By Nicholas David

Chances are high that Richmond residents have seen the fruits of Harry Nordlinger’s labor. The Outer Richmond-based artist has worked as the Balboa Theater’s sole film projectionist since 2022, and he draws many of the flyers and posters for its screenings. Recently, he produced a poster promoting the theater’s upcoming 16-millimeter film screening of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” scheduled for June 3 and 4.

There is more behind the man behind the projector. When Nordlinger leaves the cinema and returns to his Fulton Street apartment, he takes on another identity, trading film stock for card stock, white projector lights for black ink pens.

“I’ve been making comics my whole life,” Nordlinger said. “I’ve always wanted to be some version of a storyteller or artist. I wanted to make movies – I still want to make movies.”

Making movies is a far more arduous task than projecting them. Even the most low-budget films require teams of people and expensive equipment. When the pandemic made most of those resources inaccessible, Nordlinger decided indie comics would be a freer pursuit than indie films.

“This is page eight of ‘Laser Quest,’” Nordlinger said, pointing to a half-complete ink drawing on the drafting table of his living room-turned-studio. “It’s a comic I’ve been making for Floating World Comics, a publisher in Portland.”

The first seven pages of “Laser Quest” hung complete on the wall beside him, beneath a cork board collage of reference images for the upcoming project. The images included an eclectic mix of paintings by San Francisco artist Richard Diebenkorn, photos of neon-lit 1980s arcades and the esoteric drawings of William Blake.

“Did you ever go to laser tag birthdays as a kid?” Nordlinger asked, cracking a smile. “That’s the inspiration.”

Nordlinger’s comics often borrow from his own childhood experiences, both aesthetically and emotionally. He finds the horror genre allows him to explore the experience of the “really scared insomniac kid” he once was.

“Now, to me, horror is comforting,” Nordlinger said. “I think it is because it reminds me of my childhood, and it unlocks that for me.”

Nordlinger’s first publishing deal (with Floating World, “Night Cruising”) sold more than 1,000 copies. His most popular self-published work, “Shadows Over Springfield,” sold almost the same. “Springfield” reimagines the classic TV cartoon show “The Simpsons” as a “horror noir” comic book.

“Bootleg comics are a long tradition,” Nordlinger said.

He draws from a vast well of comic book traditions, taking inspiration from scenes past – including the indie-underground “San Francisco Comic Book” anthologies and artists like Robert Crumb.

Nordlinger’s own anthology project, “Vacuum Decay,” brings different artists together for short stories under the banner of “existential horror.” Nordlinger curates each edition of the anthology and has published them once or twice a year since 2020.

“I did that, and it kind of got popular. It did really well in the indie comic world,” he said. “A bunch of cartoonists who I had been fans of forever started hitting me up and bought my comic. It was very quick that I, all of a sudden, was in this scene,” he said.

Nordlinger’s independent comic scene aspirations are not for lack of formal training. He initially came to San Francisco for art school and has been an apprentice with fine artists. On an easel beside the first few pages of “Laser Quest,” Nordlinger has displayed his own Francis Bacon-esque oil paint portrait over papier-mache newspaper on canvas. In his portfolio are gouache abstract-impressionist renditions of Japanese mecha figures.

“Fine art is considered highbrow, and comics are considered trash culture, which I kind of like,” Nordlinger said. “It’s cool that comics are trash culture.”

Just do not call them graphic novels.

“I think that’s a term they use to market comics to a broader audience,” he said. “They’re just comics. It has always been comics.”

Much like Spider-Man and Peter Parker, Nordlinger’s day job is intertwined with his endeavors off the clock. Film projection and comic books are “both niche art things,” in Nordlinger’s words, but they both fall under the realm of visual storytelling.

“This is going to sound pretentious, but I think a lot of cartoonists would benefit from watching more movies,” he said. “I think a lot of people are stuck in comic language.”

Nordlinger is something of that increasing rarity – a cultural connoisseur of our times. He often weighs in with a critique on just about any subject – from hardcore punk to renaissance art – with his own blend of pop-cultural and historical references. Case in point: On his nightstand, a copy of “Kamen Rider” sits atop Dante Alighieri’s “Purgatorio” (both in translation). For him, living in the Richmond is part of what makes his work possible.

“I’m very lucky that I have a day job and a side job that are both creative and artful and interesting,” Nordlinger said. “I love my little 10-block radius. I don’t really leave this neighborhood much.”

Harry Nordlinger’s work can be found at harrynordlinger.com and vacuumdecay.com. His Instagram is @harrynordlinger.