Here (comics)

"Here" is a 6-page comic strip by Richard McGuire published in Raw Volume 2 #1 in 1989. In 2010, McGuire announced a graphic novel version Here (expanded to 300 pages, full-color). It was published by Pantheon Books in December 2014.^[1]

Overview

The first panel of "Here" shows an unadorned corner of a room in a house. The 35 panels that follow all show the location in space depicted in the first panel at different points in time, ranging from the year 500,957,406,073 BCE to the year 2033 CE. The panels are not ordered chronologically, and most of the panels are subdivided into multiple panes to show different points in time within the same panel. Various people, animals, and furnishings are shown passing through the space, including several recurring characters, such as a woman shown cleaning the room in 1973, 1983, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. The corner of the room itself is the most enduring presence in the story; panels show the house being constructed in 1902 and sheltering several generations of occupants before burning in a fire in 2029 and being demolished in 2030. The space is shown to be a barnyard in the 19th century before the house is built, and the site of open-air band concerts after the house has been razed.

"Here" has been recognized as a groundbreaking experiment with the formal properties of comics. Douglas Wolk wrote that its "influence has echoed through art comics for decades."^[2] Its influence is particularly notable in the work of Chris Ware, who wrote a lengthy essay on it in the magazine Comic Art #8. "Here" was reprinted for the first time in that issue. It has been frequently anthologized since its original publication.

Film adaptations

In 1991, a six-minute short film adaptation of the original six-page 1989 comic was produced at RIT's Department of Film and Video by students Timothy Masick and Bill Trainor for their senior thesis project.^[3]

An immersive VR film based on the 2014 graphic novel version was conceived and created by British design and production company Fifty Nine Productions under the direction of Lysander Ashton with original music by Anna Meredith, which opened at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The performances were filmed at Intel Studios in Los Angeles using volumetric capture technology.^[4]^[5]

A film adaptation began development in 2022 with Robert Zemeckis directing and co-writing with Eric Roth, and Tom Hanks starring; Robin Wright joined the cast reuniting the four for the first time in thirty years after Forrest Gump in 1994. Zemeckis and Hanks' studios ImageMovers and Playtone will produce.^[6] Miramax came on board as financier and international sales agent, and Sony Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film before the Cannes Film Market.^[7] The film is set to be released on November 1, 2024.^[8]