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The art work builds on Greenberger's text by further
humanizing the elderly through the comics medium; the sympathetic
lines of these excellent cartoonists
give them immediate life and form. |
The Artists:
Doug Allen
Rick Altergott
Dan Clowes
Dave Cooper
Dame Darcy
Andy Hartzell
Tim Hensley
Jeff Johnson
Gary Leib
Jason Lutes
Pat Moriarity
Paul Nitsche
George Parsons
Ron Regé, Jr
Dean Rohrer
Greg Ruth
Oscar Stern
Eric Theriault
Sam Torode
Wayno
J.R. Williams
Holly Jane Zachary |
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From David Greenberger's introduction
to NO MORE SHAVES
"Humor
has always played a key role in my work for a most simple reason:
humor is a step by which we get to know another person. Humor is
the first socially acceptable level of emotional exchange. Assessing
someone's sense of humor is a determining factor in whether or not
a
friendship is built.
"The Duplex Planet Illustrated came to life at around
the ten year mark, when, with about a hundred issues behind me, Dan Clowes
asked
if he could adapt some of the material into a full page presentation in
the new comic book he was just starting, Eightball. Those original,
elegant question
and answer pages brought forth the idea that a full comic book adaptation
of this material would be a worthy new avenue. This book is organized
around six
of the men I originally met at the Duplex Nursing Home in Boston in 1979,
when I worked at the small all-male facility as the activities
director. What conveys
a greater contrast to public perceptions of aging more than populating
a comic book with the elderly? In some instances, artists used
actual photos to base
the characters on, but in most cases, I wanted to let nature take its course.
Even in its literary form, I have tried not to create a documentary about
these people. Rather, the focus has been on how all of us fit in
with them. If what
the elderly have in common - that they're all old – is taken out of the
equation, then what we gain are encounters with a remarkable array
of individual beings.
And isn't that exactly what we are?" |
