Al, Logical!

Fresh from the printers, August 19, 2022. 

My father— John Golden, professor of math education at GVSU— and I had been threatening to create a graphic novel together for years, and last summer, we finally did it. My dad and I co-wrote it, and I penciled, inked, colored, and lettered it. “It” being Al, Logical! It’s about a young woman who explores a seemingly haunted house, problem-solving and ghost-busting along the way. 

The rough draft of the cover, featuring the story’s main characters: Al, The Mathematican, Al’s math teacher,  Al’s mother, and The House. 

The whole project was emblematic of my belief in math-art integration, and interdisciplinary art education in general. I inherited that belief from my dad, and it was strengthened in my art education courses at GVSU. 

A page from my favorite chapter, in which Al and The Mathematician collaborate on how to escape a four dimensional maze. 

It was also an opportunity to do a large-scale cartooning project. I love drawing comics and small-scale projects usually fill my free time. (That is, when I’ve got creative energy to spare.) Someday, I might do a post about my superhero fan comic strips, maybe in the context of iterative design— the art and the writing definitely improved over time. 

I almost drew an entire comic without including a single superhero, but I snuck one into the graphic novel’s only splash page— the haunted house at its most chaotic, in the climax of the story. 

There was a limited print run— funded by GVSU’s Laker Venture Grant— but if you’re interested in reading it, reach out for a PDF copy!