The Understanding Monster - Book Three - by Theo Ellsworth (Hardcover)

About the Book

An epic, cosmic, psychedelic journey of the creative spirit concludes as Izadore's body, mind and soul are reunited at last.

Book Synopsis

"An urgent (and often very funny) attempt to explain a coocoo-rococo cosmology made up of garbled fragments of role-playing games, Transformers episodes, relaxation exercises and horror movies."--The New York Times

The final chapter of this epic trilogy finds our hero, Izadore, awoken with his mind, body and soul reunited. The last Monks of the Imaginary Man lead him beyond Toy Mountain to discover the true nature of the relationship between imagination and reality. Not simply concluding the relentless, psychedelic plot, The Understanding Monster--Book Three explains how our creativity re-shapes our world, how we can overcome doubt through self-actualization.

Review Quotes

"A combination of Where the Wild Things Are, a fever dream, a pagan woodland ceremony, and a notebook doodle." - Pitchfork Media

"Ellsworth fills every bit of every page with grotesque patterns and textures and doodles, and his writing is similarly wild-eyed. Nominally an adventure story involving a mouse, "phantom skeletons" and "toy growth formations," the book is mostly an urgent (and often very funny) attempt to explain a coocoo-rococo cosmology made up of garbled fragments of role--playing games, "Transformers" episodes, relaxation exercises and horror movies. " - The New York Times

"If you missed Book One, it might not be a problem, because despite the artist's excessively explanatory dialogue, I'm baffled by the narrative and subtext of this eerie fairy tale (mostly taking place in the mind of an immobilized mummy and involving ghosts, a laughing demon and a three-eyed house gnome). But despite my confusion, I unequivocally enjoyed the bewildering experience of navigating this visual feast." - The Chicago Tribune

"Ellsworth's weird little tales sometimes read like acid trips of the future, complete with lonely robots and unknown creatures. But there's also a nice personal story threading through this. I have no idea why this guy isn't considered a comics God yet. Maybe someday he rightfully will be." - The Huffington Post

"Ellsworth conjures up a dizzying array of beautiful, intricately patterned, labyrinthine drawings, perfectly capturing the spiraling sprawl of the narrative within a narrative within a narrative. What keeps this soufflé from collapsing is this: no matter how bizarre the proceedings, Izadore's odyssey always maintains its internal (il)logic. Somehow, Ellsworth manages to make a perfect sort of sense, and we root for Izadore to escape the forces aligned against him and complete his quest." - The Comics Journal

"In Ellsworth's intricately crafted trilogy, a group of toys in a shapeshifting house save and revive Izadore, a being destined to transcend "Toy Mountain" and regain his corporeality. Along the way, a bevy of bizarre incidents and obstacles attempt to block Izadore. The story reflects Ellsworth's own mentality and ideas on creativity and personality." - Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Theo Ellsworth is a self-taught artist and storyteller living in the mountains of Montana with a witch doctor and their two sons. He is a co-founder of the Pony Club Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and has served on the jury of the Small Press Expo's Ignatz Awards. His art, which Pitchfork describes as "a combination of Where the Wild Things Are, a fever dream, a pagan woodland ceremony, and a notebook doodle," has shown at galleries across the country, including Giant Robot in New York and Los Angeles, and has graced the covers of several popular musicians' albums, including Ramona Falls and Flying Lotus. Most recently, he has collaborated with Viscosity Theatre on the stage production of Mystery Mark, incorporating his artwork into the stage design and costumes.