters depicted and the observer (yes, reader, that’s you). In the end it’s just another personal experience.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Box Brown's art is great, but his stories are thin and none of them really dig beneath their surface level strangeness. What's most interesting is that Brown turned to telling relatively straightforward biographies (and has done a great job with those).

[Fernando Hisi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alumas boas, algumas ruins. O desenho não é dos meus preferidos, mas podia ter mias umas 100 páginas que eu ia continuar lendo.

[Adam Osth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like me some strange comics, but this was less visceral and more confusing and there didn't appear to be much that really tied together the various narratives in the book.

[Lowthor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a great deal out of this. The art and writing are both slightly odd in equal measure and it works.

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the stories made me morose, but most of them made me grin.

[Kit Feral · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get it. :(

[SuperLuminal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little collection of unrelated vignettes. Pretty good

[Burgerchamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly too weird for me to comprehend. Certainly like nothing else I’ve ever read.

[Grg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp, funny collection of sci-fi stories where the worlds are fantastical and ingenious but the humans are still shallow, self-absorbed, and kinda dumb.

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must have read the description when I bought this but I still thought it was going to be nonfiction, so it was a nice surprise to read these very funny weird stories.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not what I was expecting. I’ve read all of BB’s nonfiction graph novs. This shirt anthology collection mostly felt weird and trippy and not my thing. But it had a certain je ne sais quoi.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really memorable stories.

[Drew Albinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One quick note: this book features a few stories (perhaps all) that were published at one point as standalone zines. I owned one (Memorexia) and am happy to have one of my favorite zones included in a sturdier format. Box is at his best here articulating his ideas in direct and unique ways. This compilation serves as a great introduction to his work or as an necessary addition to any fan.

[Simon Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I subscribe to Box Brown's reliably great Retrofit Comics, and was pleased to receive this anthology of sci-fi comics by Box himself.

There's a welcome range of material on the theme, from the whimsical 'Voyage of the Golden Retriever' (which I knew before as the standalone all-ages comic 'Operation Pizza') to darker pieces that seem to extrapolate their concepts from modern obsessions ('New Physics' imagines a sort of lifestyle/deathstyle cult that relies cynically on social media).

My favourite stories were the clever title comic, 'Communion of the Star Warriors', and perhaps most of all 'Mundo Jelly' - in which a foodie podcaster travels to a strange wasteland to sample a dangerously tasty liquid derived from long-dead gods.

[William Cardini · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short SF comics, some fun and light hearted (pizza!), some in darker, thought-provoking settings. All of the comics are infused with Box Brown's smart use of spot colors and minimal, striking designs.

[Fleece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hit all my sci-fi buttons, my clean segmented illustration buttons, my weird character buttons, surreal weird shit buttons, all the buttons. Weird comic collection!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci-fi collection of comics about the (often empty) search for meaning.

[Basmaish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazeballs.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Box Brown got that deep weird. That sad weird.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last story was the most solid. The rest were pretty nonsensical.

[Eric Satterfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this, wishing the stories were a little longer and fleshed out, but that might have reduced the charm.