A single comic pane can capture pain, joy, rapture, and revulsion – or all of the above.

Samuel Ferri’s “Escape Room” delivers a chuckle, but it also carries wisps of sadness, regret, recognition – it’s the alienation of our modern era – and it’s fantastic.

Ferri arrived in the Hartford area during COVID and has really thrown himself into the creative community here. He creates sculptures alongside Hartford’s Night Fall, designs barriers and benches in West Hartford Center, and manages Studio 20 South, a makerspace at Noah Webster Library.*

Ferri is also one of the artists contributing to the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s upcoming Drawn Here exhibition, which consists of five graphic novels depicting life in Hartford’s North End. We’ll post our online story for that show closer to its Feb. 12 opening , though you can find our article on that in the physical paper – the Noah Webster library and Hartford’s downtown and Dwight branches have copies; see our Instagram for other distribution points.

Ferri’s work has also appeared in MAD Magazine, the New York Observer, and Time Out. His website is www.misconnected.com and IG handle is @samsinkwell.

*Side note: Your library card works at almost any library in the state! Ask circulation desks for more details. This will greatly increase your access to services, media, and more.