Suspended in Language: Neils Bohr's Life, Discoveries, and the Century He Shaped (illustrated by Leland Purvis, with additional illustrations by Jay Hosler, Roger Langridge, Steve Leialoha, Linda Medley, and Jeff Parker) (2003).īone Sharps, Cowboys & Thunder Lizards (illustrated by Big Time Attic) (2005). Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb (illustrated by Janine Johnston, Steve Lieber, Vince Locke, Bernie Mireault, and Jeff Parker) (2001). Two-Fisted Science (illustrated by Mark Badger, Donna Barr, Sean Bieri, Paul Chadwick, Gene Colan, Guy Davis, Colleen Doran, David Lasky, Steve Lieber, Lin Lucas, Bernie Mireault, Scott Roberts, Scott Saavedra, and Rob Walton) (1997).ĭignifying Science (illustrated by Donna Barr, Mary Fleener, Ramona Fradon, Stephanie Gladden, Robert Gregory, Lea Hernandez, Carla Speed McNeil, Linda Medley, Marie Severin, Jen Sorensen, and Anne Timmons) (1999).įallout: J. Ottaviani's works, some of which have been assigned reading in school science classes, provide proof that comics can do much more than recount the battles of superheroes.

Beginning in 1997 with Two-Fisted Science and continuing with works like Fallout, which explores the politics and science behind the creation of the atomic bomb, and Bone Sharps, Cowboys & Thunder Lizards, a fictionalized account of the early days of paleontology (scientific study of fossils and ancient life), Ottaviani-aided by top-notch illustrators-has been turning stories of scientific discovery into fascinating, even dramatic, graphic novels that have helped to demonstrate the flexibility and intelligence of comics.

Similarly, anyone who thinks that graphic novels about quantum physics can't be gripping entertainment hasn't encountered the work of Jim Ottaviani. Finally, the spinning stops and Bohr himself speaks: 'Anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum physics without feeling dizzy hasn't understood the first thing about it.' Leland Purvis's illustrations of Ottaviani's words take the reader directly into the Rosenfeld's experience of Bohr's lecture: Rosenfeld spins in his seat, trying to follow Bohr, and the text narrating the scientist's reaction spins around the page, forcing the reader to spin the book, round, round, then round again. As Rosenfeld sits at a table listening, Bohr walks in circles around him.

Midway through Jim Ottaviani's 2004 graphic novel/historical biography Suspended in Language: Neils Bohr's Life, Discoveries, and the Century He Shaped, Danish physicist Neils Bohr (1885–1962) takes a colleague named Léon Rosenfeld (1904–1974) aside to explain to him some of the principles of quantum physics, a very complicated theory about the structure of atoms.

' We are living in the best times ever for good comics, all over the world.'

Cacciatori di ossa by Jim Ottaviani