Librarian Spotlight: Jarad Greene

Jarad Greene at his senior presentation. Photo courtesy Abe Olson.

Jarad Greene is currently a librarian at the Schulz Library. He is graduating from The Center for Cartoon Studies very soon in the class of 2017. He recently represented the school in judging the Slate Prize as the rep for the school.

Sample page of Jarad’s comic Scullion.

When did you work at the library?

I started working at the Schulz Library right after Thanksgiving of 2015. I found a yellow t-shirt with Charlie Brown’s face on it at a black Friday sale and thought, “Hey, that’s the perfect work shirt.” I’m still at the Schulz, so drop by and say hello!

Youth In Decline comics

Did you start an interesting project at the library?

I acquired some amazing small press comics, such as the entire line of Frontier from Youth in Decline, which has a single artist tell a short story for each issue, and a number of books from Peow Studios, a Swedish publisher of beautifully packaged, unusual stories.
Since I started acquiring books, I’ve tried to fill out sections, such as our new collection of books related to graphic facilitation and recording, as well as completing books series, especially manga, where we have the beginning volumes but not the entire run.

Wrecked Hearts by Valentine Seiche, published by Peow Studios

What 3 books would you like to add to the library?

We have a few, but I’d love to bring more Moebius book into the collection. Someone has promised to donate their complete collection of his work, and I am very excited about that! I’d also love to add My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris and the second volumes of Geis by Alexis Deacon and The Nameless City, Volume 2: The Stone Heart by Faith Erin Hicks.

The Nameless City, Volume 2: The Stone Heart by Faith Erin Hicks

What comic did you read most recently?

I’m in the middle of reading the trade collection of Headlopper by Andrew Maclean, which is really fun so far, and beautifully colored by Mike Spicer. I represented CCS for the Slate Cartoonist Studio Prize and all of the books on the shortlist blew me away.

Head Lopper by Andrew Maclean

What prose book did you read most recently?

My good friend Ashley Poston just published a book, Geekarella, which is delightful so far! I’ve also been slowly making my way through Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, an English cartoonist and writer who I don’t think is very well known in the USA.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Are you working on a cool project right now?

My senior thesis graphic novel, Scullion! It’s an all-ages, action-adventure, comedy of errors about a dishwasher who gets mistaken for a great warrior by two trolls. I just had a few copies of it printed for my review, but I plan to keep working on it after school wraps up.

Jarad’s thesis project, Scullion, in process