I meant to take a break after wrapping up Babbitt but took The Marvel Universe off the shelf and before I knew it, I was ankle-deep.

It’s another public domain book but contemporary rather than 19th or early 20th century like the two previous books I illustrated. The reasons it’s in the public domain are complicated but boil down to changes in the publishing industry that inhibit personal expression. The book’s writer, Bruce Wagner, decided to make the book available to the public for free rather than make the edits his publisher suggested.

Since the book appeared five years ago, Wagner has signed to a different publisher (which is still part of the same conglomerate to which his previous one belonged. A situation even more absurd and untenable than a writer with a long track record being inhibited by this or that passing fad of decorum…) and this “new” publisher has recently printed an edition of The Marvel Universe.

I reached out to Wagner to see if he’d be okay with my making my own version and he seems happy about the prospect. That’s a luxury I didn’t have with either Herman Melville or Sinclair Lewis. I’m not big on seances and favor spirits that live in bottles over the haunting kind.

It feels a bit different to be working on something made by someone who could react this way or that to what I make. This being the third book I’ve illustrated, there’s also muscle memory and weariness of repetition. I don’t want any of this to become rote. Changing up the style and subject matter of what I illustrate will hopefully keep that from happening.

I’m using Sumi ink this time, after ballpoint pen and pencil, respectively. I expect to return to the ballpoint when I’m done with The Marvel Universe. There’s a chance I’ll try some collage/mixed media things but my choices are limited because I’m committed to grayscale reproduction. Making the interior of these books in color would complicate the humble, democratic underpinnings of the entire experiment.

I’m sacrificing so much aesthetically by having these books printed on demand by the worst corporations going that charging extra for frills like color feels obscene.

I don’t really know if any of this will work out but I’ve got a queue of ten more titles waiting in a folder to be worked on. All by writers long dead. If you know of any topside that might like some art for their books, have them drop me a line.

Read my review of Wagner’s ROAR and/or listen to our talk.