Why does one read a book? One reason is to inform oneself.

        Why does one create a work of art? The earliest art referred to hunting, which was the means through which we survived.

Climate change is a matter of survival about which we are very poorly informed. So it’s natural that there are comics about global warming. Here are four good ones.

Author/Illustrator: James Romberger
Published: Uncivilized Books (2012)
Pages: 40
Dimensions: 8″ x 11″

         If you want to know exactly what New York City will look like when its permanently flooded up to the second floor, then James Romberger is probably the guy to show you. James is one of the best draftsmen in comics. He can draw anything, from any angle, without reference. He has the kind of skill that we are all jealous of. His pastel cityscapes are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yeah, you heard that right, in the Met with Rubens and Rembrandt.

         James wrote POST YORK in collaboration with his son Crosby who is a rap performer. A  disk of Crosby’s music is included in the package. It is the story of two teenagers, a boy and a girl, living in the ruins of Manhattan who encounter each other by chance. It is a concept reminiscent of the movie PLANET OF THE APES and the comic: KAMANDI THE LAST BOY ON EARTH, by one of James’ big influences, Jack Kirby. Romberger also uses a plot device from the experimental films of the 1960s: The story has two endings. The encounter can turn out to be fortuitous or fatal. It is, in the end, a pretty simple story, but Romberger has great compassion for his characters, whose vulnerability is made clear.

          There is not much information or analysis of global warming here. But I’ll take heart without analysis over analysis without heart any day of the week. And POST YORK has heart!