I attended one of the 366 Wizard World conventions this year* and as I walked through Artist's Alley--right between a merchant selling lethal Japanese weaponry to kids and the guy who was Count Dooku's alternate stunt double--I found the Big Time Attic table. I was drawn to the Mark Schultz cover of Bone Sharps, but I handed my money over for the rest of this wonderful book.
Jim Ottaviana crafts a based-on-true-events story about two pioneers of paleontology, Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh, whose intense, bitter rivalry was tabloid fodder during the Gilded Age. Yes, this is a comic where you'll learn things, like how there was something called the Gilded Age.
These two distinguished men of science couldn't stand each other, even though their theories on dinosaur evolution were identical. They did everything they could to mess with and discredit each other, including planting fake skulls. Cope and Marsh's excavation camps threw frickin' rocks at each other, fer corn's sake.**
Artistically, this book is a triumph. The overall design is just gorgeous. I told the artists that their stuff reminded me of Chris Ware's work on Jimmy Corrigan. (They seemed pleased and signed my copy with a dino sketch for free.) I always appreciate a project where it's obvious the writer and artist work together so perfectly.
It's worth a click on the G.T. Labs link above. Check out the other titles from this company. You wouldn't think "comics about scientists" would be a selling point, but based on this title alone it will be for me.***
* One for every day, with leap years thrown in as a bonus!
** I quote SpongeBob regularly.
*** At the next Wizard World, which begins in ten minutes.
1 comment:
I hope you asked to work commission, because frankly, I'm rather intrigued.
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