A serious look at the 1904 St. Louis
World’s Fair in comic book form

Everybody in St. Louis by now knows that this year is the 100th anniversary celebration of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, or what is locally known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. Writer Marcello Vital and artist David Montgomery came up with the idea of telling all about the Fair through an adventure story told in comic book type format. The hero of the story is Nicco, a boy from the Italian Hill neighborhood in St. Louis. Nicco has managed to get a job as a messenger boy at the Fair. On his bike, he delivers messages from fair officials to each other around the Fairgrounds. He is able to get into the Fair each day free of charge. His messenger duties take him all over the grounds and he is able to visit every display and exhibit. The fair exhibitors, who come from all over the world, all get to know Nicco and call him by name.

To add some romance to the story, Nicco’s girlfriend, Claire is also in the story. She sells drinking water to thirsty visitors at the Fair. On one of their days off from their jobs, they go together to take in the sights of the Fair just as the tourists from all around the world are doing. To add some suspense to the story, Nicco hears some bad guys plotting to blow up one of the major exhibits and scare people off from coming to the St. Louis Fair. The bad guys threaten to kill Nicco when they can catch him. What’s really bad is that nobody believes Nicco when he tries to warn the Fair officials.

While the story is being told, we the readers get to visit all the major attractions at what many believe was the greatest World’s Fair of all time. We are kept guessing whether Nicco can escape the gangsters and manage to save the Fair from turning into a disaster that might kill hundreds of people. All in all, the book is a neat way to find out why the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition was a highpoint in St. Louis history.

 

Meet the author and artist of “1904”

Writer Marcelo Vital and artist David Montgomery are collaborating for the first time with the “1904” book.

Vital is originally from Brazil and has developed more than 800 different comic book characters. Montgomery is a freelance artist and muralist. Both now live in Kansas City.

Their book was published April 20, 2004, just in time for the start of St. Louis’ centennial celebration of the 1904 fair.

 

photo1: Marcelo Vital

photo2: David Montgomery