September 25, 2002
A Berkeley resident and winner of an American Book Award for Flood!: A Novel in Pictures, Drooker collaborated with Allen Ginsberg on Illuminated Poems and has contributed covers to his hometown magazine, The New Yorker. Drooker has also lent his vision to album covers for bands such as Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine. His stark and compelling images are the perfect foil for the sounds of social unrest and class division. Subtitled "A Silent Ballad," this four-color graphic novel is set in a jungle land that hints at being in Southeast Asia. When the horrors of war interrupt the idyllic existence they've always known, a girl and her loyal dog are forced to undertake a perilous journey to the big city. Here, a street musician faces police brutality, and the characters must adapt to a new world, finding common threads of hope and perseverance. The author's scratchboard-and-watercolor technique echoes that of Frans Masereel (1889-1972), the Belgian pacifist whose block-print novels have led some to call him the greatest woodcut artist of the last century. Drooker carries on that hauntingly beautiful tradition of telling stories with pictures--a practice that predates the written word. His use of severe lines, stark contrast, and an occasional splash of color bring out the strong emotions in a saga that really doesn't need anything else.