Ethan Hawke, actor, writer, director
Why we love graphic novels
How did you get into graphic novels?
I got into graphic novels as a teenager. I loved reading them on the bus to school. They used to make these supercool graphic novels of classics, like Moby-Dick, Macbeth, etc. The combination of the artwork and the literature just made life better. It shook the library dust off and made the stories alive for me.
What do you love about them?
I love staring at drawings anyway. And when juxtaposed with a real story… It’s a lot like what acting aspires to be. An interpretive art. Delivering secret messages.
Do you have a favourite?
Essex County by Jeff Lemire. It’s the Catcher in the Rye of graphic novels.
Where do you buy them?
My favourite spot is Forbidden Planet in New York. It’s magic. You’re a kid again, immediately. In the good way.
Any rituals around reading them?
The important thing is not to read them. Absorb them. Study the image. Find the message woven into the artist’s work. Don’t just look at the words. In a good graphic novel the words and the images are involved in a dance – like two stars smashing into each other, spraying silver and gold.
Ethan Hawke’s graphic novel with illustrator Greg Ruth, Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars, is published by Grand Central
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