Schaffer Library

Digital Galleries : LOOK!: Seeing the Stories in Schaffer Library’s Graphic Novel Collection

Terry Moore “Strangers in Paradise” Perennial Currents, 2004 - Color: This classic “look” of comics continues to influence the way in which color is used in graphic novels, although it is often reworked or referenced in telling ways. Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise, which eschews superheroes in favor of the stories of “ordinary” women and men, gently mocks it.

Kim Deitch “The Road to Rana Poona” in “An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories, Vol.2” First appeared in “Raw”, Vol.2 No.2, 1990 - The vivid color panel in The Road to Rana Poona is set apart as an idealized notion of a happy ending. While the story that precedes it is dark and somewhat tragic, the color makes the ending somehow more palatable, showing in full color what was only described earlier in the story.

Eric Drooker - “Flood!: A Novel in Pictures” Dark Horse Books, 2007 - In Flood the artist uses a technique called scratchboard, which means that the artist uses a knife to scratch through layers of ink or clay to reveal different colors. While there are no words to guide the reader on the journey to this man's drawings, the addition of the color blue makes it clear what we are seeing and helps to give an air of magic to the process of creating art for this otherwise plain man.

Brian K. Vaughan, Niko Henrichon, Todd Klein - “Pride of Bagdad: Inspired by a True Story” DC Comics, 2006 - The progression from a hopeful moment in front of an orange-bathed horizon to an angry, olive green, war-torn skyline, to a final, solemn aftermath of turquoise-grey helps tell the poignant story of a group of semi-fictional animals and, by extension, an entire city.

Megan Kelso “The Squirrel Mother: Stories” Fantagraphics, 2006 - There are times when the author/artist chooses a limited palette to tell a story, and the selection is clearly one that alters or enhances the reader’s experience.

Dave McKean “Cages, 2nd ed.” NBM Publishing, 2002, c1998 - In Cages we move from a slightly blurry black and white palette to a vivid use of color to show the move from the normal to the fantastical. While there is no text to guide us through this transition, the shift in color use tells us the story.

Local artist Tom Vincent colored approximately 14,000 pages for various comic books and graphic novels issued by Marvel Comics and others over the course of his career. He has graciously loaned materials from his personal collection of both original and published works for this exhibit.

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Series I: COLOR

June 2 – July 17, 2009
First Floor Atrium

Local Colorists:

Steve Bissette (White River Junction, VT)
http://srbissette.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_R._Bissette

Kevin Conrad (Scotia, NY)
http://www.kevinconradart.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinconrad

John Hebert (West Sand Lake, NY)

Kurt Mausert (Saratoga, NY)

Val Semeiks (Sand Lake, NY)
http://www.valsemeiks.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Semeiks

Tom Vincent (Schenectady, NY)
http://www.tvincent.com/

Web Comics:

Ohnorobot
http://www.ohnorobot.com/
“Personalized comic search and transcription”

Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards
http://www.ccawards.com/

The Webcomic List
http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/
“keep track of which of your favorite online comics have updated”

Graphic Novels on Reserve:
http://libraryopac.union.edu/search/?searchtype=r&searcharg=graphic+novels