NICK BERTOZZI IS not a graphic novel machine. But editors and publishers might mistake him for one as the award-winning artist watches two works roll into stores within a month of each other.
"The Salon" is a beautifully drawn murder mystery set in Paris starring the likes of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. If that sounds like something from the mind of an art history student, you're on the right track.
"I took a bunch of art history courses in college, and I guess I didn't pay attention to the professor," said the artist, who will be signing his books at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda on Thursday. "Everybody in the painting field always talks about Cubism being this life-changing, art-changing, culture-changing event. I was just going, 'Why?'"
That question unfolded into a sprawling period piece in which bohemians in 1907 Paris track a murderer who is targeting painters, drink a blue absinthe that allows them to enter paintings and explore the new movements of the time.
Courtesy Nick BertozziSet one year later and across the pond in Cambridge, Mass., "Houdini: The Handcuff King," written by Jason Lutes (creator of "Jar of Fools") and illustrated by Bertozzi, offers a snapshot of the great illusionist with a peek behind the curtain at one of his tricks.
The artist, reared on a steady diet of "Tintin" and R. Crumb, had no interest in Houdini or in magic. But he took the job in part for a chance to learn from Lutes and to pencil, ink and letter the story from his writer's thumbnails.
His next project is a comic biography of comedian Lenny Bruce with "American Splendor" writer Harvey Pekar. "I know I can bring a lot to it," Bertozzi said. "But he's been writing comics for an awful long time, and I'll be interested to see what I can learn from that process."
Just don't expect him to put out another book at the same time. He's not a machine, you know.
'SALON' OF DEFENSE
Courtesy Nick Bertozzi"The Salon" made its debut in 2004 in a free mature audience preview comic released in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day. Georgia retailer Gordon Lee was arrested for accidentally distributing the book, titled "Alternative Comics #2," to a minor.
This accident unfolded into was has become an $80,000 lawsuit by the district attorney against the comic book retailer.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which defends the first amendment rights of people in the comic community, has defended Lee throughout the entire proceedings.
"It strikes me that they're going a little of the deep end, pursuing the case to a wacky degree," Bertozzi said. "It's really an unfortunate time in our culture where people have to, if they have a conflict they immediately take it to the level of a lawsuit or they get somebody arrested. There's no room for conversation. It's an unfortunate way to live."
So far, the trail has cost the nonprofit fun upwards of $80,000 and that number could rise by another $20,000, Bertozzi said.
If you'd like to donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, visit cbldf.org.
