Rick Geary "The Bloody Benders"

NBM 2007

Geary's ability to analyze old "crime stories" into comic book narrative plots is intelligent and reserved considering the bloody events in question. He moves the reader through the cast of characters, lines up the events, and drops his own hints about what transpired (though, in this case of the Bloody Benders, he gives something like a diagram of what must have occurred and how, not subtle but necessary to get a grip on something lacking in much historical detail).

Geary's artwork reminds me of frame work animation artwork for 3D cartoons and the geometric lines use to describe geography in maps. He uses horizontal lines something like an engraver for old-style wood engraved artwork. But, the difference is that besides texture, Geary is able to simply suggest both color, shape and weight, all the while using a kind of minimum of line work to accomplish all this so we do not have labored crosshatching and dense grays.