David Wojnarowicz
James Romberger
Marguerite Van Cook
You may not be familiar with this autobiographical memoir of AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz published by Vertigo, specifically Vertigo Verite, in 1996, four years after Wojnarowicz’s death. As Noah Berlatsky wrote in his Slate.com review of this book: “One look at the cover of 7 Miles a Second and you know that keeping the volume down is not on the agenda”.
Berlatsky’s right. 7 Miles is not a quiet book. There aren’t any loud clashes between superheroes and supervillains or freakish disasters threatening humanity. It’s the primal scream of the artist looking back on the horror encountered in his life; a condemnation of government and society for willfully scorning and turning their backs on people with AIDS in the first dozen years of the pandemic. My reason for talking about 7 Miles is not to write another review. Instead, I want to bring this new edition to your attention. My commentary can be found here and please read Berlatsky’s review which is linked to above.
The Fantagraphics edition is an oversized volume at 9 X 12 inches and sports a bardcover with end papers and sewn binding. The latter means the book will lay open on a table without loss of imagery in the gutters. Viewing Romberger’s art at its orginal size packs an even more visceral punch. Sewn binding ensures the longevity of the book by increasing the strength of the structure itself. Compare this to the Vertigo volume at standard comic book dimensions with a cardstock cover and perfect binding, which is anything but perfect. Van Cook’s coloring is remastered from her original watercolors and are even more intensely vivid and nightmarishly lurid. Aside from the end papers, the new volume has no bonus material. Artist James Romberger has corrected my error in stating there are no new additional pages in the Fantagraphics edition. As noted in Mr Romberger’s comment below, new pages also include
