History Lesson

Responding to a request by fellow ink stud Joel Priddy, the following is a story I created last year for a series of history textbooks to be published by McGraw-Hill. He explains the genesis of the project far better and more eloquently on his blog, but here are the quick facts: The books were to be aimed to junior-high students, and would kick off chapters about specific historical eras with "graphic novel" stories relating to what the students were about to read. I worked on this project for the better part of 2005, as did a couple dozen or so other artists.

Of the first batch, completed last February, this was my favorite...a chapter on the gold rush, showing how small towns erupted and prospered furiously when gold was discovered nearby, only to die just as furiously when the riches dried up. I'll be posting a page a day, so be sure to check back often. And to my regular readers, fret not....although these pages contain a necessary dearth of hot, randy pin-up chicks, I'll try to post an image or two to keep you going amidst all this fancy book-learnin'!

Also, comments on these pages are not only welcome, they're emphatically requested! Don't make me beg, people!