Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
21: The Story of Roberto Clemente
by Wilfred Santiago
Promo copy:
A graphic novel biography of a baseball legend and Latin American hero.
The biographical 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente is a human drama of courage, faith and dignity, inspired by the life of baseball star Roberto Clemente.
No other baseball player dominated the 1960s like Roberto Clemente and no other Latin American player achieved his numbers. Born in 1924 in Puerto Rico, Clemente excelled in track and field and loved baseball. By the age of 17 he was playing in the PR Winter league. Spotted by the big-league scouts because of his hitting, fielding, and throwing abilities, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954. A fierce competitor, within two seasons he was hitting above .300 consistently. He played like a man possessed, fielding superbly, unleashing his rifle arm, and hitting in clutch situations. Despite his aesthetic brilliance, he faced prejudice throughout his career and was given his due only after his unexpected and tragic death in a 1972 plane crash.
Although baseball was his obsession, Clemente never lost sight of his dreams and his greater responsibilities outside the game. This sense of urgency is what came to define him beyond that of a grand athlete. His eventual success and accompanying celebrity gave him the opportunity to engage his conscience in public life. He died when his plane went down in the Caribbean Sea on a relief mission to earthquake-torn Nicaragua that he personally directed.
21 chronicles Clemente’s life from his early days growing up in rural Puerto Rico, the highlights of his career (including the 1960s World Series where he helped the Pirates win its first victory in 33 years, and his 3000th hit in 1972 during the last official at-bat of his life) as well as his private life and public mission off the field.
After his death, Major League Baseball declared September 18 to be “Roberto Clemente Day,” and in 1999, Pittsburgh’s Sixth Street Bridge was renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge in honor of the greatest Latino ballplayer in history. Wilfred Santiago captures the grit of Clemente’s rise from his impoverished Puerto Rican childhood, to the majesty of his performance on the field, to his fundamental decency as a human being in a drawing style that combines realistic attention to detail and expressive cartooning.
With opening day tomorrow, this moves to the top of my to-read stack. More later…
After Dark Issue #3
Created by: Antoine Fuqua & Wesley Snipes
Written by: Peter Milligan
Pencils and Inks by: Leonardo Manco
Paints by: Kinsun Loh, Jerry Choo & Sansan Saw
Cover Art by: Tae Young Choi
Promo copy:
n a world where sunlight is safety and darkness is certain death, riots have begun amongst the discontented citizens of the planet. In order to quell these riots and bring hope back to the people, the military has gathered a rag-tag group of both specialists and known criminals to search for the one last shining hope for the human race: a woman known only as Angel.
Along the way, through ever-changing and hostile terrain, two crew members have given their lives for the cause. Finally, the remaining members have found her, but she refuses to return with them to Solar City. Now, the team is forced to wonder: was her return ever the intended mission? Or was the actual end-game far more malevolent?
Yesterday’s Tomorrows
by Grant Morrison, Raymond Chandler, Tom DeHaven, John Freeman, and Chris Reynolds
Art by Rian Hughes
Promo copy:
An eclectic and stylish collection of comics from Rian Hughes, renowned illustrator and graphic designer, Yesterday’s Tomorrows features infamous and hard-to-find collaborations with Eisner Award winner Grant Morrison – Dan Dare, a post-modern classic that sets the aging and retired iconic British character Dare against a modern British landscape he no longer understands, and Really and Truly, a high-octane psychedelic road-trip torn from the pages of cult comic 2000AD. Hughes’ clean graphic style comes to the fore in duotone for The Science Service, written by John Freeman, while Hughes explores an evocative noir palette replete with dramatic angular lighting for Raymond Chandler’s Goldfish, adapted by It’s Superman author Tom DeHaven. In addition to sketchbook pages, merchandise, and rare strips – many never seen before or out of print for over a decade – the book features an introduction by comics guru Paul Gravett.
This showcase of the sequential art of the masterful Rian Hughes is an extraordinary-looking collection. Can’t wait to dive in an experience many of these stories first hand.
Graphic Novels/Comics received 3/31/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon