Kong Lov (or Just King in English) is a unique type of comic book that tells a tale about war, capitalism and the media, using collage and sexual metaphors.
Just King is a sprawling and ambitious graphic novel that tells the tale of post-war Norway and its relationship with capitalism through the actions of news anchor Richard King. In the story, King falls in love with American photo journalist Liberty Lee and tries a mind expanding drug called Mephisto. The experience causes him to believe he is a superhero named Just King, with a god given call to fight for truth, justice and the American way. Meanwhile a weird disease is spreading from the south called crooked cockism – a both hereditary and contagious affliction that causes male erect genitalia to form a sharp bend. A coalition of armed forces is fighting to keep a quarantine intact, to contain the problem in the southern hemisphere, but the insidious nature of the disease has everyone worrying nonetheless.
80 pages, full colour, English or Norwegian, Aktuba Bok 2012
Reviews
Sivertsen’s contempt for xenophobic attitudes is closely linked to his critique of Norway’s post-war embrace of American cultural imperialism: the protagonist of Just King, Richard King, is in love with a multiethnic vixen named Liberty Lee who plays a formidable role in administering the ‹cure› for crooked cockism. Here, the American ideal in the form of King’s paramour and the ever-present drug Mephisto to which King is addicted serve to underscore the hollow nature of America’s propaganda machine, drugs and love both being powerful agents of delusion.
– Sydney Weinberg, The Prowlster, 30.11.2014 (on the exhibit at Kaph, Dublin).
Av alt merkelig i postkassen scorer denne høyt på de fleste punkter; jeg tror Kong Lov er et lite mesterverk, men siden den lar seg lese – eller bare bli sett på – på så mange måter, skal jeg ikke si det for sikkert, men foreløpig må jeg innrømme at jeg er godt over middels fascinert av denne hallusinatoriske, paranoid-kritiske og genuint perverterte historien/historiene. Veldig, veldig sexy – på en måte som legger gutterommet lysår bak og hinter til muligheter for ekstase vi ikke har sett siden Romerrikets dager.
– Tommy Olsson, Morgenbladet, 6-12. juli (ref)
Jeg har aldri sett maken til «Kong Lov» i norske tegneserier. Visuelt er den en blanding av strektegninger, reklameillustrasjoner, collage og maling. På sitt beste ser den ut som et møte mellom tegneseriene «Asterios Polyp», «Inkalen», og maleriene til Pushwagner. [...] Selv om ikke historien er verdt rare greiene, er boken utrolig lekker, og burde plukkes opp av alle som er interesserte i mulighetene som ligger i tegneserieformatet.
– Walter Wehus, BT og blogg, 19.06.2012