Earlier this month, fans of The Twilight Zone celebrated the 60th anniversary of the seminal television show, which aired its first episode on October 2, 1959. The series was created by Rod Serling, who was raised in central New York, served in World War II, and ultimately turned out to be “the most powerful creative force at the start of television,” according to illustrator, cartoonist, storyteller and BFA Illustration faculty member Koren Shadmi (BFA 2006 Illustration), whose new graphic novel, The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television, was just released.

Having grown up in Israel, where the show didn’t air, Shadmi didn’t see an episode of The Twilight Zone until he was in his early 30s, but it prompted a great desire to learn more. “When I was watching it, I got really curious about, who was this guy? Who’s the presenter and the creator and the writer?” Shadmi said in a recent interview with Forbes. That curiosity culminated in this 168-page graphic novel detailing Serling’s life, including his time as a paratrooper in the war, the challenges he faced when trying to break into television and his career after The Twilight Zone.

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