WGN’s Rick Kogan talks to Robert K. Elder about Hemingway in Comics
https://wgnradio.com/after-hours-with-rick-kogan/rob-elder-shares-his-book-hemingway-in-comics/
***
Robert K. Elder talks about Hemingway in Comics on “Chicago Tonight” (WTTW):
***
One True Podcast, the official podcast of the Ernest Hemingway Society, had Rob on for an entire episode to talk about Hemingway in Comics:
The Wednesday Journal ran Rob’s essay on the roots of the book.
***
Rob appeared on Chris Richardson’s This is Not a Pipe podcast, which was amazing. Also see the podcast page for Rob’s literary recommendations.
***
Check out our awesome book trailer:Reviews:
“Here Elder opens the door to an entertaining avenue of Hemingway studies…an amiable guide to comic strips, books, and graphic novel series that use Hemingway as a springboard into satire, joke-telling, brooding existential meditations, and wonky literary archaeology. …Overall verdict: Ka-pow.” — Booklist
***
Our 4-page Q&A in the Hemingway Society newsletter.
***
“An exhaustive study…comics fans will find much to savor.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
***
More praise for Hemingway in Comics:
“Who knew the world of comics about Hemingway was so much fun? The cartoonists collected here love Hemingway, and it shows—they let their imaginations run untrammeled and the result is, for the reader, a very happy one. At the same time, what is essentially a Hemingway comic book shows itself to be a responsible contribution to scholarly discourse. Hemingway in Comics is at once hugely enjoyable and a learning experience of the best kind. A gold mine for the Hemingway enthusiast.”
— Mary V. Dearborn, author, Ernest Hemingway: A Biography
***
“For decades, the literary world’s own Man of Action has been a ubiquitous presence in comic books—fighting alongside Wolverine in the Spanish Civil War, swapping stories with Mickey Mouse, facing down the grim reaper. In charting these myths, Robert K. Elder has not only unearthed a wealth of comics history but reclaimed the richness of Hemingway’s life, transforming caricatures into a glinting mosaic portraiture.”
— Sean Howe, author of the Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics: The Untold Story
***
“Surprising, funny, audacious. Comic book creators shine a light on Hemingway’s myth and legend, and it reflects back on them in strange, unpredictable ways. A fresh, modern way to discover—or rediscover—Hemingway and his work.”
— Kristen Radtke, author & illustrator, Imagine Wanting Only This
***
“Hemingway in Comics gave me a rush that I didn’t expect! I had no idea that Hemingway was the subject of so many comics. So much love was put into these comics as the man inspired artists and writers to create their own work. The art here is accomplished and oh so readable!”
— Gilbert Hernandez, co-creator of Love and Rockets
***
“Hemingway in Comics is a triumph of obsessive scholarship. What might seem like an unlikely subject (Hemingway himself apparently didn’t care much for comics) soon reveals itself as a moveable feast of stories and images. Homage and its smart-alecky twin, parody, are each amply represented in an entertaining book that will, among its other accomplishments, send the reader to more comics and to more Hemingway. What could be better? ”
— Michael Tisserand, author, Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White
***
“Hemingway in Comics is a fascinating look at America’s finest author in America’s most disposable medium. Hemingway wouldn’t be caught dead reading this book, but since he’s already dead, the rest of us can bask in its two-fisted, pop-culture obsessed meta-history.”
— Chris Burnham, artist & author, Batman Incorporated, Officer Downe
***
“It’s head spinning to see all the ways that Ernest Hemingway has been handled in comics. From early reverential cameos, then on to broad caricature, and now moving onto more subtle hagiographies and skewering. As a comic book artist, I want to draw my Hemingway and get added to a future edition.”
— Gene Ha, artist & author, Mae and Top 10
***
“There’s the Marvel Universe, the DC Universe, and now we have the Hemingway Universe. Robert K. Elder takes us on an entertaining, enlightening deep dive into a surprising corner of comic book history.”
— J.M. DeMatteis, author, Moonshadow and Kraven’s Last Hunt
***
“When a ground-breaking writer like Ernest Hemingway’s cultural image devolves from icon to celebrity, and from character to caricature, perhaps the best so-crazy-it-just-might-work plot to rescue his complex reality is to explore how other artists imagine and reimagine him and his works. Like another white-bearded American bard, Hemingway contains multitudes, and Hemingway in Comics does as well. Robert K. Elder and his team have produced a deeply researched and nimbly written exploration of multifarious interpretations of ‘Papa’ from comics writers and artists over generations and around the world. This vital book’s scholarship will bring serious readers back to the original radical Hemingway, while at the same time it gleefully revels in the many Hemingways (comic or tragic, farcical or deadly serious) which the man (and the myth) inspired.”
— Bill Savage, professor, Northwestern University
Check out Robert K. Elder’s “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit.