The 120 Days of Simon began when Swedish cartoonist/ rapper Simon Gärdenfors left his home to spend four months on the road. The rules were simple: For 120 days he wasn't allowed to return to his home, or to spend more than two nights at the same place. Otherwise, anything could happen... and it did. This simple idea grew into an epic adventure across Sweden as Simon slept on strangers' couches, visited an ostrich farm, ate a psychedelic cactus, practiced free love, received death threats, was beaten up by teenagers, got adopted by a motorcycle gang, drank obscene amounts of alcohol, and sacrificed his underpants to the Nordic god Brage. And that's just for starters! When this graphic novel was released in Sweden, it created a bit of a scandal. Some readers wanted to punch Simon in the face, while others hailed him as a hero. Top Shelf is proud to present this all-too-human journey to an English-speaking audience. A graphic novel packaged in the style of a traditional pulp novel.
An alternately charming, funny and aggravating four month journal of a self-advertised, couch-surfing freeloader. Highly recommended!
Peter Bagge
I wouldn't call him a hero, but I found Gardenfors' couch-surfing, mooching, drugged, unapologetically-selfish (and self-aware) odyssey to be incredibly entertaining.
Boing Boing
Simon Gärdenfors was born in 1978 and lives in Sweden. He has published three graphic novels, in addition to several short works for the anthology Galago. He’s also known as a radio/television presenter (hosting a 2008 miniseries on ZTV about “junk culture”) and as a rapper in hip-hop acts such as Las Palmas (with Calle Thörn) and Far & Son (with Frej Larsson of Slagsmålsklubben). The 120 Days of Simon is his first graphic novel to be translated into English.
