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 comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

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 complicat ...

. 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 The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. 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 wordma ...

for the audiobook publisher Recorded Books. 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 Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other w ...

. 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 ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

'', '' The Invisible Man'' and '' Wuthering Heights'' for the revived Classics Illustrated series and a kid-oriented

Flaming Carrot ''Flaming Carrot Comics'' was an American superhero comic book created by Bob Burden, featuring the absurd, surreal adventure of the Flaming Carrot. The series first appeared in ''Visions'' #1, a magazine-size comic book publication. Flaming Carro ...

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 be ...

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. The series chronicles such 19th century criminals 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, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...

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 Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and Jack the Ripper. In the series, he often uses literary devices characteristic of 19th century popular literature. For example, ''The Borden Tragedy'' is narrated through excerpts of a period diary, 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 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

. The

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 ...

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 Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

* Classics Illustrated, Berkley Publishing Group ** ''

'', 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) ** '' Wuthering Heights'', adapted from the novel by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

(1990) ** '' The Invisible Man'', 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 known ...

* '' Louise Brooks, 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 Jack the Ripper. *''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

. *''The Mystery of Mary Rogers'' (2001) 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) about the serial murders by

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

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

assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

by John Wilkes 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 The Bender family, more well known as the Bloody Benders, were a family of serial killers in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira, their son John Jr., and the ...

, 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. *''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 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 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, 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.

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