In 1981 I had the opportunity to read several years of back issues of the magazine “Heavy Metal.”  This was a venue that had more than its share of Big-Boobed-Elves-and-Barbarian-Warriors-Fighting-Aliens-Mutants-with-Super-Powers-and-Special-”Magic.” But sometimes “Heavy Metal” published unusual stories too. This was one of the few places where I could see European comics. I liked being exposed to the range of different styles of narrative artwork that turned up here.  When I came across Luis Garcia’s “Nova 2” during this period, I had a kind of Jon Landau/Bruce Springsteen moment: “I have seen the future of The Graphic Novel, and his name is Luis Garcia!!”  British comic artist David Roach has written a fantastic appreciation of Garcia.  I urge you to read it, as it is far more exhaustively eloquent on his work than I can be here.

​

Garcia is Spanish; and it took me years to realize that I had been reading a translation of his work.  Also, it was not until just this past decade that I was able to look at “Nova 2” in its entirety (thanks to the internet).  It is 78 pages; yet, in 1981, I was able to see only the first half in “Heavy Metal.”  But it didn’t matter.  It was still obvious that this guy was a genius!  As the 80’s would unfold I never saw Garcia’s work in any other venue again. Frank Miller, Howard Chaykin, and Alan Moore seemed to be center stage - not Luis Garcia.  Not that there wasn’t talent being published (I still think “Watchmen” #4 is one of the best single issue comics I have ever read - but that would be years later).

​First of all, the level of drawing skill on display here is truly amazing!  I would guess that these 78 pages were done over a period of years, not months. The subject matter was also quite unique.  Yes, there is an overtly dramatic story line. Objects crash into the desert from space.  The kinds of “experts” one expects in Hollywood Action Movies prepare to investigate.  Meanwhile, back in the “real” world, a man walks busy urban streets, takes in the news of John Lennon’s death, buys a gun, considers suicide.  He returns home.  He watches “Psycho” on TV.  He pets his cat.  He reads books about Baroque sculpture.  He remembers his childhood - a childhood that includes memories of reading comics.  And amidst all this we find out that he is a comic book artist.  The main character, an illustrator of the “Romance” genre, is desolate in his solitude. 

​

This story line could be deadly dull; but it is not.  All kinds of media bring it to life: posters on the urban streets, magazine covers, comic book art in various stages of completion, book titles, excerpts from books and close ups of their illustrations, record album covers, lyrics of pop songs, lengthy excerpts from poems (Ginsberg’s “Howl” is quoted at great length; In 1981, I had not yet read this).  There are photos of celebrities, framed snapshots of relatives, post cards of 16th century Flemish paintings, images of Jesus on the cross, close-ups on Norman Bates/Anthony Perkins, uses of mirrors and other framing devices.

Perhaps what impressed me most was the way that “Nova 2” seemed to be able to present the complicated inner psychological experience of characters.  The layering of complicated webs of different visual systems, the samplings and explicit allusions gave a more rich sense of nuance than I had seen anywhere else.  And even more - the persona of a struggling, unhappy comic book artist seemed to be at the center of it all.  Yes, there might be a place for solitary and brooding Gill in this comic book world (or for my developing alter-ego Sidney, at least).  Perhaps, this was where I felt I got “permission” to make my own immature aesthetic struggles the very subject of my work.