224 pages, 6 x 9
197 images
Paperback
Release Date:12 May 2023
ISBN:9781978834200
Hardcover
Release Date:12 May 2023
ISBN:9781978834217
George's Run
A Writer's Journey through the Twilight Zone
Rutgers University Press
George Clayton Johnson was an up-and-coming short story writer who broke into Hollywood in a big way when he co-wrote the screenplay for Ocean’s Eleven. More legendary works followed, including Logan’s Run and classic scripts for shows like The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. In the meantime, he forged friendships with some of the era’s most visionary science fiction writers, including Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson, and Rod Serling.
Later in life, Johnson befriended comics journalist and artist Henry Chamberlain, and the two had long chats about his amazing life and career. Now Chamberlain pays tribute to his late friend in the graphic novel George’s Run, which brings Johnson’s creative milieu to life in vividly illustrated color panels. The result feels less like reading a conventional biography and more like sitting in on an intimate conversation between friends as they recollect key moments in pop culture history, as well as the colorful band of writers known as the “Rat Pack of Science Fiction.”
Later in life, Johnson befriended comics journalist and artist Henry Chamberlain, and the two had long chats about his amazing life and career. Now Chamberlain pays tribute to his late friend in the graphic novel George’s Run, which brings Johnson’s creative milieu to life in vividly illustrated color panels. The result feels less like reading a conventional biography and more like sitting in on an intimate conversation between friends as they recollect key moments in pop culture history, as well as the colorful band of writers known as the “Rat Pack of Science Fiction.”
George Clayton Johnson was one of the most brilliant and important writers of the twentieth century, creating classic episodes of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, as well as coauthoring Logan's Run and Ocean's Eleven. George's Run spectacularly and charmingly invites you on the amazing journey of his life and legacy, from 1929 through the fifties and sixties to 2015 and beyond. It's a trip down Memory Lane via time machine and rocket ship — and it will definitely blow your mind!
George Clayton Johnson’s limitless imagination fueled the foundations of sci-fi that made me the genre geek I am today. Filtered through Henry Chamberlain’s whimsical art, George’s Run is an intimate look at a personable writer’s journey and inspirations behind his iconic tales.
In this surprising and inventive graphic book, Henry Chamberlain looks deeply into the life and writing of George Clayton Johnson. What he finds is a truly American story that blends fact and fiction to describe the life of an underappreciated voice in 1960s Hollywood.
Telling the story of postwar popular culture through the eyes of a pivotal writer, George’s Run offers fresh insights into pop culture history from a deeply personal perspective. Capturing the voice of a writer who helped shape our collective imagination, Chamberlain’s graphic novel highlights how a generation of creatives aspired to reshape our collective vision. This story calls attention to the creative community that shaped American culture. Whether you are a fan of television or intrigued by the creative communities that define a pivotal moment in U.S. entertainment history, this story of a writer’s journey will engage and inform.
George Clayton Johnson, a writer for [The Twilight Zone], as well as Star Trek, had a lot of insight to deliver, and Henry Chamberlain was the one to winnow it out and to illustrate it... Henry Chamberlain has given us a gift in George’s Run. Let us use it well.'
HENRY CHAMBERLAIN is a writer and artist whose work includes comics, illustration, and graphic recording. He maintains the pop culture website Comics Grinder, though which he first met George.
Foreword
A Touch of Strange
A Historical Portal
A Remembrance
Afterword
Interview with George Clayton Johnson
A Touch of Strange
A Historical Portal
A Remembrance
Afterword
Interview with George Clayton Johnson
