Rick Geary, an American illustrator and cartoonist, was born on February 25, 1946. He is known for his work on "Luke Skywalker: Detective" in Star Wars Tales 20, where he served as both writer and penciller.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 25, 1946, Rick Geary first gained recognition among comic book enthusiasts through his contributions to magazines like National Lampoon and Heavy Metal.
His distinctive cartooning style came from his early attempts to emulate Edward Gorey's work. Geary's illustrations are characterized by sharp, uncluttered black lines set against a white backdrop, completely avoiding any form of shading or half-tones. A more unique aspect of Geary's style is his approach to panel composition. While most comic artists typically draw multiple sequential panels featuring the same characters in a consistent setting, Geary almost always avoids dedicating consecutive panels to the same character or location. This technique creates a consistent feeling of abrupt transitions between images.
Geary has created numerous individual comic books and graphic novels for various publishing houses, including an adaptation of Great Expectations for the relaunched Classics Illustrated series, as well as a spin-off aimed at children based on Flaming Carrot. His most ambitious project is his ongoing non-fiction comic book series, A Treasury of Victorian Murder. This series meticulously documents 19th-century criminals like H. H. Holmes, Lizzie Borden, Charles Guiteau, and Jack the Ripper. He frequently incorporates literary techniques typical of 19th-century popular literature into the series. For instance, The Borden Tragedy is presented through excerpts from a diary of that time, while The Fatal Bullet offers a didactic comparison of the lives and moral principles of Guiteau and his victim, President James Garfield.
In 1994, the National Cartoonist Society honored Geary with the Magazine and Book Illustration Award.