A COLORFUL HISTORY
Illustrator Robert Squier and history writer J. Dennis Robinson have teamed up to give Portsmouth its own graphic novel featuring historical highlights, compelling people, outstanding situations, and a good dose of entertainment.
"Portsmouth Time Machine" is an independent publication, but also a legacy project of this year's Portsmouth 400th Celebration.
The two artists met "back in the twentieth-century," Squier says, when Robinson owned Idea Works, and Squier had just finished college. There's a lot of earned respect between them.
"(Dennis) is writing it. I will occasionally make suggestions which may get thrown out. But, every once and a while he'll take one from me. Local history is his wheelhouse. But, I do feel like it is an amalgamation of our talents," Squier says, adding one of his signature quips, "a big word for me. I don't usually throw those out."
Robinson's part is "distilling 400 years of history for a fast-paced fun manuscript," while Squier's is impersonating an entire comic book team.
"For a typical comic book, say Marvel or DC, it's usually a team of people creating it; someone does penciling, someone does inking, and someone does coloring," Squier says. "I'm doing all those things and doing the cover."
Squier has put aside all other projects to concentrate on "Portsmouth Time Machine" full time-plus since December; "I'm totally consumed with this."
When asked what's the best and the most difficult parts of the project, Squier laughs. It's a mix of things, he says.
Among his pleasures is learning more about Portsmouth's history and the challenge of creating a book that is full of facts and information, but also a fun read. Having grown up as a fan of comics, being able to create a full one is also a plus; "kind of taking everything I've learned over my career and putting it into one project."
Then there are the challenges.
"It's a balance of being able to finish the book on time, and having the illustrations be as accurate as I can make them ... and meeting my own artistic standards," he says. "I feel it's more than a job. There's a certain weight of telling the story of Portsmouth, the good the bad the ugly."
ROBINSON
While the comic book has been in play for about a year, Robinson has been at this for decades, the writer says.
"I have a huge collection of Portsmouth research, four giant filing cabinets, an entire office of bookshelves, with 100 books just on John Paul Jones, ... every key book & pamphlet ever published about Portsmouth, plus four huge four-drawer filing cabinets full of research collected over 50 years," Robinson says.
His decades researching seacoast history has led to 3000 published articles, and 16 books, "but I have to say this is one of the most enjoyable creative collaborations."
First order of business was funding. Underwriters include Portsmouth 400, NH Charitable Foundation, and Egelston and McSharry families
This project had been calling Robinson for some time, he says.
"I'd noticed while writing an article, a few years ago, the last book written for kids, with an accurate history of Portsmouth was in the 1960s. So, there's nothing out there for kids," he says. "And what do kids read today? Graphic novels. I was brought up with comics, so I had no problem with that."
"So, what I wanted to do was fill in the giant gap with something that would work for kids of almost any age, and that would also be for adults," Robinson adds. "I think most people who are moving into Portsmouth have no access to an illustrated, highly visual view of the city's history that is colorful and affordable. You'll be able to read this thing in a few minutes, but it's packed with my half a century of research."
The comic's history starts 1000 years before Portsmouth, moves forward into the future, and then again, back in time. It's seen through the eyes of two children working on a school research paper, who find themselves unintentional time-travelers.
When pondering the project, Squier was at the top of Robinson's illustrator's list, he says.
"He was kind of the Holy Grail, the best local children's-dedicated professional illustrator I knew," he says. "His ability to render an emotion on a face, to show expression, textures, and shadowing is incredible."
The graphic novel will run 32 pages, with 22 already fully completed ("and in the home stretch"). It's slated to be published "sometime late, late spring," Robinson says. "It could be a day before summer."
"I have to say, this is one of the most enjoyable, creative collaborations. A favorite," he says. "This is packed with my half-century of research. ... And in the year we've been working on the story I'm beginning to believe the two kids are real."
HOOPS TO LOOPS
Reuben Taylor-Green has traveled a very twisty, personal path; a pattern most can identify with: You start out intending one direction, then life sends you in a completely unexpected one.
A little background, first.
Late 1990's Portsmouth High students may recall Taylor-Green as the kid who won basketball's coveted Gatorade Circle of Champion Player of the Year for New Hampshire.
He continued on that path a while after PHS. Next came a strong interest in business, somewhat interrupted when happenstance sent him down a random but fortuitous route.
Taylor-Green had moved to Atlanta for his business career in the early '00s. While he had no aspirations "for anything in the entertainment world," he did pen a screenplay with a good friend, in '09. The goal was to simply to sell, he says.
While they learned a lot, it never did sell. So, it was back to the corporate world, a move out of state, then a return to Atlanta, where he moved in with his screen-writing pal Director Cricket ("his pro name"), who had since become a major player in the music video and film scene in Atlanta.
That's when Cricket talked Taylor-Green into covering a role for him in a Gucci Mane, Hip-Hop video. And that changed everything.
Mane was impressed by Taylor-Green's performance and hired him for a second video, reprising his role as a police officer. Within a year, he'd done six videos.
"I started seeing where it was going ... and I got the bug," Taylor-Green says. "I could see there was a space for me in the Atlanta world."
Jobs kept coming. He added artist marketing and management to his resume. He also used his business savvy to put together projects, including a celebrity event he hosted. All led to more, and videos became films.
The latest film is "Dirty Game," in which he plays a scene with Jamal Woolard ("Notorious" and "All Eyes on Me").
"It's already been released on Tubi," Taylor-Green says. "It's an urban movie; a mature movie, definitely not for kids!"
Taylor-Green now lives between Portsmouth and Atlanta. He's currently waiting to hear if his character is written into the second film, which starts shooting in a month.
"And I'm getting a lot of opportunities for '23 because of the scene I was in with Jamal. I probably have five other projects I'm in negotiations for. I even got hit up to do a celebrity cooking show as a host and taster - not in stone, but in negotiations," he says.
"I feel like I'm only just being discovered, now at 45, 14 years into it."
BOHANAN HAS LANDED
For those wondering if nice-guy Monte Bohanan will actually stay in Portsmouth after leaving the Music Hall, where he worked for 25 years, the answer is a resounding most definitely.
"So, yeah, I get to create this new role as the communication and community engagement director for the city of Portsmouth," he says.
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