JOE HILL FELICITA A GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ

It Gets Better

No sooner did we find out about Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft scoring a British Fantasy Award then we heard some even more remarkable news. The Chilean-North American Cultural Institute has honored artist Gabriel Rodriguez with their annual literary prize, the Walt Whitman Award, for his work in the field of graphic novels. It’s the first time they’ve ever bestowed the Whitman on an artist.
I’m so fucking happy for Gabe I could split; he works his balls off on Locke & Key, and the story lives on the page because of the imagination, energy, and heart he puts into it. He’s a kind and generous guy - I’m proud to call him my friend - and he’s made working on the story of the Locke family a real joy.
I’m happy for the comic, too, of course, but more than that, I’m happy for comics as a whole. It pleases me any time comic book artists are recognized and honored as storytellers practicing a unique literary form. (For me the high point of Locke & Key remains the final pages of the very first issue from Welcome To Lovecraft, when Bode discovers the ghost door. Take a look and see if you can spot what’s missing. Yeah, right: no word balloons.)
Gabe hangs around here quite a bit, so if you have a moment, pass on your congrats in the comments thread. Thanks guys… and thanks, Gabe.

Fuente, Joe Hill.com.