Pictures of Home

Well, at the moment, I'm preparing for the New York comic-con, but the main project that keeps me busy these days is a WWII graphic novel called Fever Ridge. I'll be drawing it until well into next year and 2012, but for now, here's the inside front cover image.

This acrylic painting shows photos of Erik's home and friends. Erik is the main character of this book. He's based on a real person, but the story consists of fictional men in a very real place and time: the dark heart of the New Guinea jungle.

Erik worked as a butcher in St. Louis before the war. The photos are all supposed to have been taken by him, so the people in them are just random friends and co-workers. He's looking at them in his tent in New Guinea.

The Greyhound bus photo is based on a place in California near the military based where the characters first trained. They were training for north Africa, and at the last second, were sent instead to the Pacific. Not a good trade. Surviving the jungle becomes a war within itself. These photos are a nice bit of peace among a world of shit.