Rick Geary (born February 25, 1946) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He is known for works such as ''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' and graphic novel biographies of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

and

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

. Geary has won two awards from the National Cartoonist Society: a Magazine and Book Illustration Award in 1994, and a Graphic Novel award in 2017.

Biography

Rick Geary was born on February 25, 1946 in Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. Geary was initially introduced to comics readers with his contributions to the '' Heavy Metal'' and '' National Lampoon'' magazines. He has also created a number of

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s as well as illustrations for all kinds of publications. Perhaps his most widely circulated illustration is his

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

for the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

publisher

Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...

. Geary's distinctive cartooning style evolved from his early imitations of Edward Gorey. His drawings typically consist of stark clean black lines against a white background, with a total absence of half-tone or shading. Even more distinctive is Geary's method of panel art. Most comics artists will draw several consecutive sequential panels of the same characters in the same setting. Geary, uniquely, almost never devotes two consecutive panels to the same locale or character. This creates a constant impression of jumping from one image to another. Geary has drawn a variety of solo comic books and graphic novels for various publishers, including adaptations of '' Great Expectations'', ''

The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. Originally serialized in '' Pearson's Weekly'' in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a scientist who has devo ...

'' and ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent re ...

'' for the revived

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', '' Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

series and a kid-oriented Flaming Carrot spinoff. His most extensive project is his ongoing

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series, ''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'', published by

NBM Publishing Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc. (or NBM Publishing) is an American graphic novel publisher. Founded by Terry Nantier in 1976 as Flying Buttress Publications, NBM is one of the oldest graphic novel publishers in North America. The compa ...

. The series chronicles such 19th century criminals as H. H. Holmes,

Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders, and despite ost ...

, Charles Guiteau and

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

. In the series, he often uses

literary device A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

s characteristic of 19th century popular literature. For example, ''The Borden Tragedy'' is narrated through excerpts of a period

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

, and ''The Fatal Bullet'' didactically contrasts the lives and morality of Guiteau and his victim, President James Garfield. The National Cartoonist Society awarded Geary its Magazine and Book Illustration Award in 1994 and its Graphic Novel award in 2017.

Notable works

*''At Home with Rick Geary'' (1985) Fantagraphics Books * Classics Illustrated, Berkley Publishing Group ** '' Great Expectations'', adapted from the novel by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

(1990) ** ''

'', adapted from the novel by Emily Brontë (1990) ** ''

'', adapted from the novel by H.G. Wells (1991) *''Housebound with Rick Geary'' (1991) Fantagraphics Books *''Cravan'' (2005) Dark Horse Books *Biography series: **''

: A Graphic Biography'' (2008) Hill and Wang **''

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

: A Graphic Biography'' (2009) Hill and Wang *''The Adventures of Blanche'' (2009)

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

* ''

Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...

, Detective'' (2015) NBM/ComicsLit A Treasury of Victorian Murder
Series, published by NBM/ComicsLit *''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' (1987) *''Jack the Ripper'' (1995) about the unsolved 1888 serial murders by

. *''The Borden Tragedy'' (1997) about the 1892 murder of Andrew and Abby Borden and subsequent trial of

. *''The Fatal Bullet'' (1999) about the 1881 murder of James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau. *''The Mystery of Mary Rogers'' (2001) about the unsolved 1841 disappearance and murder of Mary Rogers. *''The Beast of Chicago'' (2003) about the serial murders by H. H. Holmes during the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. *''The Murder of Abraham Lincoln'' (2005) about the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln by

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

. *''The Case of Madeleine Smith'' (2006) about the 1857 murder of Pierre Emile L'Angelier and trial of

Madeleine Smith Madeleine Hamilton Smith (29 March 1835 – 12 April 1928) was a 19th-century Glasgow socialite who was the accused in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857. Background Smith was the first child (of five) of an upper-middle-class ...

. *''The Saga of the Bloody Benders'' (2007) about the Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in rural Kansas operating between 1871 and 1873. A Treasury of XXth Century Murder
Series, published by NBM/ComicsLit *''The Lindbergh Child'' (2008) about the 1932 kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. *''Famous Players'' (2009) about the unsolved 1922 murder of

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

. *''The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans'' (2010) about the unsolved serial murders between 1918 and 1919 attributed to the

Axeman of New Orleans The Axeman of New Orleans was an unidentified American serial killer active in New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding communities, including Gretna, from May 1918 to October 1919. Press reports during the height of public panic about the kill ...

. *''The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti'' (2011) about the controversial trial, conviction, and execution of

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

between 1921 and 1927. *''Lovers' Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery'' (2012) about the 1922 murder of Eleanor Mills and Edward Hall and subsequent high profile trial. *''Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White'' (2013) about the 1906 murder of

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

Harry Kendall Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Sta ...

. *''Black Dahlia'' (2016) about the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, known posthumously as the

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

References

External links

Geary's official website NCS Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geary, Rick 1946 births Living people Artists from Kansas City, Missouri American biographers Inkpot Award winners American male biographers American comics artists American comics writers American Splendor artists