iZombie: Dead to the World
While color itself can carry meanings, lack of color can be just as important. On page 73, the main character Gwen Dylan experiences a flashback. This change in time and space is indicated to the reader through a sudden shift into balck and white. This sudden departure from the color of the rest of the book sets the flashback visually apart from the rest of the narrative. Like a photograph, the muted panels suggest that the action they hold occurred in the past instead of concurrently with the rest of the story.
Roberson, Chris, Michael Allred, and Laura Allred.
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
DC/Vertigo
2011
Aerial views, James Branch Cabell Library, 1971
Aesred
Marble statue of Aesred, the ever-transforming female from James Branch Cabell's mythical land of Poictesme. Originally belonging to James Branch Cabell, this piece is now in Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library.
The marble head was carved by Edmond R. Amateis from Greek marble that had been imported to Rome in the first century. Aesred was given to Cabell in 1927 and remained at the Cabell home on Monument Avenue until the 1970s when it was given to James Branch Cabell Library. Mrs. Cabell reported to the library the Mr. Cabell was very fond of this piece.
Amateis, Edmond R., sculptor
Alpha Flight
Pages 13 and 14. This page which features the hero Snowbird fighting the weather controlling beast Kolomaq in whiteout conditions is the comic version of drawing a polar bear in a snowstorm. There are no images to follow, instead the text serves to carry the action both visually and narratively. Because the reader cannot see the characters, the creators of this comic had to come up with some way for the two to be distinct from one another, and had to find a way to simulate a battle between them with words alone. To distinguish between the two characters, the creators altered the shape of the text balloons, with thought bubbles and smooth lines for the hero, and jagged balloons for the villian. For the action, the words themselves became both onomatopoeic and dynamic. With KRACK, WHUD, and whist, the creators of this story enlarged certain words to represent louder noises, slanted others to create the illusion of movement towards different parts of the page, and even broke the gutter between panels in one case to show a particularly strong blow. In this comic, the text becomes the image.
Byrne, John, Michael Higgins, and Andy Yanchus
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
Marvel Comics Group
1984
Associates of the James Branch Cabell Library, annual report and bookplate
Annual report of purchases and donations made by the Associates of James Branch Cabell Library, February 24, 1972. Report created by President, Margaret Freeman Cabell.
Also shown, the original bookplate used by the Associates of James Branch Cabell Library.
Cabell, Margaret Freeman
1972
Batman: Hush Unwrapped Deluxe Edition
This trade paperback collects the complete 12-issue run of the HUSH storyline. But instead of simply reproducing the polished and colored pages that appear in the original comic books, this volume features the raws for each one. A “raw” is a page for a comic that has not yet been inked or colored. Often, the penciler will jot down notes for the inker or the colorer to follow, and these notes are erased for the final version. Page 178 is a great example of the sort of notes a penciler would write. In the middle panel, there are small “X”s across Batman’s chest and a caption saying that a blood splatter should go there. And in the bottom panel just visible underneath the refined text balloon is the wavy, hand drawn original. Details like these, along with the faint dotted grid lines across the bottom of the page, the eraser marks in Gordon’s hair, and the lines that don’t quite fit within the panels would all be cleaned up later by the inker or colorer.
Loeb, Jeph, and Jim Lee
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
DC Comics
2011
Cabell Library Construction 2014-2016
Cabell Room, James Branch Cabell Library
Card table decorated with map of Poictesme
Detailing the fictional setting of many of Cabell's works, the map of Poictesme (Pwa-Tem) was designed by Peter Koch and printed in Chicago by Argus Books, 1928.
Construction of upper floors, James Branch Cabell Library
Dedication plaque, Cabell Room, James Branch Cabell Library
Dedication plaque placed on the wall outside the Cabell Room in VCU Libraries James Branch Cabell Library
1976 December 5
Doctor Strange
This book is an example of a typical comic book. Measuring 6 ? x 10 ? inches, it is saddle-stitch bound and runs for 25 pages including advertisements. The two staples placed roughly three inches from the top and bottom are clearly visible on the book’s spine, and the back cover features an ad instead of information about the comic itself. In 2002 it was bound into a trade paperback with several other single issue comics, and the new book was titled Dr. Strange, A Separate Reality.
Englehart, Steve, and Frank Brunner
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
Marvel Comics Group
1974, June
Dr. Strange: A Separate Reality
This trade paperback compiles Marvel Premier #9-10, #12-14 and Doctor Strange #1-2, #4-5. Unlike the individual comics that it draws from, this volume is perfect bound, features a descriptive back cover, and contains no advertisements. The cover image is derived from Doctor Strange, Vol. 1, No. 1, and when comparing these two side by side, the changes between them are apparent. The comic cover is printed on matte paper and so lacks the shine of the novel, and because of the different quality of printing, the comic cover colors are more muted. The novel cover added depth to the colors on its cover with an increase in shading, but fails to create as dynatic of an image. While the comic’s cover extends the action to the ends of the page with the pile of books in one corner and part of a monstrous arm disappearing around one side, the graphic novel bounds the image with a boarder, blocking it off visually.
Englehart, Steve, and Frank Brunner
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
Marvel Comics
2002
Elements: Fire
Story, Firelilly, Page 50. Story, Starfall, Page 87. All of the stories within this anthology only use red alongside black and white to create visual effects. Both the page from Firelilly and from Starfall are examples of monochrome, also called pantone comic coloration, though the creators of each have chosen to use the colors in different ways. Firelilly in this example uses the red as a background, highlight, and accent color all at once, while Starfall chooses only to use the red as an accent. The single color used by monochromatic works can also be used for shading and as the main line color instead of black. It’s all up to the artist.
Stotts, Taneka, Myisha Haynes, and Ash G.
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
Beyond Press
2017
Famous Funnies: a Carnival of Comics
This volume is often lauded as the progenitor of the American comic book. A very important historical artifact in its own right, it contains both newspaper strips and new content bound together in the form of a book. In the context of this discussion, Famous Funnies is a particularly good example of the changes that occur between printing on one form of paper versus another. The first page of the story is printed on the back of the cover, and the second page is printed on the first interior page. The interior pages are newsprint, while the exterior cover is a thicker paper with a gloss finish, which lead to the strong visual differences between the two first pages. The first page that was printed onto the thicker gloss paper of the cover has bolder colors, as the whiter surface makes the variances in the ink easily visible. Additionally, the surface of the cover paper is less porous, so the ink has not absorbed as far into the page. This is not the case for the second page that was printed on a newsprint sheet. The ink colors here have a noticeably duller appearance, as the newsprint absorbed more of the pigment, and the darker tone of the paper dulled the image further since the lighter colors rely on the color of the paper for their appearance.
Alexander, F.O., J. P. McEvoy, J. H. Striebel, Gene Byrnes, Ham Fisher, Al Capp, Al Smith, Clare Victor Dwiggins, Pop Mormand, A. E. Hayward, John Hix, Harry J. Tuthill, Sol Hess, Wallace A. Carlson, Charles M. Payne and Frank Godwin.
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
Eastern Color Printing
1933
Interior view RPI Library, 1964
Students study in the RPI Library. The cover of the April 10, 1964 Time Magazine is visible in the rack at right.
1964
Jack Tales, Page 5
While the paper choices talked about above are highly important to the final quality and appearance of the finished comic, this is not how the pages often begin. The printed version on the paper that we as readers handle is compiled from artists’ drawings, and digital sketches. In the case of the former, heavy stocks like Bristol board, watercolor paper and charcoal sheets can be used for the base of the original drawings. In this example by Charles Vess, each individual panel has been cut out from drawing paper and glued onto a thicker board. This 15 x 20 inches finished work is far too large to fit nicely into the typical comic book, so when it was printed the piece would have been scaled down.
Vess, Charles
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives, Charles Vess Papers M374.
1980
James Branch Cabell by Frank C. Papé
Frank Cheyne Papé (1872-1972) illustrated seven of Cabell's books. The English illustrator's fanciful, imaginatie and sometimes sexually suggestive style complemented Cabell's satirical works. Papé became an overnight success with the publication of the illustrated limited edition of <em>Jurgen</em> in 1921. Papé illustrated many of Anatole France's works, the complete works of Francois Rabelais, and editions of John Bunyan, Nathaniel Hawthornes, William Shakespeare, and Homer.
Papé, Frank Cheyne
1930
James Branch Cabell Library c.1971, single story construction
James Branch Cabell Library construction tours
James Branch Cabell Library entrance, c.1975
James Branch Cabell Library, 2016
James Branch Cabell Library, artist's rendering
James Branch Cabell print
This print belongs to a series on American authors by printmaker David Freed, professor <em>emeritus</em> of VCU School of the Arts. The woman seen in relief represents Cabell's interest in Greek literature.<br /><br />This work is located in the anteroom to the Cabell Room.
Freed, David
1972
James Branch Cabell, Drawing by William L'Engle
This image by L'Engle (1884-1957) appears on the back of Cabell's <em>There Were Two Pirates</em>, published in 1946.
L'Engle, William
1946