Ray Bradbury's Memorable Characters
Master Storyteller Featured in Graphic Novel
Whether writing about lost souls, intrepid explorers, or unusual creatures Ray Bradbury exhibits a gift for characterization. In a career than spans decades he has created hundreds of memorable characters.
The Best of Ray Bradbury presents twelve graphic adaptations of his short stories from ibooks, inc. The tales introduce us to a man obsessed with Picasso, a young woman capable of seeing the world through other’s eyes, and an ancient creature mourning a great loss.
Picasso Summer
Years ago Bradbury walked on the beach with his wife and several friends. He picked up a discarded popsicle stick and began to draw in the sand. Suddenly, he had the idea for “Picasso Summer.”
George Smith loves art more than life itself. He takes his wife to vacation in Europe, but finds it impossible to relax. Picasso, his favorite artist, is just a few miles down the coast.
John Van Fleet’s painted panels have a transitory feel as if they could disappear like sand drawings washed away by the tide. The immediacy of his work evokes in us every emotion George Smith feels as he comes face to face with Picasso.
The April Witch
Cecy has an unusual ability. Her mind is able to leave her body and fly upon the winds. She soars in doves, stops in trees, and lives in blossoms. She looks through the eyes of frogs, crickets, hummingbirds, cows, even other young women like herself.
One spring night when Cecy is 17 she goes out in search of life, of love. She visits another young woman and compels her to go to a dance with her gentlemen pursuer. Cecy falls in love. All she can do is give him a paper with her name and address and hope that someday he’ll come to see her.
The ethereal illustrations of J. Muth show us the conflicting desires of Bradbury’s two women, making it easy to identify with. The colors are dark and very strong, giving “The April Witch” – one of Bradbury’s more unusual stories – a sense of love’s yearning.
The Foghorn
Wayne Barlowe adapts “The Foghorn” using colors from the deep end of the spectrum. His drawings reveal just enough of the story’s Alolosaurus to make it real to us, while still shrouding it in mystery.
Two men are responsible for keeping a lighthouse. On a certain night a magnificent creature rises from the sea to gaze eye to eye with the tower. When one of the men sounds the foghorn, the beast becomes enraged with grief. He finds only a cold, dead spire where he sought a companion.
The memorable character here is Bradbury’s dinosaur. One of the most heart-wrenching of his creations, its great sadness provokes a profound longing in the reader. The despairing creature sticks in our hearts.
Fan Favorite
Ray Bradbury’s workroom full of literary oddities, fascination with the macabre and prolific output makes him a memorable character himself. He is known to wear Halloween socks year around and delights in the Adams Family cartoons.
His writing is familiar around the world. Many speculative fiction fans can point to one of his memorable characters as a personal favorite.
The Best of Ray Bradbury
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles