I’m a words guy. I’ve always been a words guy. Yep, I collected comic books, including Classics Illustrated, and I was an avid fan of Mad Magazine, the operating manual for adolescent boys from the 1950s to the 1970s. And, of course, there was television and movies. But still, I was a words guy – all through high school, studying journalism in college, and making a general career of words.
The arrival of audiobooks and graphic books barely made a dent in my consciousness. Their fans are legion, but I was never among them, although I do enjoy my Kindle e-books (more words). But two things happening almost simultaneously pitched me headfirst into graphic books. First, a friend recommended a new book on the friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien called The Mythmakers. I ordered it because I implicitly trusted her judgment on books. When it arrived, I discovered it was a graphic book, combined both non-fiction and informed fiction. Reluctantly, I read it. Enthusiastically, I read it right to the end. I was blown away.
Almost within hours of my graphic book initiation, TS Poetry Press announced a graphic version of The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), the famous writer of horror and gothic stories. Lovecraft’s original version was all text; this new edition was illustrated, and a bit more than illustrated, by Sara Barkat.
Some Thursday Readings
Triptychs: Interview with Poet Megan Merchant – Tweetspeak Poetry.
How France uncovered the mystery of the forbidden photos of Nazi-occupied Paris – Eleanor Beardsley and Nick Spicer at NPR.
