Painted with color and bold inkwork, SALT is a graphic novel about two men, Silas and Boyd, who liberate a monkey from a vivisection lab. Oslo, the monkey rescued, is based upon a real experiment conducted in 1970 where scientist Robert J. White switched the head of one rhesus macaque onto the body of another. In the real experiment, the monkey died after nine days from immune rejection, but in SALT, Oslo lives and suffers in her new unfamiliar body. We follow Silas, a man whose neurosis makes a grocery store trip feel traumatic, and Boyd, a man whose impulsive nature leads him into precarious situations, as they both attempt, in their own ways, to lead Oslo to a better life.
“Wow, this is a true out-of-left field masterpiece from a cartoonist I hadn’t heard of before seeing this work. Intense and pouring over with color and a rich narrative, this is truly a unique experience of a book. Jacobs is working from a world of imagery all his own and the experience of reading this is a singular one. Don’t sleep on this.”—Austin English, cartoonist and artist, Owner of Domino Books: Mind-expanding comics for freethinkers.
“SALT brings movement to the movement, utilizing the graphic novel medium as a hopeful method of reimagining historical fiction. Drawn with expressive urgency, Jacobs illustrates the heartbreak, responsibility, and fears that can coincide with animal rescue activism. Our protagonist’s mental state trails into nightmarish moments that expose the challenge of practicing an ethics of care in a world that normalizes violence.” —Suzy González, visual artist
“To see Jacobs’s art is to be challenged into a deeper sensitivity; drawn in by the densely packed, kaleidoscoping waterfalls and explosions of hope and pain that saturate each page in its own technicolor nightmare-vs-dream landscape. Brushstrokes capture the expressions of humans and other-than-humans against shifting backdrops dotted by minimalist utterances that require you to draw upon your most raw emotions and join in a collective yearning for any sign of compassion. SALT reveals a world that is at the same time hopeless and hopeful—that merges identities of human and non-human animals into both the heroes and the victims—within a journey that gives no guarantee of safe passage. I feel like Jacobs’s art is unto itself a form of essential, beautiful, heartbreaking, and unsparing activism. Animal rights activists live balancing impossible realities and Jacobs’s art is the language of that experience.”—Rebecca Moore, Founder and Executive Director, The Institute for Animal Happiness
“Touching. Unsettling. Soul-stirring. I’m in awe of Jacobs’s art! SALT tells the story of three wounded spirits crossing paths towards healing. Poignant images, meaningful dialogues and a powerful preface combine to awaken us from our collective cultural insanity. SALT reminds us that nonviolence is the only thing that will make us feel whole again.” —Dr. Camila Perussello, author of Food for Thought: Planetary Healing Begins on Our Plate
“In his allegorical comic, Jacobs reveals the relational and psychic dimensions of trauma, anxiety, and care in the context of animal exploitation in scientific research and the activists who intervene. Deftly using raw, colorful illustration and relatable dialog, Jacob illustrates, through fiction, the lived reality by those who take risks to save animals from their systems of oppression.”—Linnea Ryshke, author of Kindling: Poetry and Art