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Comic book artists pay homage to their favorite sci-fi writers and other literary greats on a website with a sleek design and an extremely unwieldy name.
Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!! is run by Steve Gettis, who got the project off the ground in 1998 by firing off 10 letters to illustrators whose work he enjoyed, asking if they might pass along sketches of their literary favorites.
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"I've always had a huge passion for books and comics, and asking artists to interpret a literary character or author they loved seemed to be a pretty interesting fit," Gettis said in an e-mail interview with Wired.com.
He got an all-star response. "It was received amazingly well," said Gettis. "After getting a few back, including an illustration of Don Quixote by Will Eisner, I set up the website to share them. Since then, it's taken on a life of its own."
Now the site brims with portraits of literary lions and sci-fi influencers like Arthur C. Clarke, Neil Gaiman and Orson Welles (pictured above). A few years ago, Gettis jettisoned the site's original name – the dryly scholastic Artistic Interpretation of Literary Figures – in favor of something a bit more kinetic. Inspiration soon hit him with force.
"I heard my 4-year-old son using the Fantastic Four's Thing to beat the snot out of the Irish playwright, yelling 'Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!'" Gettis recalled. "Finding it hilarious, I changed the name. At first, I thought I would rotate it sporadically to 'Hey Tom Bombadil!' or 'Hey Bertie Wooster!' But it never happened."
We asked Gettis to show off a gallery's worth of his site's coolest portraits of speculative brainiacs like William Gibson, George Orwell and more, then asked the artists to opine on their heroes.
Above: Orson Welles, by Ethan Van Sciver
"Although Orson Welles wrote very little in terms of print media, his interpretation of so many classic books via radio and film make him a giant in the literary world nonetheless," said said Van Sciver, who's worked on Green Lantern and The Flash: Rebirth. "At least to me! Any excuse to draw Mr. Welles, frankly, as he's one of my favorites."
Alan Moore, by Frazer Irving
"I drew Alan because I'm a fan of his work and musings," said Irving, best known for his work on Necronauts. "I always admire folks who can communicate their everyday thoughts in a colorful and compelling manner. Plus, he seems to have an excellent sense of humor so I figured he wouldn't be offended if he ever saw this image.
"As to why he is flowing from the ink bottle, well it started out as a simple portrait. And then I got the idea to make him a wizard, and then that just turned into a genie, which was enhanced by the ink bottle. It ties it all in with the printed matter/comic book inking thang."
Neil Gaiman, by Leigh Gallagher
"It's actually a well-known fact that Gaiman does all his writing in a graveyard at night," joked Gallagher, whose work has appeared in DC Comics and 2000 AD. "However, if this is not true, then I may have been slightly influenced by the fact that my girlfriend had read The Graveyard Book and recommended it to me.
"I love dark, black-and-white imagery, and I immediately had a clear vision in my mind of what I wanted to achieve. However, I have no explanation whatsoever why I decided to give him a huge bobblehead."
The Little Prince, by Gene Ha
"I read The Little Prince when I was maybe 6 years old. It's a unique book, oddly poetic and surreal," said Ha, who collaborated with Alan Moore on Top 10.
"The prince lives on a lonely little planet, no bigger than a house and always under threat of crumbling if he isn't careful," Ha said. "Eventually, he decides to leave his world and check out some others. He doesn't use a spaceship – he merely leaps off into the void. It's a meditation on different forms of being alone, and then looks at friendship only after it's examined isolation. This was heady stuff for someone just learning to read."
Hunter S. Thompson, by Ben Templesmith
"I did Hunter S. Thompson because he was modern icon, an insane blaze of creativity with a tremendous dark side who saw the world in a different way," said Templesmith, who worked on Fell and 30 Days of Night.
"He was also basically just bonkers and really cool. His writings, along with his cohort Ralph Steadman's art, are artistic influences of mine. Wouldn't we all like our ashes to be shot out of a cannon?"
Arthur C. Clarke, by Jeff Lemire
"2001: A Space Odyssey is not only my favorite movie, but one of my favorite novels as well," said Lemire, who spoke with Wired.com earlier this year about his new graphic novel The Nobody.
Arthur C. Clarke's classic sci-fi novel "has its own strengths," Lemire said. "I become astronaut Dave Bowman when I read it. Tethered to the Earth, and his humanity, by only the thinnest amount of technology, Clarke paints a picture of unbelievable loneliness, solitude and anticipation. It is a major influence on my next graphic novel."
William Gibson, by Julien Alday
"William Gibson is, without a doubt, the writer who has had the deepest impact on me," said Alday. "Neuromancer gave me a new way to look at bridging the gaps of geography, languages and cultures with the help of computers and communications.
"Now a few years later, it has become real! I'm always seeing parallels between his worlds and my process when I'm using digital tools to mix painting, collages and photographs. Though my illustrations may not have an obvious connection to cyberpunk, I feel there is always an echo of William Gibson."
George Orwell, by Kevin Nowlan
"I chose Orwell because of two books: Keep the Aspidistra Flying and A Clergyman's Daughter," said Nowlan. "They made a big impression on me when I read them in my 20s. Ironically, Orwell was ashamed of both books and regretted writing them. Also, Animal Farm and 1984, two books we all enjoyed reading as English assignments in high school. His unusual, lean features and that cool haircut made the choice even easier."
Jorge Luis Borges, by Cameron Stewart
"I first discovered Jorge Luis Borges at age 15 or so when my favorite comics writer (and now frequent collaborator) Grant Morrison named him as an influence in the back of an issue of Doom Patrol," said Stewart, who has worked for DC, Marvel and Dark Horse Comics. "I picked up a copy of Labyrinths and was immediately fascinated. He's been a favorite ever since."
Slaughterhouse Five's Billy Pilgrim, by Ken Steacy
"In high school, everyone either read Tolkien or Vonnegut, and I fell squarely into the latter camp," said Steacy. "Along with Harlan Ellison and J.G. Ballard, Kurt Vonnegut formed the trinity of authors I devoured back in the day, and still reread constantly. I've never had much difficulty visualizing the printed word, but those guys activate my mind's eye with a ferocity that's a wonder to behold!"
Steacy, who worked with Ellison on 1987 graphic novel Night and the Enemy, said picking a literary scene proved challenging. "The tough part was choosing one writer, and then deciding on which novel, and finally which scene to illustrate," he said. "I narrowed the choices down to the gentle Tralfamadorian's horror at the limited perceptions with which humans must cope with existence. An absurd image, no question, but still a reminder of how limited our awareness can be!"
Osamu Tezuka, by Pop Mhan
"I was given a few choices," said Mhan, who has worked for Tokyopop, Wildstorm, DC, Marvel, Top Cow and Dark Horse. "But I really honed in on Tezuka because, being a student of sequential illustration, Tezuka has really made a big impact on graphical storytelling, especially in Japan, where he's dubbed the 'The Godfather of Manga.' His talent, insight and abilities inspired future generations to achieve the same high standards his legendary body of work set forth."
See Also:
- Grant Morrison Talks Brainy Comics, Sexy Apocalypse
- Counterculture Comics Hero Grant Morrison Gets a Biopic
- Eye-Popping Blog Remixes Memorable Comic Book Covers
- After Watchmen, What’s Unfilmable? These Legendary Texts
- Neil Gaiman Writes a Final Love Letter to Batman
- March 17, 1948: William Gibson, Father of Cyberspace
