The literature of Pittsburgh is already deep and rich, ranging from August Wilson in theater to Michael Chabon's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" in fiction.
Now, Pittsburgh might have its definitive depiction in comics -- Frank Santoro's "Storeyville."
Actually, only the first section of "Storeyville" takes place in Pittsburgh, but it's a significant one. It's the story of Will, a young, adventurous vagabond living in Depression-era Pittsburgh, who sets out to find his long-lost mentor and friend, a hulking African-American hobo called The Reverend Rudy.
"Storeyville" isn't new, either. It was originally published in 1995 in an unusual tabloid newspaper format -- harking back to the early days of the 20th century, when surreal comics strips like "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and "Krazy Kat" commanded large swaths of territory in daily newspapers. Now, it's being reprinted (PictureBox, $24.95) as a hard-bound graphic novel.
It all began with Santoro's interest in jazz -- and hobos.
"I got really interested in where jazz originated. 'Storeyville' (is the red-light district) in New Orleans, where Louis Armstrong grew up, and jazz was essentially born," says Santoro, 35, who recently returned to his hometown of Swissvale after years in California and New York City.
"There's a really great book by Mezz Mezzrow ("Really the Blues"), Armstrong's best friend, about down-and-out characters in the Depression," he says. "Great jazz musicians were living on next to nothing. There were mentions of hobo culture, hobo graffiti -- it was really interesting. I was doing these crime-noir comics before 'Storeyville.' The whole idea of using hobo and crime stuff was really just a way to get the narrative going, then bring the reader in and tell a more sincere, honest story about friendship."
Santoro, in his mid-20s at the time, obviously wasn't around during the Depression. But he does have vivid memories of a vanished Pittsburgh from growing up in the shadows of the city's rusting industrial past. These images of home stuck with him, and ended up in the comic. Asked to pick a favorite drawing, he doesn't hesitate.
"There's a moment where Will is about to hop on the train," Santoro says. "There's an empty boxcar there, and the doors are open, and you can see through. It's like, 'That's Pittsburgh!'
"Pittsburgh itself is a character," he says. "It's still there, but there's a bit of shell to it now. It's transparent. There's a twinge of sadness in that, but there's something heroic in an iron-clad shell still standing."
Santoro attended the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and took Saturday morning art classes at Carnegie Mellon University. But his real education in comics came from hanging out at a comic book shop in Wilkinsburg called BEM, run by Bill Boichel, who is now the proprietor of Copacetic Comics in Squirrel Hill. There, at BEM, a small circle of young artists found inspiration and support.
"Bill just got us excited, and was encouraging us all along, and never doubted us," Santoro says. "It was the perfect environment for us to flower artistically. In school, they always want to make you sing the academy song, even in art -- you paint, you draw, you sculpt. But comics -- none of my teachers could understand why I wanted to pursue comics as a form of expression.
"He just connects everything with film and literature, and (presents) comics as a bridge between all these forms. It was kind of a radical idea when you're 15, 16. Everything seems more possible."
The style of "Storeyville" is utterly unique -- atop a background of muted yellows, grays and browns, Santoro's lines seem hurried, like desperate attempts to capture a half-remembered dream. His figures and landscapes begin to change as the story moves on, growing gradually hazier and more indistinct, veering almost into abstraction at certain points. The art itself seems to shift and change with the mental state of the characters.
"Like a filmmaker or a novelist, I'm trying to use the tools in my toolbox to transmit emotion," he says. "I don't have a soundtrack or lots of descriptive words, so I'm going to use the lines I'm making to render the story, and those lines are going to change. The vibration of the lines will change like a guitar string will change its sound."
Boichel thinks "Storeyville" brings a new, distinctive perspective to comics.
"I'm obviously not a neutral observer, but his background in contemporary and classical fine art, combined with his knowledge of the history of comics is unique in the field today," Boichel says.
Santoro seems to really enjoy the topographical challenges of drawing Pittsburgh.
"It's probably one of the most visually interesting cities to draw," he says. "I've lived in other hilly cities, like San Francisco, and flat cities, like Los Angeles, and it's just a whole different world. It's almost a cubist landscape, where things go up at angles you'd never expect to see. Making simple line drawings, the character kind of comes out. It happens to be something I'm fond of, and that comes out in the drawings."
Another thing that sets "Storeyville" apart is its tone -- full of empathy and sincerity.
"At the time, the two most popular comic books were 'Hate' and 'Eightball' -- very sarcastic, very '90s-cynical-bitter-old-man stories for young people," Santoro says. "I didn't feel like that represented me."
"Storeyville" was not exactly a hit when it first came out. In 1995, mainstream bookstores didn't have graphic novel sections, and comic books were mostly considered the exclusive territory of over-muscled heroes in tights. The original newspaper format of "Storeyville" didn't help.
"After we sold as many as we could and more or less made our money back, I still had like 6,000," Santoro says. "So we started leaving them at interesting places in New York and California, bookstores where people might like it. We saw people reading it on the street. It was almost like billboarding or wheat-pasting."
But "Storeyville" gradually developed a cult of admirers, especially among comics creators. In the introduction, acclaimed graphic novelist Chris Ware ("Acme Novelty Library") writes: "I consider reading 'Storeyville' for the first time one of the touchstones of my life as a cartoonist, and the book itself one of the landmarks of comics' development."
Santoro's latest project is a 12-issue comic series with Ben Jones called "Cold Heat" -- an experimental take on the action-adventure genre, about a girl ninja.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
