Hey, if Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and the X-Men can have their own comic books, why not Charles Darwin?
That’s sort of what Jay Hosler had in mind when he came up with “The Sandwalk Adventures,” a series of five comic books featuring Darwin. “I’m a Darwinophile,” said Hosler, a biology professor at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. “I read a biography called `Darwin’ while I was in graduate school. . . . There was a specific type of fascination I had with Darwin, which is the multiple layers of conflict he had to wrestle with.”
The conflict, of course, arose from Darwin’s theories of natural selection. And that’s what Hosler tries to teach in the comics.
In “The Sandwalk Adventures” series–now, stay with us here–Darwin engages in discussions with follicle mites that live in his left eyebrow. The mites believe Darwin is a god, one of the myths they have handed down from generation to generation. Darwin sets them straight about that and other mite fables as well, the result being lessons in natural selection.
Hosler writes, draws, letters and inks the comics, which are aimed at people of all ages. Reviews have been positive and the first four issues sold well.
The individual comics, priced at $2.95, are available through comic stores (the fifth installment shipped late last month) or through www.activesynapse.com. A combined edition, “The Sandwalk Adventures” (Active Synapse, $20), will be out in March.
