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Rick Geary (born February 25, 1946) is an American
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
and
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
. 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,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
and
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
.


Biography

Rick Geary was born on February 25, 1946, in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
. He attended the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
. Geary was initially introduced to comic readers in the late 1970s with his contributions to the '' Heavy Metal'' and '' National Lampoon'' magazines. He has also created several
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. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...
s and illustrations for all kinds of publications. In 1982, he created the Toucan mascot for
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
until its retirement in 1995. Additionally, he created Expo Boy, the mascot for the San Diego Comic Book Expo, a comics industry trade show Comic-Con held from 1984 through 2001. However, 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 that it represents, as in ...
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 sch ...
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 has drawn a variety of solo comic books and graphic novels for various publishers, including adaptations of ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...
'', ''
The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is an 1897 science fiction novel by British writer H. G. Wells. Originally serialised 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 s ...
,'' and ''
Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...
'' 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 Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
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 comp ...
. The series chronicles 19th-century criminals such as
H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer active between 1891 and 1894. By the time of his execution in 1896, Holmes had engaged ...
,
Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman who was Trial, tried and Acquittal, acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her Patricide, father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was c ...
,
Charles Guiteau Charles Julius Guiteau ( ; September 8, 1841June 30, 1882) was an American man who assassinated James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, in 1881. A mentally ill failed lawyer, Guiteau delusionally believed that he had playe ...
, and
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...
. In the series, he often uses
literary device A narrative technique (also, in fiction, a fictional device) is any of several storytelling methods the creator of a story uses, thus effectively relaying information to the audience or making the story more complete, complex, or engaging. Some ...
s characteristic of 19th-century popular literature. For example, ''The Borden Tragedy'' is narrated through excerpts from a period
diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable 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 digita ...
, and ''The Fatal Bullet'' didactically contrasts the lives and morality of Guiteau and his victim, President
James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until Assassination of James A. Garfield, his death in September that year after being shot two months ea ...
. Geary's forthcoming projects include the adaptation of Mathew Klickstein's ''Daisy goes to the Moon'' for
Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
in January 2025. Also forthcoming in 2025 is ''Movie Girls: Lillian and Dorothy'', the story of how the Gish sisters ( Lillian and
Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...
) met
Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...
and D.W. Griffith and began acting in motion pictures. It is written by
Jan Wahl Jan Boyer Wahl (April 1, 1931 - January 29, 2019) was an American children's author. He was a prolific author of over 120 works, and was known primarily for his award-winning children's books, including ''Pleasant Fieldmouse'', ''The Furious Fl ...
.


Art style

Geary's distinctive cartooning style evolved from his early imitations of
Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an Americans, American writer, Tony Awards, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for book ...
. His drawings typically consist of stark, clean black lines against a white background, with no 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, rarely devotes two consecutive panels to the same locale or character. This creates a constant impression of jumping from one image to another. In reviewing Geary's graphic novel ''The Lindbergh Child: America's Hero and the Crime of the Century'' (2008), ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'' magazine noted that Geary had "little interest in psychology or interiority, relying instead on his dispassionate pen and the public record to stir up needed drama." Geary himself commented, "I feel that with true crime stories, the material is sensational enough on its own without my adding another layer of gruesomeness... I affect a detached narrative voice and back away from the graphic depiction of violence not because I'm squeamish... but because I enjoy creating a tension between form and content." Mathew Klickstein's graphic novel ''Daisy Goes to the Moon'', based on his 2008 novella published initially by Portland-area upstart AtomSmashers, was illustrated by Geary, published by Fantagraphics in January 2025 and praised by ''Publishers Weekly'', "Geary ably adapts Klickstein's whimsical novel, written in the naive voice of real-life Victorian child author Daisy Ashford. ... Geary's artwork, with touches that recall turn-of-the-century comic strips and antique printing techniques, is perfectly suited to Victoriana."


Personal life

Geary appeared on ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' on March 14, 1994. As of 2016, Geary lived with his wife, Deborah, in Carrizozo, New Mexico.


Awards

Geary has won two
National Cartoonist Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
awards: a Magazine and Book Illustration Award in 1994, and a Graphic Novel award in 2017. His book ''
Gumby Gumby and Pokey figures ''Gumby'' is an American cartoon character and associated media franchise created by Art Clokey. He is a blocky green humanoid made of clay. Gumby stars in two television series, '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other medi ...
'', written by
Bob Burden Bob Burden is an American comic book creator, comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''Flaming Carrot Comics'' and the ''Mystery Men''. Early life Burden was born the eldest of three siblings in Buffalo, New York. His fath ...
, was given the 2007
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...
for Best Title for Younger Readers/Best Comics Publication for a Younger Audience


Notable works

*''At Home with Rick Geary'' (1985)
Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
* Classics Illustrated, Berkley Publishing Group ** ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...
'', adapted from the novel by
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
(1990) ** ''
Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...
'', adapted from the novel by
Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...
(1990) ** ''
The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is an 1897 science fiction novel by British writer H. G. Wells. Originally serialised 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 s ...
'', adapted from the novel by
H.G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
(1991) *''Housebound with Rick Geary'' (1991) Fantagraphics Books *''Cravan'' (2005) Dark Horse Books * (with
Bob Burden Bob Burden is an American comic book creator, comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''Flaming Carrot Comics'' and the ''Mystery Men''. Early life Burden was born the eldest of three siblings in Buffalo, New York. His fath ...
) ''
Gumby Gumby and Pokey figures ''Gumby'' is an American cartoon character and associated media franchise created by Art Clokey. He is a blocky green humanoid made of clay. Gumby stars in two television series, '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other medi ...
'' (Wildcard Ink, 2007) *Biography series: **''
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
: A Graphic Biography'' (2008) Hill and Wang **''
Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
: 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, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...
* ''
Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an cultural icon, icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob cut, bob hairstyle that she helped ...
, Detective'' (2015) NBM/ComicsLit A Treasury of Victorian Murder
Series, published by NBM/ComicsLit *''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' (1987) *''Jack the Ripper'' (1995) is about the unsolved 1888 serial murders by
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...
. *''The Borden Tragedy'' (1997) is about the 1892 murder of Andrew and Abby Borden and the subsequent trial of
Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman who was Trial, tried and Acquittal, acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her Patricide, father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was c ...
. *''The Fatal Bullet'' (1999) is about the 1881 murder of James A. Garfield by
Charles Guiteau Charles Julius Guiteau ( ; September 8, 1841June 30, 1882) was an American man who assassinated James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, in 1881. A mentally ill failed lawyer, Guiteau delusionally believed that he had playe ...
. *''The Mystery of Mary Rogers'' (2001) is about the unsolved 1841 disappearance and murder of
Mary Rogers Mary Cecilia Rogers (born c. 1820 – found dead July 28, 1841) was an American murder victim whose story became a national sensation. Rogers was a noted beauty who worked in a New York tobacco store, which attracted the custom of many distingui ...
. *''The Beast of Chicago'' (2003) is about serial murders by
H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer active between 1891 and 1894. By the time of his execution in 1896, Holmes had engaged ...
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 from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...
. *''The Murder of Abraham Lincoln'' (2005) is about the 1865
assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play '' Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, L ...
by
John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...
. *''The Case of Madeleine Smith'' (2006) is about the 1857 murder of Pierre Emile L'Angelier and the 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) is about the Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers who operated in rural Kansas between 1871 and 1873. A Treasury of XXth Century Murder
Series, published by NBM/ComicsLit *''The Lindbergh Child'' (2008) is about the 1932 kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. *''Famous Players'' (2009) is 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 Cinema of the United States, Hollywood motion picture colony o ...
. *''The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans'' (2010) is 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 who was active in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, between May 1918 and October 1919. Press reports during the height of public panic over the killings mentioned similar cri ...
. *''The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti'' (2011) is 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 immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parm ...
between 1921 and 1927. *''Lovers' Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery'' (2012) is about the 1922 murder of Eleanor Mills and Edward Hall and the subsequent high-profile trial. *''Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White'' (2013) is about the 1906 murder of
Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...
by
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, he is most notable for having murdered the renowned architect Stanford Wh ...
. *''Black Dahlia'' (2016) is about the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, who was posthumously known as the
Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – , 1947), posthumously known as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized owin ...
.


References


External links

*
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