Hinds, Gareth 1971–

PERSONAL:

Born 1971. Education: Attended Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989-91; Parsons School of Design, B.F.A., 1994.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—gareth@garethhinds.com.

CAREER:

Educator, illustrator, and author. Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, instructor, 2001. Illustrator for video games, including Flight Unlimited, LookingGlass Technologies, 1995, and Ratatouille, Helixe Games, 2007. Exhibitions: Has exhibited work at the RSVP Award Show, New York, NY, 1997; GalleryFX, Massachusetts, 2000; Somerville Comix Festival Exhibition, MA, 2001; Society of Illustrators Exhibition, New York, NY, 2001; New York Historical Society: Slavery in New York, New York, NY, 2005; and Helen Day Art Center: Fine Toon, Vermont, 2007.

WRITINGS:

GRAPHIC NOVELS

(Adapter and illustrator) Beowulf, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

(Adapter and illustrator) The Merchant of Venice, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2008.

Also adaptor and illustrator of Bearskin, privately printed, 1997, and King Lear, privately printed, 2007. Shorter works have appeared in anthologies, including EXPO 2003 and Imagination Rocket, and on the Web.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gareth Hinds is an illustrator, computer game artist, and graphic novelist who has drawn attention to his graphic-novel adaptations of literary classics. He is also known for switching illustrating styles from novel to novel and among his shorter works. "I can't help it," the author attested on the his personal Web site. "When I was in art school, all my teachers told us we had to pick a style if we wanted to get work as freelance illustrators, but I just never could do it. And then I had one teacher who instead told me that I should create my own projects and do them obsessively well, and I'd find a way to make money off them—and he was by far the most successful of the lot, so who would you listen to?"

The author's adaptations—including Beowulf, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and Bearskin, which he adapted from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale—have been critically successful and popular with educators. "The kids would literally line up at the end of the day to sign out the books because I only had 30 and there were 60 kids in three classes," noted high school English teacher Del Torchio in a Boston Globe article by Stephen Krcmar. "For high school kids, 12th-graders, to line up for any kind of book is great." New York University faculty member Karen Karbiener reported in the same article: "Gareth is a literate guy. He's read his history and his literature. He knows the culture of Anglo-Saxon England."

Hinds's 2007 adaptation of Beowulf received widespread critical approval. "This thousand-year-old narrative is expertly told in both pictures and words," wrote a contributor to the Destined to Become a Classic Web site. A contributor to the Flipbook Web site called Beowulf "a total feast for the senses and beautifully done. The artwork is just amazing," adding: "Everything about it is gorgeous, the colors, the art, the movement and fluidity of the hero's body as it battles with Grendel who is marvelously hideous."

The original Beowulf was written by an unknown author in Old English between 800 and 1100 C.E. "The poem has survived … because of what it has to say about the nature and value of friendship, character, leadership, loyalty, and glory," explained Martha P. Parravano in Horn Book. The epic poem features Beowulf, a hero of the Geats who does battle with Grendel, a monstrous opponent attacking the inhabitants of a Danish mead called Heorot. After defeating Grendel, Beowulf goes on to fight Grendel's mother, described by New York Times Book Review contributor Charles McGrath as "a fearsome swamp creature, hell-bent on avenging her creepy son." Many years later, the hero must also battle a dragon hoarding a treasure. He is mortally wounded in the confrontation. Writing on Blogcritics.org, Sibin Mohan related: "Hinds' storytelling style is really interesting…. [He] is able to make us aware of the fickle nature of life using the story of the rise and fall of even a great, mythical warrior. He evokes wonder and pity for the same character by judicious use of imagery that will stay with us long after we have put down the book." McGrath stated: "The story is so powerful and so elemental that it has inspired countless retellings—in movies, cartoons, even an opera. There have also been a couple of comic-book versions, and working from this tradition, the graphic novelist Gareth Hinds has reimagined Beowulf as a kind of superhero tale."

In an interview with Karen Flage on the Sequential Tart Web site, Hinds was asked to comment on why he chose to do Beowulf. Hinds responded: "I'm not sure I want to get into a lengthy discussion of what makes Beowulf special, in a literary sense. At the time that I was casting about for what became the Beowulf project, I was really looking for an action epic. I essentially wanted to do a superhero book, without the modern superhero conventions. There are plenty of other stories I could've chosen in that vein, but I am a big fan of Beowulf, and so are a couple of my friends, who went bonkers for the idea."

The author's efforts were praised by numerous other critics. "I have read a number of graphic adaptations of classic literature, but I've never seen one as visually impressive as Hinds's Beowulf," wrote George Galuschak in Kliatt. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that Beowulf "makes an ideal introduction to a story without which the entire fantasy genre would look very different."

In his King Lear adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Hinds provides his unique illustrative perspective on William Shakespeare's tragic tale of an elderly ruler who says he will retire and divide his kingdom among his three daughters. However, Lear openly and foolishly states that the daughter who loves him the most will receive the biggest share. "For powerful drama with quality art, this adaptation is the one to choose," concluded Jesse Karp in Booklist.

The Merchant of Venice is another Shakespeare play adapted as a graphic novel by the author. The play is classified as a romantic comedy but has many dramatic scenes in the story of Shylock, a Jewish money lender who demands payment on a loan from the title character, the merchant Antonio. "Fans of the play will find this an intriguing adaptation," reported a Publishers Weekly contributor.

In an interview with Kim De Vries on the Sequential Tart Web site, Hinds commented on how his modest use of text in his graphic adaptations of complex classics. The author told De Vries that "for one thing I'm replacing all the description with images, and also in most of these stories there tends to be a lot of repetition." Hinds added: "That's part of the oral tradition, and I try to keep enough of that so the reader is aware of it, but I can also cut quite a bit of it out without really losing anything."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2007, Jesse Karp, review of Beowulf, p. 86; February 1, 2008, Jesse Karp, review of King Lear, p. 44.

Boston Globe, August 29, 2004, Stephen Krcmar, "Beowulf, the Modern Superhero Version: An Artist Draws the Young into Classics."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July-August, 2007, Karen Coats, review of Beowulf, p. 470.

Horn Book, July 1, 2007, Martha P. Parravano, review of Beowulf, p. 412.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2007, review of Beowulf.

Kliatt, May, 2007, George Galuschak, review of Beowulf, p. 32.

New York Times Book Review, June 17, 2007, Charles McGrath, "Children's Books," p. 17.

Publishers Weekly, March 5, 2007, review of Beowulf, p. 63; February 4, 2008, review of The Merchant of Venice, p. 43.

School Library Journal, May, 2007, Heather M. Campbell, review of Beowulf, p. 171.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2007, Timothy Capehart, review of Beowulf, p. 162.

ONLINE

Blogcritics.org,http://blogcritics.org/ (February 25, 2007), Sibin Mohan, "Graphic Novel Review: Beowulf by Gareth Hinds."

Destined to Become a Classic,http://destinedtobecomeaclassic.blogspot.com/ (January 15, 2008), review of Beowulf.

Flipbook,http://ginasflipbook.animationblogspot.com/ (February 18, 2007), review of Beowulf.

Gareth Hinds Home Page,http://www.garethhinds.com (April 13, 2008).

Sequential Tart,http://www.sequentialtart.com/ (April 13, 2008), Karon Flage, "Classics Redrawn; Gareth Hinds"; Kim De Vries, "Art from the Outside; Gareth Hinds."