Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Furnace
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.prentisrollinsart.com/
CITY: London
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2003039944 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2003039944 |
| HEADING: | Rollins, Prentis |
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| 001 | 5964903 |
| 005 | 20130704073751.0 |
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| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |e rda |d FJ |
| 100 | 1_ |a Rollins, Prentis |
| 372 | __ |a Comic books, strips, etc. |a Graphic novels |2 lcsh |
| 374 | __ |a Comic book artist |a Inker |
| 670 | __ |a Peyer, Tom. DC Comics two thousand, c2000: |b t.p. (Prentis Rollins, inker) |
| 670 | __ |a Comicbookdb.com, July 3, 2013 |b (Prentis Rollins; primarily an inker but also credited as penciller, cover artist, colorist) |
| 953 | __ |a lg27 |
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator and writer. Cofounder and editor of Monkeysuit Comics Anthologies, 2000-05. Has worked as an illustrator for companies, including DC Comics, Marvel, MTV, and Walt Disney.
WRITINGS
Contributor to the ShiftedMag.com website. Also, author of the books, including Survival Machine.
SIDELIGHTS
Prentis Rollins is a London-based writer and illustrator. He has created illustrations for well-known companies, including DC Comics, Marvel, MTV, and Walt Disney. Between 2000 and 2005, Rollins headed up a series of publications called the Monkeysuit Comics Anthologies. He has released graphic novels and other books of his own.
The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator
In 2006, Rollins published The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book. In this book, he pairs an original graphic novel with his explanation of how he created it. The graphic novel, called The Resonator, is on one side, while the guide is on the other. In The Resonator, set in the future, people are not able to sleep without intervention. Pharmaceutical companies have developed expensive drugs to make people sleep, but only the rich can afford them. Sleep can also be achieve through the use of devices called resonators, but those devices are not legal in the solar system. The story follows people as they deal with the conundrum surrounding sleep.
A reviewer in Publishers Weekly offered a favorable assessment of the volume. The reviewer commented: “For anyone curious about how graphic novels are made … Rollins’s book is the one to buy and read.” Becky Ohlsen, contributor to the online version of BookPage, described the illustrations in the volume as “hyper-detailed, full of mechano-organic forms and dreamy spacescapes.” Writing on the Dragon Page website, David Moldawer suggested: “The Resonator is a beautiful story told with sensitive, moody illustrations. It’s good SF—thought-provoking, perspective-widening.” Moldawer added: “It’s fascinating stuff and highly recommended.”
How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias
Rollins again offers tips to aspiring writers and illustrators in his 2016 book, How To Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias: Create the Futuristic Humans, Aliens, Robots, Vehicles, and Cities of Your Dreams and Nightmares. He discusses his own character development process and includes exercises meant to help readers better flesh out their own characters.
How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias received favorable assessments. “This book is likely to be popular with fans of the genre,” asserted Heather Halliday in Library Journal.
The Furnace
The Furnace, a graphic novel by Rollins, is set in New York, NY and jumps between the 2050s and the 2020s. It tells the story of a fateful collaboration between a student named Walton Honderich and Marc Lapore, his professor. They worked together to create a system called Gard, which has gone on to be used in abusive prison practices. Decades later, Walton is still deeply affected by his involvement in the project.
In an article he wrote on the Den of Geek website, Rollins discussed the origins of The Furnace. He stated: “All of my favorite sci-fi stories have that much in common: an intriguing speculative springboard, and ultimately a big, human point that matters right now. I wanted to write a story like that. That’s all I’ll ever care to write. The way I see it, sci-fi premises are well and good—but at the end of the day, no one gives a hoot about slow glass. They care about the Big Things.” Rollins added: “When I wrote the script, I retained the sci-fi premise—traditional prisons being phased out in favor of ‘free’ prisoners rendered invisible/untouchable by restriction drones that follow them, and the human catastrophe which ensues—but I did my best to remake the story into something an adult who’s lived a day of life could relate to and feel for.”
Critics were mixed in their assessments of The Furnace. Liz Bourke, reviewer on the Tor website, commented: “The Furnace lets its main character off the hook—free from the obligation to do any work to fix his complicity in what’s essentially torture-through-isolation, free from the obligation to learn from it and do better—because he regrets it so much he’s become a shouty alcoholic who’s trying to be a good dad. And, moreover, The Furnace reinforces a tired, clichéd portrayal of gayness.” Bourke added: “As a story, it’s shallow. Its conclusion offers a sense of redemption, but it’s unearned redemption. It feels self-indulgent, and it leaves me equal parts annoyed and enraged.” A Publishers Weekly writer suggested: “Rollins’s strong worldbuilding lends his narrative a creeping sense of prescience, sending a provocative message about what modern society is capable of.” “Even if you’re not inclined to meditate on punishment and human nature, The Furnace‘s visuals make it a page-turner,” asserted Etelka Lehoczky on the National Public Radio website. Lehoczky continued: “Rollins’ deft art beguiles even when Walton won’t stop whining. It’s hard to say what’s more visually appealing: The light, elegant lines of futuristic cites, the slightly off-kilter faces or the overflowing backgrounds that bespeak an artist who’s having as much fun as possible. Rollins’ style is tight and a bit antiseptic, like mainstream manga, but he takes plenty of chances.” Everdeen Mason, contributor to the Washington Post website, described the volume as “a vivid cautionary tale” and stated: “The book is a haunting work of science fiction.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Internet Bookwatch, October, 2016, Diane C. Donovan, review of How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias: Create the Futuristic Humans, Aliens, Robots, Vehicles, and Cities of Your Dreams and Nightmares.
Library Journal, November 1, 2016, Heather Halliday, review of How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias, p. 80.
Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2006, review of The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book, p. 47; May 14, 2018, review of The Furnace, p. 43.
School Library Journal, March, 2006, Andrea Lipinski, review of The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book, p. 246; September, 2006, Steev Baker, review of The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book, p. 244.
ONLINE
BookPage Online, https://bookpage.com/ (March 1, 2006), Becky Ohlsen, review of The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book.
Den of Geek, http://www.denofgeek.com/ (October 26, 2018), article by author.
Dragon Page, http://www.dragonpage.com/ (April 30, 2006), David Moldawer, review of The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator: Double Sided Flip Book.
National Public Radio Online, https://www.npr.org/ (July 11, 2018), Etelka Lehoczky, review of The Furnace.
Prentis Rollins Art website, https://www.prentisrollinsart.com/ (October 26, 2018).
Thought Bubble Festival website, https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/ (October 26, 2018), author profile.
Tor, https://www.tor.com/ (July 20, 2018), Liz Bourke, review of The Furnace.
Washington Post Online, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ (July 6, 2018), Everdeen Mason, review of The Furnace.
Here's the short form:
I've been a professional illustrator for over 25
years--there, you're all nice and caught up.
Some more details:
My clients have included Marvel and DC Comics (I've worked on virtually every major character in the DC Universe at one time or another), Broadway Comics, Walt Disney Animation, Celestial Pictures (Hong Kong), MTV, Smoke Magazine, Little Planet Publishing, Foran Films, Cinebop Ltd, Geffen Records (I contributed to the artwork for the cover of Genius/GZA's platinum-selling album Liquid Swords), Danger Pigeon Studios, LLC., Go Creative (Magnet Harlequin), and Analog Shift (I am currently illustrating the serialized graphic novel 'The Adventures of Jed Rex: Crush Depth' appearing bi-monthly in the online magazine Shiftedmag.com. I was a co-founder and editor of the Monekysuit Comics Anthologies (2000-2005), and I drew the animated interstitials for the Broadway production of 'Avenue Q'. My publications include: Survival Machine (Stories) (Monkeysuit Press, 2002), The Making of a Graphic Novel (Watson-Guptill, 2006), How to Draw Sci-fi Utopias and Dystopias (The Monacelli Press, 2016), and The Furnace (graphic novel, Tor Books, forthcoming July 2018). I'm represented by Bob Mecoy of Creative Book Services, New York.
prentis rollins
Prentis Rollins is a veteran of the American comics industry—his credits include
Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Lantern Corps, JLA: Incarnations, DC 1,000,000, New X-Men, Impulse, Batman: The Ultimate Evil, and Hardware.
He is the author of the books The Making of a Graphic Novel and How to Draw Sci-fi Utopias and Dystopias.
His graphic novel The Furnace, over five years in the making, pubs in July of 2018 from Tor Books.
Prentis lives in London with his family—he’s very excited to be at Thought
Bubble for the first time.
QUOTED: "All of my favorite sci-fi stories have that much in common: an intriguing speculative springboard, and ultimately a big, human point that matters right now. I wanted to write a story like that. That’s all I’ll ever care to write. The way I see it, sci-fi premises are well and good—but at the end of the day, no one gives a hoot about slow glass. They care about the Big Things."
"When I wrote the script, I retained the sci-fi premise—traditional prisons being phased out in favor of ‘free’ prisoners rendered invisible/untouchable by restriction drones that follow them, and the human catastrophe which ensues—but I did my best to remake the story into something an adult who’s lived a day of life could relate to and feel for."
How Sci-fi, Edward Albee, and Eugene O’Neill Led Me to the Big Things Behind the Furnace
Prentis Rollins leads us through the inspirations behind his literary science fiction graphic novel debut The Furnace.
Feature Prentis Rollins
Jun 28, 2018
This is a guest post by Marvel and DC Comics artist Prentis Rollins, author of graphic novel The Furnace.
Profiting off human suffering is The American Way.
So it seemed to me in 1998, when I first wrote The Furnace as a short prose story for a writers’ workshop in New York City. Twenty years later, it seems more the case than ever, for too many reasons and on too many fronts; now, my graphic novel of The Furnace (out July 2018 from Tor Books) may prove sadly relevant.
The prose story started as just an exercise. I had recently read two short stories that shaped my aesthetic, and continue to do so to this day. One was Bob Shaw’s Light of Other Days. The sci-fi premise of that story is slow glass—a material that looks and feels like ordinary glass, but which is several light years thick (meaning it takes light several years to pass through a pane of it). The slow glass conceit is fascinating enough, and convincingly described—but the story turns out to be about loss, regret, memory, and love—the Big Things.
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The other story was James Blish’s short masterpiece, Common Time, which is about an astronaut’s lone voyage to Alpha Centauri, and his beautiful, hazily-remembered encounter with the loving alien who helps to repair his disabled starship. Again, the science part was Gibraltar-solid: thought-out, authentic, more than convincing. But the fiction part—the beating heart of the story, which was again about love, memory, and the yawning gulf between our moments of transcendence and the gray common time of daily existence—stuck in my craw, and is still there.
All of my favorite sci-fi stories have that much in common: an intriguing speculative springboard, and ultimately a big, human point that matters right now. I wanted to write a story like that. That’s all I’ll ever care to write. The way I see it, sci-fi premises are well and good—but at the end of the day, no one gives a hoot about slow glass. They care about the Big Things.
My topic with The Furnace short story was prisons and prisoners. Sometime around 2040 an aging physicist tells his young daughter about his youthful involvement in the development of the GARD program—a scheme for replacing traditional prisons with personal robots that follow "free" prisoners around and render them invisible and inaudible, and restrict their movements. Through a series of flashbacks, the reader saw the physicist as a young grad student involved in developing the program, and the devastating consequences—the wholesale die-off of the prisoners subjected to this untested new form of psychological isolation. And that was pretty much it.
The story was well-received by the workshop. Or at least it was… well, received. I mainly recall that group members seemed put off by having to read 40 or so whole pages—which, yeah, was a bit much for a bunch of accountant-types dreaming of a townhouse at the corner of Novelist and Easy Street. They suffered, I profited. Carole Bugge, the workshop leader and a terrific writer, was very encouraging.
So. No one’s world was exactly rocked by the story, but it continued to haunt/exercise me—and at a certain point it occurred to me that it might have more impact if it were visual. I’d been drawing comics since I was a kid, and was in the thick of my career as an inker for DC Comics—I decided to transform The Furnace into a graphic novel. This was in 2007. Nine years later, I finished it.
Funnily enough, I didn’t have a single surviving copy of the prose story; every printed copy was long gone, and I had neglected to save it digitally. So when I set about writing a graphic novel script of the story, I had to reconstruct it entirely from memory. This was probably actually a good thing—not being shackled to a pre-existing vision of the story, I was free to morph it in accordance with how I’d changed in the intervening years.
And I had. I’d actually become a father myself, and in 2007 my daughter was six—the age of the protagonist’s daughter in the graphic novel. My career at DC had flourished, but: a) I felt, well, uneasy continuously pinning my aspirations on an industry for which being on its death bed, wracked with fever and a rib-breaking cough, is the norm, and b) entering my forties, I realized that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my career inking other people’s work. No matter how fun it is. And it is. Working at home, getting paid (!) to draw people in tights beating the crap out of—Jesus, don’t get me started. It is fun, let’s leave it at that—but I was beginning to feel that maybe I had better fish to fry.
I’d also done a not insignificant amount of reading in the early 2000’s. Not comic books, I hasten to add—funnily enough, I generally find superhero comics a crashing bore to read (I like to tell people that, when it comes to superhero mags, I deal but rarely use). It was two American plays that determined the narrative and thematic trajectories that the graphic novel would finally follow: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, by Eugene O’Neill.
These two plays, which are Orion and Taurus in the firmament of American theater, have several things in common. Each has exactly four (main) characters, at least two of which are flaming alcoholics. Each deals with the plutonium-hot emotional dynamic between these characters. Each swirls cat-4 storm-like around the safety/fate of a favored child. And each, in its own way, is about something awful that happened a long time ago, but which continues to distort the present (a lot of American classics are about time—in particular, about the past and how it lingers into and shapes the present. The Sound and The Fury. The Great Gatsby—which is referenced several times in The Furnace).
That was the tradition I wanted to put The Furnace in, and the level of emotional impact I at least wanted to aim for. When I wrote the script, I retained the sci-fi premise—traditional prisons being phased out in favor of ‘free’ prisoners rendered invisible/untouchable by restriction drones that follow them, and the human catastrophe which ensues—but I did my best to remake the story into something an adult who’s lived a day of life could relate to and feel for.
As I see it, the graphic novel is about a man who views himself as a war criminal: he is directly implicated in the development of the GARD program; he sees himself as a failure on every conceivable level—as a scientist, as a husband, as a father, as a human being. At the eleventh hour it’s his six year-old daughter who shows him that the greatness he thinks has eluded him might, just might, barely remain within reach. Like the plays that informed its final form, The Furnace has four main characters (two of which are in a losing battle with alcohol), a child’s welfare hangs in the balance, and the real story happened a long time ago.
The Furnace will be released on July 10th. It is now available for pre-order!
PRENTIS ROLLINS has over 20 years of experience working as a writer and artist in the comics industry. His previous titles include How to Draw Sci-fi Utopias and Dystopias, The Making of a Graphic Novel, and Survival Machine (Stories). He has also worked for DC Comics between 1993-2013 for titles such as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, JLA, and dozens more. The Furnace is his debut full-length graphic novel. He lives in London with his wife and three children. You can check out more of his work at: www.prentisrollinsart.com.
QUOTED: "Rollins's strong worldbuilding lends his narrative a creeping sense of prescience, sending a provocative message about what modern society is capable of."
The Furnace
Publishers Weekly.
265.20 (May 14, 2018): p43. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Furnace
Prentis Rollins.Tor, $19.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-7653-9868-0
This ambitious solo effort by Rollins, a frequent Marvel and DC comics artist, offers an unsettling cautionary critique on the misuse of technology to further the marginalization of society's "undesirables." An aging physicist visiting 2052 New York City, Walton Honderich recounts his participation in a prison program that rendered supermax criminals silent and unseen. Nearly 30 years earlier, Walton, then an undergrad student, reluctantly helped brilliant- but-unstable professor Marc Lapore design the "Gard" security software. The program assigned a floating drone to released criminals, which rendered them invisible and unable to communicate and "immobilized" them if they stepped out of line--essentially enforcing eternal solitary confinement in the outside world. Through conversation and backstory, Rollins carefully crafts Walton and Marc as complex but flawed characters; Marc is a repressed gay man with outsized ambition and a self-destructive streak, while Walton is timid, overwhelmed by stunted ambition and, later, guilt. The detailed artwork is grounded in the familiar world, which makes the futuristic details pop--such as an eerie, menacing Gard hovering above its implied captive in the middle of a beautiful, snow-covered Central Park--and the inevitable play-out of consequences feel all the more disturbing. Rollins's strong worldbuilding lends his narrative a creeping sense of
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prescience, sending a provocative message about what modern society is capable of bringing about, and at what cost. Agent: Bob Mecoy, Creative Book Services. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Furnace." Publishers Weekly, 14 May 2018, p. 43. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A539387432/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=b143a454. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A539387432
QUOTED: "This book is likely to be popular with fans of the genre."
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Rollins, Prentis. How To Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias: Create the Futuristic Humans, Aliens, Robots, Vehicles, and Cities of Your Dreams
and Nightmares
Heather Halliday
Library Journal.
141.18 (Nov. 1, 2016): p80. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
ART INSTRUCTION
* Rollins, Prentis. How To Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias: Create the Futuristic Humans, Aliens, Robots, Vehicles, and Cities of Your Dreams and Nightmares. Monacelli. Sept. 2016. 208p. illus. index. ISBN 9781580934466. pap. $25.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Seasoned DC Comics illustrator Rollins {The Making of a Graphic Novel) shares his process for creating sf characters and scenes. Since the genre is rather conceptual and dependent on narrative, the 32 exercises in this guide each begin with a "case study" scenario, establishing a specific date, location, and unique situation as context. Besides completed illustrations, the book includes film and television stills, diagramed sketches, and Photoshop screenshots for inspiration and illumination. Rollins takes readers through the steps of brainstorming, pencil sketches, inking, and finally the digital addition of color. VERDICT There is considerable practical application of sf illustration in movies, TV, comic books, and video games, and many enjoy it for its own sake, thus this book is likely to be popular with fans of the genre.
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HEATHER HALLIDAY, American Jewish Historical Soc., New York Halliday, Heather
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Halliday, Heather. "Rollins, Prentis. How To Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias: Create the
Futuristic Humans, Aliens, Robots, Vehicles, and Cities of Your Dreams and Nightmares." Library Journal, 1 Nov. 2016, p. 80. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com /apps/doc/A467830360/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=8d0ee930. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A467830360
QUOTED: "For anyone curious about how graphic novels are made ... Rollins's book is the one to buy and read."
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The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator
Publishers Weekly.
253.5 (Jan. 30, 2006): p47. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2006 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator PRENTIS ROLLINS. Watson-Guptill, $19.95 (168p) ISBN 0-8230-3053-9
For anyone curious about how graphic novels are made--not just how they're conceived, but how they're turned from an idea into inked Bristol-board completion--Rollins's book is the one to buy and read. Rollins, a professional comic-book artist who has "worked on virtually every character in the DC Universe," is an earnest, easy-to-understand adviser who's generous with his insights about craft and techniques. What makes this such a useful guide is that it's also a flip book: read one side, and you get a clear account of how Rollins puts together his graphic novel; turn the book over, and you can read the work he's created, a science fiction story set in a future where people no longer sleep. (Rollins suggests that you read the graphic novel first--that way, the how- to section is easier to follow.) It's a clever conceit, privileging neither component. The Resonator is drawn in exquisite, techno-heavy detail, with lush textures whose secrets are explained in the book's other half' The "making of" portion of the book is likewise lavishly illustrated with working drafts, thumbnails and extensive information on pens, lettering and other shortcuts of the trade. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator." Publishers Weekly, 30 Jan. 2006, p. 47. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A141704947/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=1ed082d9. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A141704947
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Rollins, Prentis. The Making of a
Graphic Novel
Andrea Lipinski
School Library Journal.
52.3 (Mar. 2006): p246. From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lipinski, Andrea. "Rollins, Prentis. The Making of a Graphic Novel." School Library Journal,
Mar. 2006, p. 246. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A143721233/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=18ec284e. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A143721233
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Rollins, Prentis. The Making of a
Graphic Novel/the Resonator:
Double-Sided Flip Book
Steev Baker
School Library Journal.
52.9 (Sept. 2006): p244. From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Baker, Steev. "Rollins, Prentis. The Making of a Graphic Novel/the Resonator: Double-Sided
Flip Book." School Library Journal, Sept. 2006, p. 244. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A151664023/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=be940390. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A151664023
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How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and
Dystopias
Diane C. Donovan
Internet Bookwatch.
(Oct. 2016): From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Donovan, Diane C. "How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias." Internet Bookwatch, Oct.
2016. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469849812 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=ac73e2d4. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469849812
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QUOTED: "hyper-detailed, full of mechano-organic forms and dreamy spacescapes."
Book reviews
The Making of a Graphic Novel
Prentis Rollins
BookPage review by Becky Ohlsen
March 2006
In The Making of a Graphic Novel, author-illustrator Prentis Rollins' science-fiction graphic novel The Resonator doubles as a how-to book about writing and illustrating comics. The original novel is about an industrialized future in which humans have worked themselves into a sleepless society, and one man figures out a way to break free of it. Its black-and-white pages are hyper-detailed, full of mechano-organic forms and dreamy spacescapes. At the end of the story, you flip the book over and learn how the author created it. If you've ever wondered how comic-book letterers get all those words to fit into speech bubbles, or what the heck a rapidograph or liquid frisket is, this is your book.
Medium
The Making of a Graphic Novel
By Prentis Rollins
Watson-Guptill
$19.95
ISBN 9780823030538
Graphic Novels & Comics / Graphic Novels
QUOTED: "The Resonator is a beautiful story told with sensitive, moody illustrations. It's good SF—thought-provoking, perspective-widening."
"It's fascinating stuff and highly recommended."
Review: "The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator" by Prentis Rollins
April 30, 2006 by David Moldawer Leave a Comment
Resonator by Prentis Rollins The books that I review for the Dragon Page are usually sent to me by publicists but, in this case, I saw The Resonator reviewed in Publishers Weekly and decided I had to own it. It's a graphic novel, but I think some of the C2C listeners might enjoy it, so...
This is one of those ideas that seems so obvious you wonder why it hasn't been done before. Writer-artist Rollins, who's worked extensively for DC Comics, splits his book in half. Begin from one side of the flip book, and you get The Resonator, a lovely, oblique graphic novel about a future world where sleep is a luxury. The continuously-laboring inhabitants of this H.R. Giger-esque solar system can't really get any shut-eye without the help of special drugs, which are legal but expensive and saved for special occasions, or "resonators," mysterious devices that can also bring sleep but are, for reasons unknown, highly illegal.
The Resonator is a beautiful story told with sensitive, moody illustrations. It's good SF—thought-provoking, perspective-widening—and I would recommend it on those terms alone. However, if you flip the book over, you can also enjoy Rollins's compelling treatise on how he created The Resonator from the conceptual phase all the way to the inking process. I'm not an artist—I couldn't draw a circle with a compass, in fact—but I found The Making of a Graphic Novel revealing about both the art of the graphic novel and the creative process in general. It's fascinating stuff, and highly recommended to both fans of graphic novels as well as would-be novelists, graphic or otherwise.
The Making of a Graphic Novel/The Resonator
Published by: Watson-Guptill Publications (January 15, 2006)
ISBN: 0823030539
Genre: Far future sci fi graphic novel/graphic novel how-to
http://www.dragonpage.com/2006/04/30/review-the-making-of-a-graphic-novelthe-resonator/
QUOTED: "The Furnace lets its main character off the hook—free from the obligation to do any work to fix his complicity in what’s essentially torture-through-isolation, free from the obligation to learn from it and do better—because he regrets it so much he’s become a shouty alcoholic who’s trying to be a good dad. And, moreover, The Furnace reinforces a tired, clichéd portrayal of gayness."
"As a story, it’s shallow. Its conclusion offers a sense of redemption, but it’s unearned redemption. It feels self-indulgent, and it leaves me equal parts annoyed and enraged."
book reviews
Clichéd Storytelling: The Furnace by Prentis Rollins
Liz Bourke
Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:30pm Post a comment 1 Favorite [+]
At their best, graphic novels—comics—combine visual intensity and compelling narrative, like a television show without the drawbacks of actors and a special effects budget, and I’ve read enough to I know what I like. Veristic art, with clean lines and either black & white or strong, realistic colours; narratives that include interesting women (you’d never have guessed that one); and a strong thematic argument.
When I heard that Tor Books was publishing an original science fiction graphic novel called The Furnace, I was pretty interested.
I’m aware of my ignorance when it comes to graphic novels. Unlike with the non-graphic kind, I haven’t read widely enough to have a solid grasp on the genre’s more interesting nuances—though I’ve tried, on occasion, to get something of an overview. (It turns out I’m much more of a fan of Greg Rucka’s Stumptown and G. Willow Wilson’s current run on Ms. Marvel, of Squirrel Girl and Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja and Ursula Vernon’s Digger, than I am of Alan Moore or Frank Miller.)
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The Furnace is written by Prentis Rollins, whose bio outs him as a 25-year veteran of the comics industry. Rollins is an illustrator by trade, and the art of The Furnace is all his doing. Art-wise, the book is visually very pleasing: the panels are cleanly laid out in a manner that makes the story’s progression easy to read and follow; the characters are visually distinct, the backgrounds full of life and movement. It’s very nice: the kind of quiet competence that doesn’t draw attention to itself and takes a long time to perfect.
The narrative, though. Unlike the art, the narrative is not particularly impressive. Not, at least, to me. It feels shallow, reductive, and self-indulgent, without a real emotional arc: the narrative of a flawed man wallowing in his moral failures because he doesn’t have the strength to accept them and move on.
But then, my tolerance for stories of straight white men in prestigious careers and how their moral weakness is the defining trauma of their adulthood is at an all-time low. (I’m sure it could get lower yet: I’m only in my early thirties, after all.) And my tolerance for stories in which gay white men are tortured by their fathers for their soi-disant “deviance” and go on to die young of overindulgence in alcohol (“Bury Your Gays” strikes again) is also very low. Especially when that death comes after said gay man has (a) attempted to proposition the straight guy narrator, declaring his unrequited love and attraction, and (b) successfully convinced the straight guy narrator to smother his moral qualms at being part of a government project that’s essentially a giant human rights abuse.
These kinds of storytelling choices make me blisteringly angry. The Furnace lets its main character off the hook—free from the obligation to do any work to fix his complicity in what’s essentially torture-through-isolation, free from the obligation to learn from it and do better—because he regrets it so much he’s become a shouty alcoholic who’s trying to be a good dad. And, moreover, The Furnace reinforces a tired, clichéd portrayal of gayness. (As well as doubling down on “brilliant genius asshole.”)
Good luck finding an adult female character in this graphic novel, by the way.
So, what’s the story? As a young graduate student, Walton Honderich was recruited by Marc Lepore to test his code. Lepore was working on a government project—the GARD programme—in which thousands of convicted criminals were to be given GARD units that rendered them invisible and unable to interact with the rest of humanity, and released from confinement. (Isolation is a well-recognised form of torture, but this graphic novel is set in the near-future U.S.A., so that’s pretty believable. On the other hand, considering how much the for-profit prison industry in America benefits from the forced labour of prisoners, my suspension of disbelief was rather rocky.) Honderich has qualms about the ethics of the project, but ultimately signs off on it. But shortly afterwards, Lepore dies, and with him dies the ability to shut down the GARD programme without killing the prisoners.
This is terrible science, and bad engineering, and has consequences.
Twenty years later, Honderich returns to America, a cranky alcoholic with a young daughter upon whom he dotes, and is faced with evidence of his youthful moral weakness. He attempts to explain the story to his daughter, and the final panels are of his daughter displaying compassion, and father-daughter familial bonding and reconciliation.
As a story, it’s shallow. Its conclusion offers a sense of redemption, but it’s unearned redemption. It feels self-indulgent, and it leaves me equal parts annoyed and enraged.
I really can’t recommend The Furnace. But I suspect it will appeal to people who can see themselves in Honderich and his choices, and who have more sympathy for his self-indulgent self-flagellation and its effects on the people around him than I do.
The Furnace is available from Tor Books.
Preview a selection from the graphic novel here.
Liz Bourke is a cranky queer person who reads books. She holds a Ph.D in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. Her first book, Sleeping With Monsters, a collection of reviews and criticism, was published in 2017 by Aqueduct Press. It was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Awards and is nominated for a Hugo Award in Best Related Work. Find her at her blog, where she’s been known to talk about even more books thanks to her Patreon supporters. Or find her at her Twitter. She supports the work of the Irish Refugee Council, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, and the Abortion Rights Campaign.
QUOTED: "Even if you're not inclined to meditate on punishment and human nature, The Furnace's visuals make it a page-turner."
"Rollins' deft art beguiles even when Walton won't stop whining. It's hard to say what's more visually appealing: The light, elegant lines of futuristic cites, the slightly off-kilter faces or the overflowing backgrounds that bespeak an artist who's having as much fun as possible. Rollins' style is tight and a bit antiseptic, like mainstream manga, but he takes plenty of chances."
Floating Prison Drones Equal Menace In 'The Furnace'
July 11, 20187:00 AM ET
Etelka Lehoczky
The Furnace
The Furnace
by Prentis Rollins
Paperback, 192 pages
purchase
When we think about prison, we tend to think about vision. For centuries the ultimate prison design has been Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, which allows a single guard to monitor numerous prisoners without them knowing exactly when they're being watched. In modern times, the theme of vision governs prison policy outside the walls, too. Americans don't want to see what goes on in our prisons, so we put them far away — sometimes even in other countries' hinterlands, where their very existence is kept secret. But we get curious, so we generate floods of fictional and documentary entertainment promising uncensored glimpses through the bars.
All these paradoxes fuel Prentis Rollins' sci-fi graphic novel The Furnace. Rollins imagines a future where society simultaneously expunges prisoners from its landscape and makes their plight powerfully, alarmingly conspicuous. In a concept similar to the "blocking" technology from the "Arkangel" episode of Netflix's Black Mirror, Rollins' near-future government uses mobile invisibility fields to both mask and regulate its most dangerous criminals.
The fields are generated by black metal spheres, bristling with ominous appendages, that float just above the invisible person. Called GARDs, these drones hover over the crowds in urban areas, keeping the prisoners beneath out of sight and out of communication with ordinary people. The architecture of state power is menacingly ever-present, but the individuals caught within it are obliterated.
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Besides being deprived of the ability to be seen, the prisoners are kept from seeing their floating jailers. A GARD, explains the brilliant and unscrupulous scientist Marc Lepore, "is always exactly one meter behind and .5 meters above the prisoner's head. If the prisoner looks one way, it moves the other, as quickly as it needs to." A particularly thoughtful kind of malice would seem to be required to cripple an invisible prisoner's perceptions in such a deliberate (and thematically resonant) way. But this malicious mind is never evident in The Furnace — on the contrary, one of Rollins' themes is the corruptibility of ordinary men. The scientists we see working to refine the GARDs — Lepore and protagonist Walton — are only carrying out orders from higher up. The whole sadistic program seems to have evolved through a series of bureaucratic decisions: The GARDs are cheaper than traditional incarceration, they allow the prisoners a degree of freedom, and so on.
The GARD idea is weird enough, and Rollins is a good enough storyteller, that the narrative remains unpredictable. That keeps things interesting when Walton's endless self-recriminations get to be too soggy. In truth, this book's greatest weakness is its protagonist. Walton was once a brilliant young scientist, but he's never stopped regretting his involvement in the GARD program — and although Rollins suggests this regret is what's turned Walton into a washed-up alcoholic, it's hard to imagine any better fate for such a sad sack. His fellow scientist Marc may be more evil, but at least he's not a sap.
Even if you're not inclined to meditate on punishment and human nature, 'The Furnace's visuals make it a page-turner.
Fortunately, Rollins' deft art beguiles even when Walton won't stop whining. It's hard to say what's more visually appealing: The light, elegant lines of futuristic cites, the slightly off-kilter faces or the overflowing backgrounds that bespeak an artist who's having as much fun as possible. Rollins' style is tight and a bit antiseptic, like mainstream manga, but he takes plenty of chances. He delights in the formal problems presented by deep, complicated compositions and bodies viewed from unusual angles. Those backgrounds are a wonder, too: He throws in all sorts of incongruous detail just because he can. When Walton and Marc walk on the beach, chewing over the ethics of GARDs yet again, Rollins allows their hair to blow every which way and, for his own oddball reasons, fills the sky with faint topographic-style outlines.
Whoever it was at Tor, Rollins' publisher, who decided to print The Furnace on uncoated stock was really onto something. The butter-colored, textured paper immediately imbues the book with a sense of artistic portent and indie idiosyncrasy. A slick surface would have accentuated the cleanness of Rollins' style, making it seem sterile and mass-produced, but the slight roughness offsets his sharp lines nicely. Even if you're not inclined to meditate on punishment and human nature, The Furnace's visuals make it a page-turner.
Etelka Lehoczky has written about books for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Salon.com. She tweets at @EtelkaL.
QUOTED: "a vivid cautionary tale."
"The book is a haunting work of science fiction."
Best science fiction and fantasy books out this month
By Everdeen Mason
July 6
The Furnace (Tor)
“The Furnace,” by Prentis Rollins (Tor)
Comic-book artist Prentis Rollins uses art and words to tell a vivid cautionary tale about technology gone awry. Walton Honderich, a former physicist, is visiting New York City in the year 2052 with his wife and young daughter when he is nearly unraveled by the sight of a floating drone on the snowy streets of the city. In a hotel room one morning, he begins to tell his daughter about his complicity in a prison program that assigned a drone to released criminals. It rendered the convicts invisible and unable to communicate with the outside world, but free to move about in it. After 20 years, Honderich can see what he and a friend have wrought — and is terrified. Told almost entirely in flashback and through conversations, the book is a haunting work of science fiction.