Review by Frank Plowright
Don’t be put off by the German title. All Frank Flöthmann’s graphic novels are wordless, so it doesn’t matter that Stille Nacht has never been issued by a British or American publisher. You can order the German copy without knowing the language, and only the back cover copy will remain mysterious. The title translates as Silent Night, referencing the Christmas carol known in both German and English.
This is Flöthmann’s comical interpretation of Jesus’ birth as supplied by the Bible. As with his other books, he uses simple icons whose dialogue is supplied in pictograms, and if he’s done his job properly you’ll be able to understand what’s going on without resorting to words. The true test would be how it reads to someone unfamiliar with the original story.
The Biblical story relates how carpenter Joseph and Mary aren’t yet married when she announces she’s pregnant via the Holy Spirit. Conveniently, the Holy Spirit appears to him in a dream confirming the story and claiming their son will save humanity from their sins, and by the way, why don’t you call him Jesus? There’s a fast forward until Mary is due to give birth, which takes place in a barn as there are no spare rooms in Bethlehem. After the birth the couple are visited by a trio of shepherds and three wise men bearing gifts.
In Flöthmann’s variation there’s plenty of room to fill in gaps, such as the shepherds slacking off and having a round of Scissors, Paper, Stone to decide who should watch the flock, and Joseph needing a sore thumb treated as Mary relates her astounding news. Plenty of other comical variations occur, including the wise men’s conversation about the stars.
As is the case for all Flöthmann’s work, ostensibly simple pictures can convey surprising complexity such as the wise men’s continuing contrary discussions before settling on the gifts presented on the sample art. As seen on the cover, only using black, blue, red and white is no impediment to detail, such as Mary’s hand.
Flöthmann’s choice is to use full pages or spreads in preference to breaking down Stille Nacht into panels. It makes for an extremely rapid read compared with his other projects, and doesn’t match either their conceptual density or joke ratio. However, anyone coming across his work for the first time here ought to be mightily impressed.
