An interest in the graphic anthology genré that began for Stephen Orlando '08 in high school has led to his writing a story for a graphic anthology collection that benefits Hurricane Katrina victims. Orlando's piece, titled "All that it takes," is a short story published in the Ronin Studios graphic anthology Hope: New Orleans, which was previewed and sold out at the Chicago Comic Convention and is to be published nationally this fall. "Graphic anthology," Orlando explained, is a term that began to be used to "legitimize" the comic book field. However, he doesn't agree that the field needed legitimizing.
"I really got into reading comics and started going to conventions around six years ago. I like the medium," he said. " I didn't have the skills for comic art but I realized that the writers actually steer the story," said Orlando. "I like to work in comics because the format is unique. Comics engage the left and right side of the brain because the reader is interpreting pictures and reading the text boxes. Most other genrés are either /or images or words."
 |
Orlando is now in the midst of an ambitious graphic anthology project at Hamilton. The recipient of a Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund for Student Creativity Grant, he is currently working with Hamilton Professor of English Margie Thickstun on a graphic novel adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost. They plan to produce at least Book One in full color (24 pages). The artist has finished most of the drawings and some pages have been colored.
Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of Hope: New Orleans should contact its editor Noble Larimer at nlarimer@gmail.com
