Rick Geary

The Russian Revolution is complicated, and understanding the lives of its major figures is equally complicated. A short graphic biography isn’t likely to tell the whole story of Trotsky, or any of the other figures or events.

Of course, it doesn’t, but I think that’s okay. It’s a start for the reader.

I think the author and illustrator, Rick Geary, does the right thing by starting with the stark contrasts in how Trotsky is remembered — a crusading idealist, the “brain behind the show more Russian Revolution”, fighting for the people of Russia against not only the tyrannical Tsar but also the tyrannical Stalin, or the power-mad “satanic purveyor of bloody revolution”, a tyrant in his own right.

With the fall of the Soviet Union Westerners, maybe Americans in particular, are in danger of simply plowing over everything that happened as a nightmare, something that happened, is over, and we bid good riddance.

But there was a reason the Russian Revolution happened, there were ideals behind it, and there are lessons to be learned in what went wrong. You get enough here of Trotsky’s story, at the center, to appreciate the intellectual and political turmoil of the revolution and its aftermath. Trotsky’s life is a path through the twists and turns — you’ll see a great deal of what there is to see by walking it.

It’s also entertaining, and Geary’s art evokes a time and feel — the old imperial feel of tsarist Russian, the repetition of life in exile and imprisonment for Trotsky (and others), the exuberance of revolution, and the quandary of power in its aftermath. He conveys all of that in a very direct style and relatively simple drawings. He captures the mood, and he keeps his art behind the story.

You won’t, hopefully, learn everything you want to know about Trotsky and the Russian Revolution here, but it could get you going on a good path. show less

I've read just a few of Geary's graphics and they are meticulously researched. This is the case of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, who was found murdered and cut in two in Los Angeles in 1947. Elizabeth's family and childhood years, her years of waiting tables and dating soldiers are chronicled, and her multiple stays in L.A. in the hopes of becoming a movie star. There is the discovery of her body, and the investigation that had big holes in it, then the various suspects and accusations show more of police cover-ups.
I've read, listened to, and seen the case, not really studying it, so this book had several aspects I'd never heard of, such as Short's disapproving father briefly being a suspect. I also didn't know about the eventual shake-up in the L.A. police department. show less

Like all of Rick Geary's graphic novels, this was a perfectly drawn, well-researched, and succinctly told slice of history. In this case, Geary explores the intersection of old Hollywood and true crime in the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922. Back in the days when someone could move across the country and reinvent themselves, Taylor did just that -- abandoning his wife and child on the east coast and moving to Hollywood in the early 1900s where he became an actor and then director, show more eventually directing over 59 silent films. While there were many suspects including his brother, his former manservant, his current manservant, his leading lady, and his leading lady's mother, much of the evidence was destroyed at the scene due to some shoddy policework / studio clean-up men quickly removing anything that might embarrass the company and no definitive evidence pointed to a killer. I love Geary's drawing style so I'd happily read anything he wrote, but this one in particular really intersected with my interests. Highly recommended. show less

I've admired Rick Geary's ability to put a complex historical incident into quaint little boxes and somehow make it clear in the process, and his ability to reveal grayish characters in black-and-white drawings. He does all of that in this squalid tale, but he does one thing more, with the aid of an excellent map: he brings to life the glittering, hypocritical, rotten subculture where Stanford White, Harry Thaw, and Evelyn Nesbit played their parts.