The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book: Toronto.
WHAZAMO! COMICS: KALMAN ANDRASOFSZKY
Submitted by Vepo Studios on May 13, 2011 - 9:15pm
Kalman is a comic book illustrator, and a concept designer for video games, television, those looking for imaginative fantasy or science fiction creations. He has a particular knack for the details that make a genre hero memorable.
What are they wearing? Who cuts their hair? And where did she get that sniper rifle?
From thigh-high space boots to hipster Russian-army hats, Kalman's thinking about this stuff. It's what made his art memorable on Marvel Comics's more offbeat superhero series like NYX, and X23 (featuring Wolverine's female double, actually a clone, oh never mind). Style reveals the ways characters think of themselves; how they want to be treated; telling as much about their interior life as anything they would say. Particularly in a visual medium such as comics.
But it's all in the service of storytelling: how these elements combine to create a convincing world, one that will pull the reader in, allow them to lose themselves. Sort of like what happened to Kalman, when he first read The Neverending Story.
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WHAZAMO! Comics: Graphic vs Novel
Every TUESDAY and THURSDAY for the month of May, Open Book: Toronto will feature an original comic by a Canadian cartoonist. We asked them to share a story of one book that has inspired them as artists, as storytellers, as people. Together, their comics will open a window, a panel if you will, into the mysterious process of inspiration.
Click on the illustrations for a better look. (The images can be further enlarged by clicking on the icon with four arrows that will appear.)
