Published by Fantagraphics, the gold standard of the comic-art world, The Hypo tells a meticulously researched tale of Abraham Lincoln’s life as an unestablished young man, focusing on his battle with depression, all drawn in Van Sciver’s deeply crosshatched, shaky style. And Van Sciver, who feels that The Hypo presents Lincoln in a way never really done before in comics, will debut the book tonight at his home away from home, Kilgore Books. “It’s illustrated really strangely,” Van Sciver explains. “Every other graphic novel on that era is really mainstream. I think my artwork has more expression. There’s more emotion there in my line work.”
Will Van Sciver’s own life change dramatically once The Hypo hits bookstore shelves? “I’ll probably get more bothersome e-mails,” he laments. And for the time being, he plans to shift his focus in other directions. “I think I’ll take a break from historical comics,” he notes. “Otherwise, I’d run the risk of becoming...a historical cartoonist.”
Get your signed copy of The Hypo starting at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Kilgore Books, 624 East 13th Avenue; visit Kilgore online at kilgore-books.com or call 303-819-1975 for more information.
Tue., Aug. 28, 6:30 p.m., 2012
