292 HOMELESS CHANNEL, THE
live broadcast from the streets overnight, the latter with ad banners but without
commentary.
Despite the obvious strategic, moral, and legal problems, Shaw is able to sell the idea.
Th e Homeless Channel launches and is a qualifi ed success, its fi rst broadcast day end-
ing with live shots of Shaw’s own sister. Between unexpected romance and encounters
with her mentally ill sister, Shaw is forced to accept the limits imposed by attempting to
marry altruism and commerce.
Inspired by the work of TV producer Aaron Sorkin, Silady tells his story in a
“ behind the camera” mode. Th e reader is privy to meetings and discussions through the
channel’s inception and execution. Yet, while the camera is omniscient in this book, the
narration is not. Th e narrative deals overtly with emotional states and the motivations
of the various characters, but it does not contain a single thought balloon. All the ideas
are conveyed through dialogue, expression, and body language. Consistent with televi-
sion tropes, the graphic novel uses sound bridges to connect scenes. Bits of phone calls
and text messages begin by focusing on the recipient and following the sender visually
through a series of POV shots until the two intersect.
Th e art has a particular sensibility, resembling overdeveloped black and white
photographs. Th e art was completed in a singular fashion. Lacking formal art training,
Silady compensated by setting up photo shoots for every frame in the book. However,
he did not stop at a fumetti approach, taking photographs and adding captions as the
Italian graphic novelists did in the late 1950s (properly translated, fumetti refers to all
Italian comics, but came to be associated with the photo-narrative motif through the
Fellini fi lm Th e White Sheik , a romantic comedy about the shooting of one such fumetti ).
Silady downloaded the photos, reduced them to chiaroscuro , modifi ed them into blue
line art, printed them on heavy paper, inked them with black acrylic ink, rescanned the
inked fi gures, and positioned them on high-contrast backgrounds. Th e majority of this
work was done in Photoshop. Th e photos were shot at various locations in Southern
California and at Chicago Comic Con. Jon Muth’s 1980s graphic novel M , based on
the Fritz Lang fi lm of the same name, was created in a similar fashion. For M , Muth
used photo reference and reworked the photos with a variety of media.
After being inspired by attending the 2004 APE conference, Silady created a
mini-comic containing the fi rst chapter of Th e Homeless Channel. Th is caught the
attention of AIT/Planet Lar co-publisher Larry Young. After Young off ered to publish
the expanded version of that mini-comic as a graphic novel, Silady fi nished the book.
Silady’s fi rst major work in comics, Th e Homeless Channel grew out of his passion
for nonfi ction writing. After teaching eighth grade for six years, Silady entered and
completed the MA program in creative writing at University of California-Davis.
His interest in the intersections of the real world and fi ctions, coupled with a love for
TV drama, led him to speculate on possible cable channels. Th e speculation was absurd
until he happened to say “the homeless channel.”
Touching on social themes presented in a public setting, Silady off ers a specifi c view
of the potential, and the limitations, of capitalism to solve social ills. Th e inevitable
