HORNSCHEMEIER, Paul 1977-

PERSONAL: Born 1977. Education: Earned degree in philosophy.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Forlorn Funnies, 2324 West Walton, 3F, Chicago, IL 60622. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Dark Horse Comics, 10956 SE Main Street, Milwaukie, OR 97222. E-mail—feedback@sequentialcomics.com.

CAREER: Comic-book artist and author.

WRITINGS:

Stand on a Mountain, Look Back: Sequential Book Seven, Last Gasp (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Mother, Come Home, introduction by Thomas Tennant, Dark Horse Comics, (Milwaukie, OR) 2003.

The Collected Sequential, AdHouse Books (Richmond, VA), 2004.

Return of the Elephant, AdHouse Books (Richmond, VA), 2004.

Contributor to volumes such as Autobiographix, Dark Hose Comics (Milwaukie, OR) 2003. Writer and illustrator of "Forlorn Funnies" and "Sequential" comics series.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A New Decade for Eli Guggenheim, Planet, and Life with Mr. Dangerous, all graphic novels.

SIDELIGHTS: Comics artist and writer Paul Hornschemeier is the creator of the comic-book series "Sequential" and "Forlorn Funnies." "Sequential was Hornschemeier's first, self-published attempt at a regular comic book series," noted Alan David Doane on the Comic Book Galaxy Web site. Doane added, "Over the course of its seven issues, Sequential demonstrated an emerging talent eager to assay the parameters and possibilities of his chosen artform." "Forlorn Funnies," a more recent, "and artistically more mature work," is a series that "stuns with its sheer dedication to its creator's joy of cartooning," Doane stated.

Hornschemeier has no problems with the term "comic book" to describe what he does, when many of his colleagues prefer to refer to such work as graphic novels or sequential art. "I think comic book is fine because, like any name, its definition is dictated by its use," Hornschemeier said in an interview with Julie Lain on the Loyola Phoenix Web site. "I have met people who are pretentious enough to never want to call a movie a 'movie,' they only call it 'film.'" "We can all put on berets and smoke clove cigarettes later."

Hornschemeier finds mixed benefit in the ongoing interest in comic book properties by Hollywood studios. "I think, unfortunately, that's one of the ways things are validated in American culture," he remarked in the interview with Lain. "A movie was made of it! Therefore it must be something of consequence. I think it's having an effect [on the comics industry], a positive effect, but I wish it didn't need that sort of thing to be validated."

"Forlorn Funnies" contains the original story that Hornschemeier has collected and published in graphic-novel format as Mother, Come Home. As the story opens, seven-year-old Thomas Tennant has lost his mother to cancer. His father, a professor, retains a tenuous grip on his emotions and struggles to cope with his own loss while providing as well as he can for Thomas. Gradually, the pair's roles reverse, with Thomas becoming more of the caretaker and caregiver, cleaning up the house, taking care of his mother's garden and grave, and making excuses to his father's colleagues when he misses classes or appointments. Thomas finds his strength in a lion mask and superhero cape he wears to symbolically transform himself into a powerful individual with the ability to cope with his problems and his father's as well. Eventually, Thomas loses his father, too, when the grief-crippled man checks himself into a residential-care center for psychiatric treatment. While living with an aunt and uncle, Thomas retreats into a cheerful cartoonish fantasy world where everything is perfect and just the way he wants it. Thomas's fantasies remain at the forefront as he "rescues" his father in the story's emotional climax.

In Mother, Come Home "Hornschemeier shows the utmost compassion for both father and son, who react to their grief the only way they know how," wrote Library Journal reviewer Khadija Caturani. The "book's greatest strength is the story itself and the lessons it offers for life, loss, and, most importantly, how to move on," commented School Library Journal reviewer Matthew L. Moffett. "The plot is a real three-hanky weeper, but Hornschemeier leverages some of the heaviness into bittersweet absurdity," observed a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Jeff Jensen declared that Mother, Come Home "is deserving of the word masterpiece without reservation."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2004, Roy Olson, review of Mother, Come Home, p. 964.

Entertainment Weekly, February 13, 2004, Jeff Jensen, review of Mother, Come Home, p. L2T20.

Library Journal, March 1, 2004, Khadijah Caturani, review of Mother, Come Home, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, February 16, 2004, review of Mother, Come Home, p. 154.

School Library Journal, Matthew L. Moffett, review of Mother, Come Home, p. 182.

ONLINE

Comic Book Galaxy Web sitehttp://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/ (August 30, 2004), Alan David Doane, "Floating with Paul."

Loyola Phoenix Online,http://www.loyolaphoenix.com/ (March 17, 2004), Julie Lain, "Hornschemeier Draws on Tragedy for 'Funnies'" (nterview).

Margo Mitchell Media Web site,http://www.margomitchell.com/ (August 30, 2004), review of "Sequential."*