There were a number of charity books put together in the wake of the event with proceeds going to fire fighters and the families of those killed and such. Most of the comics versions did things to cast first responders in superheroic light. Some were quite moving. However, the one piece that stood out to me at the time -- and continues to stand out to me to this day -- was a short, two-page piece by Jon 'Bean' Hastings in which he talks about why it's important to continue to tell goofy stories about superheroes and space aliens and magic wizards and all that. Particularly in light of the past year and a half, I find myself continuing to refer back to it...
A few years ago, I reached out to Hastings and was able to buy the originals from him. I was a little surprised he still had them after 15 or 20 years or whatever it'd been. Most of the time, when I'm interested in picking up a piece of original comics art, there's a strong element of seeing the craft that went into it. The ink smudges that got digitally removed, the pencil marks that were erased but still left a slight indention in the paper, the additional piece of paper physically taped to the art board with a significant portion of the art completely redrawn on top of it... But with Hastings' piece here, it's presented pretty much exactly as he drew it. Setting aside the powerful and concise message he has here, it's just an exceptional piece that really leans into the physical craft of making comics. This kind of approach does show up from time to time in other comics, but rarely is it handled so elegantly, pretty much precisely and evenly breaking down the art process forward and back. What shows up on the art boards doesn't look any different than what wound up getting published in this instance.
Much of the original art I own has some emotional meaning for me. It comes from a particularly powerful story that I love, or the particular craftsmanship on display really strikes me as impressive, or it acts as a reminder of when I met and talked with a particular artist at a convention or something. These pages, I believe, though, are the only ones I have that do all of that. Hastings never really made it big in comics (Ironically, it was this very piece that got him set up with some connections to do other types of gigs. He mostly works as a photographer now) so he's not well-known and this particular piece wasn't as widely distributed as the memorial books by Marvel and DC. So I bring it out not infrequently because it's a great piece with an incredible and powerful message that people need to be reminded of.
Particularly on a day like today when many people are mourning both the lives lost (both in the initial attacks as well as the years-long aftermath) but also the loss of the types of lives we Americans are no longer able to lead. It's 9/11 that very directly led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE and the TSA. All this <<< waves at everything >>> comes through a direct line from 9/11. So I bring this piece back to the fore repeatedly. To remind people why stories matter. Why art matters. Even in the face of everything awful that we're forced to bear witness to every day.
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