In the ‘90s, he conceived, wrote, and drew three independent series, The Freebooters, Young Gods, and The Paradox-Man.
Part of a young generation of artists that included compatriots Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, and Jeff Jones, Windsor-Smith proceeded to carve an independent path for himself. However, in 1971 he broke from the Marvel formula when he started drawing the Conan series, turning heads with a fresh and controversial stylistic approach and winning numerous industry awards. “After putting so much time and investing so much creative energy in this project,” says Windsor-Smith, “I’m pleased that it’s finally being published.”īarry Windsor-Smith began his career by drawing mainstay Marvel characters such as the X-Men and Daredevil in 1969 in the traditional Marvel style. It is surely one of the most intense graphic novels ever drawn. Monsters is rendered in Windsor-Smith’s impeccable pen-and-ink technique the visual storytelling with its sensitivity to gesture and composition is the most sophisticated of the artist’s career. As the titular monsters of the title multiply, becoming real and metaphorical, literal and ironic, the story reaches its emotional and moral reckoning. Bailey’s only ally and protector, Sergeant McFarland, intervenes, which sets off a chain of cascading events that spin out of everyone’s control. Close-mouthed, emotionally damaged, innocent, trying to forget a past and looking for a future, it turns out that Bailey is the perfect candidate for a secret US government experimental program, an unholy continuation of a genetics program that was discovered in Nazi Germany in the waning days of World war II.
When he walks into a military recruitment office, Bobby Bailey has no idea that he is about to fulfill his tragic destiny. Trauma, fate, conscience, and redemption are a few of the themes that intersect in Windsor-Smith’s Monsters. A 360-page tour de force of visual storytelling, Monsters’ vast narrative canvas is part familial drama, part espionage thriller, part metaphysical journey - in sum, an intimate portrait of individuals and an epic political odyssey spanning two generations of American history. Monsters is the legendary project Windsor-Smith has been working on for over 35 years. Fantagraphics is excited to announce the world-wide publishing rights to Barry Windsor-Smith’s graphic novel, Monsters!
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