Life isn’t as bad as Nil

James Turner presents a graphic novel full of dark satire that prompts laughter at what becomes a thought-provoking adventure of a hyperbolic America.

Nil: A Land Beyond Belief is a dark and satirical graphic novel that extends lofty philosophical theories of meaninglessness into the cultural structure of Nil, a country that represents a hyperbolic America founded on a belief in nothing.

Nil chronicles the actions of Proun Nul, a workhorse turned optimistic fugitive. Previously a foreman of the Derrida, a “deconstruction” ship specializing in the demolition of belief outbreaks, Nul is wrongfully accused of murdering a co-worker.

Nul is arrested but escapes jail—he really just walks away, an escape action that is successful because hopelessness is so engrained in the people of Nil that even prisoners consider escape futile and so have never attempted it.

Nul then departs on a journey to find hope outside of Nil’s state of nothingness.

Through black-and-white graphic panels, James Turner emphasizes the drudgery of the plot’s setting but also challenges his audience to read between the shades. The novel inherently asks the reader, “Do you buy into this black-and-white depiction of an ironic reality?”

Thought- and laughter-provoking, Turner’s Nil becomes a form of entertainment, pleasing readers looking for a light read (please remember that the novel is based around despair and death motifs, so “light” doesn’t mean fluffy and optimistic—just quick), and challenging their accepted knowledge of “good” and “bad” in American society. The reader is displaced in an unfamiliar yet strikingly familiar setting. (Thought-inducing, right?)

Spend some time in Nil to experience familiar unfamiliarity. But while you think, be sure to stare into the dark abyss at the city’s “thought-core” for guidance. You can find its hours of operation online (jtillustration.com/nil). Better yet, multi-task while staring and prepare a toothy perma-grin for Turner’s rumoured sequel, perhaps to be about the polar opposite of Nil: optimistic Optima.

James Turner. Nil: A Land Beyond Belief. San Jose: SLG Publishing, 2005. $12.95. 240 p

*Originally published in Foreword (digital format), University of Western Ontario (London, ON), April 2011.