Cool Cars / Cartooning

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As the hardboiled hero pulls up out-side an abandoned warehouse rumored to be the hideout of a notorious criminal mastermind, the white-hot flash of an explosion throws his dark Mustang into sharp relief. Meanwhile, under the cool, white glow of a full moon, a sleek El Camino streaks through the outskirts of the big city, heading toward a mysterious rendezvous.

The two scenes shown here easily could have been pulled from the pages of a graphic novel. As graphic novels rose to popularity, the storylines became increasingly dramatic and adult in nature. This type of storytelling requires an equally dramatic style of art, including high contrast between light and dark (called “chiaroscuro”). The illustrations shown here are based on ...