Category: Q&A

Marek Bennett continues Freeman Colby’s story

Henniker comic artist and educator Marek Bennett discussed the third volume of his historical graphic novel series, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby, due out on Jan. 25. The book is available to preorder now at marekbennett.com.

How did you start this series?

In December 2012 … I realized I knew very little about local history here in New Hampshire, where I grew up. I started poking around in the local historical society, just curious about the photographs and old documents and things there. I came across this diary written by a guy from Henniker, Freeman Colby. It covered his service in the Civil War. I thought it would be fun to doodle a little stick figure comic to see what this [story] looks like when it’s drawn out. … That’s how I got started. I said, ‘I’ll just draw a little eight-page mini comic using the story and then put it down and let people read the diary themselves.’ Instead, I got hooked on it and kept drawing it.

What is Volume 3 about?

In each book, I try to unfold the story and find a new dimension to the story. Volume 1 is basically Freeman Colby’s diary verbatim, but in a comics format … For Volume 2, I started finding other people’s stories and weaving them in to help flesh out the narrative and figure out what was really going on. … That’s when the series really started taking its shape. … The next level is orchestrating all of those stories; that’s Volume 3. I realized it’s not enough just to have a lot of these other people … pop in and tell a short story and then disappear. I need to bring them in and let them be in conversation with each other. It was really a fun challenge to … see how they can all fit together on the page in a way that I can draw it. … It’s pulling together all these little puzzle pieces that haven’t been put together in quite this way before.

So is Freeman Colby still the main character?

Freeman Colby is still the throughline — he’s in the background of the scenes — but 90 percent of the book [consists of] materials taken from other storytellers who can flesh out his story. … For example … Freeman Colby ends up teaching a literacy class for freed people who had been enslaved … and I realized I could have a couple of his students tell their stories, too, in a way that is culturally relevant.

How do you choose which stories to include?

I’ve realized that history, in some ways, has very little to do with the past and a whole lot to do with the present, because we’re finding this information in the present. We’re putting these pieces together and crafting this new narrative in the present. … As I worked on this book, I tried to … choose stories and weave them together in such a way that it casts more light on the things [of the present] that connect us to that time period. … I just couldn’t help but notice that as I’m drawing people debating and acting and struggling to confront armed rebellion in the United States, there’s an armed rebellion — people marching on the Capitol — happening on the news.

Was it always your plan to create multiple volumes?

When I did the first book, I thought that would be it. … Then it was selected as a great graphic novel for teens by the American Librarians Association. That got my attention and I thought maybe there’s an audience for this. … Right around that same time, I heard from some descendants of the Colby family, and they mailed me a packet of 80 pages of letters that Freeman Colby had written home that I hadn’t seen before. … I thought, well, that’s a sign, then, that people are interested in the book, and they want to see more.

Was your research or creative process for Volume 3 different in any way?

Yes, partly because of Covid. … The pandemic was so disorienting, it took me almost a year of false starts and multiple drafts of a short section. It just wasn’t working. Then, at a certain point, I realized I just needed to get this book done. … I gave myself a daily deadline: I have to draw two pages a day. Even if they’re not the finished version, it doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad, I just have to have those pages done. … That was really helpful.

What now?

I’m going to get right to work on the next volume, on the most important parts, and just see how it fills out. … I have a New Year’s resolution where I’m blocking out a couple of weeks a month to be focused on Volume 4. … [While] I bring Volume 3 around to people, I want to keep working on Volume 4 … and keep it moving forward.

Featured photo: The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby.

Project to bring connections, improved walkability to Manch

RAISE Manchester is a $30 million transportation infrastructure project in Manchester funded in part by a $25 million federal RAISE grant. Kristen Clarke, project manager and Manchester Department of Public Works traffic engineer, discussed the project following a public informational meeting held for residents and business owners. Visit raisemanchester.org.

How long has RAISE Manchester been in the works?

The first time we applied for the grant was in 2019. There were some planning efforts that happened leading up to that as well. We applied for the grant in 2019 and 2020 and were not successful and then won the grant in 2021.

What are RAISE grants awarded for?

The grant is [awarded] through the U.S. DOT. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. There are several key items that they’re looking for, which are how we’re improving mobility and congestion and how we’re creating new development opportunities using infrastructure.

What are the elements of the project?

There are four different elements of the grant that are all semi-interconnected. First, there’s the Granite Street and Commercial Street intersection, where we’re going to be building a pedestrian bridge over Granite Street. Then, where South Commercial Street currently dead-ends by the Fisher Cats ballpark, we’re going to be building a bridge over the active rail line that will connect over to Elm Street at Gas Street. Then we’re going to be building a rail trail on the abandoned rail trail corridor from Queen City Avenue up to that Elm and Gas Street intersection. The last piece is the reconfiguration of the South Willow Street and Queen City Avenue intersection from a signalized intersection into a peanut-shaped roundabout.

What are some of the problems that RAISE Manchester aims to address?

The biggest things are we’re looking at how to reconnect the south Millyard area back over to Elm Street across the rail line in hopes that it’ll help spur some redevelopment and extend downtown south of Granite Street. We’re also looking at [improving] safety and traffic congestion by providing alternative ways in and out of downtown.

How are you able to predict what changes will make the biggest impact?

Part of it is looking at where the bottlenecks are happening today. We know that, getting into the city on the Granite Street quarter, there’s a lot of congestion, especially if there’s a ballgame or an event at the SNHU Arena or if a train is coming through there. So that’s where we started looking at where we could create more options.

How much of this plan is confirmed and how much is still developing?

The four elements as presented in the grant application are required to be complete; they have to be done in some fashion based on the stipulations of the grant. The width of the road or the exact alignment of it can change, and that part is still not set in stone. We are in the preliminary design phase right now, which we’re hoping to wrap up over the next couple of months. Then, the final design phase will go on for about another year.

What does that design process look like?

There are three bridges that are part of this project, so a big piece of the design is actually doing all the structural analysis to design the bridges. That’s what takes the longest of all of it.

What is the timeline?

All in all, we have to be ready for all the design to be done by September 2024, and all construction must be completed by September 2029. We’re not sure about the [order of the] stages and which would happen first. A contractor might choose to do multiple of them at the same time. We can’t know yet.

What was the response at the public meeting?

Overall, the response was positive, and people were excited. They wondered how we’ve gone this long without a lot of these projects in place. We did get some great comments from the bike and pedestrian communities on different things that we should explore to see if there were better ways to accommodate bikes and pedestrians. … We’re really excited about it. If people have ideas, we’re happy for them to share their comments through our website, raisemanchester.org, or get in touch with us. We want to make sure that if there’s something someone wants to see, and there’s a way that we can accommodate it, we look into it.

Featured photo: The biggest part of RAISE Manchester will be a new South Commercial Street Extension. Courtesy photo.