In a 360-word article entitled "From 96th St. to Battery, 7,400 Buildings, Riv Vu," New York Times Real Estate writer Nadine Brozan chronicled the two Manhattan Skyline Portraits, detailing not only what the art shows, but also how they were researched and completed.

Brozan explained the unique point of view of the illustrated skylines that allows the viewer to take in the entire sweep of the skyline from 96th Street to Battery Park. She quoted artist John Wagner as saying the city was drawn "as if I were in outer space with a very powerful telescope looking back. It is not a survey of every building but shows whatever is at eye level."

Brozan reported that Wagner took thousands of photographs from an airplane and walked 50 miles to ensure drawings "with every window, story and water tank charted."

She concluded her story by asking Wagner to comment on the inclusion of the World Trade Center towers in the panoramas. "Finally, I decided that what I had set out to do was create wonder and I couldn't create wonder with two holes," she reported Wagner as answering.

The article ran on the cover of the Sunday Real Estate section and showed two sections of The Manhattan Skyline Portraits, each a view of Midtown from opposite sides of the island.

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"What is that tower in Lower Manhattan that looks like the Woolworth Building but isn't? How tall is the Chrysler Building compared to the skyscrapers of downtown?. . ."

"You don't need an architectural historian to answer these questions; you just need a very long wall where you can hang John Wagner's Manhattan skyline portraits."

Thus began senior editor Karen E. Steen's take on The Manhattan Skyline Portraits. The full-page article, entitled "Obsessive New York — Documenting the Manhattan skyline in unprecedented detail," included Ms.Steen's perceptive examination of the cityscapes and a striking page design by associate art director Damian Chadwick. He presented the Midtown portion of An East River Portrait and offered an enlargement of 41st Street to 46th for readers wishing a closer look.

The full text of Ms. Steen's review can be found at the METROPOLIS website.

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This was how Star Ledger business reporter Andy Obermueller began his review of the two Manhattan Skyline prints.

In a descriptive news brief that appeared in the newspaper's "Biz Buzz" column, Obermueller captured the essence of the project from a business perspective.

Citing the dilemma facing Wagner, who is both the artist and publisher, Obermueller wrote, "He didn't want his portraits to seem as exploitative or crass as the gewgaws being peddled on sidewalks. But he knew the fallen behemoths would be conspicuous whether he included them or not. He left them in. They remain, for now as a commemoration."

The story quoted Wagner regarding the value of such a remembrance of the Trade Center towers. "I think it is worth capturing them, and the city, at this particular apex. Most people assume they won't forget what it was like to live or visit Manhattan at the turn of this century, but in the end, most people will probably forget more than they remember."

Obermueller pointed out the labels identifying many of the buildings and that they also list the year of their construction. He noticed that "the Twin Towers have two dates: when they rose and when they fell."

He made one further observation. "The detail is as exacting as the towers are haunting. Some people have found their apartment doors."

Obermueller included a final comment by Wagner to finish the story. "Nothing is in the shadows. It's almost like the city glows with its own inner light. You get a much clearer sense of what the city is about. You see the city with a greater intensity."

The Star Ledger's review of The Manhattan Skyline Portraits was approximately 250 words long and appeared on the front cover of the business section.

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He began by recounting a week-long trip he and his family took to lose themselves in northeastern Pennsylvania. One outing involved a visit to the Wyoming County Fair. When the local fire department showed up to barbecue chicken at the fair and all were wearing September 11 T-shirts, Roel knew he could not escape the reminders of events a year ago.

Roel described how the threads of the tragedy have woven their way through the lives of so many in Suffolk County on Long Island as elsewhere in America. As an example, he cited a Habitat for Humanity house that had been recently dedicated in the memory of Frederick Varacchi, CEO of bond trading company Cantor Fitzgerald, whose offices were in Tower One, the first to be hit that fateful day.

The idea for the dedication came from Thomas Drennan, an officer of a bank that helped finance the project. He is also Varacchi's father-in-law. Drennan not only assisted with the money matters but also volunteered his time to help with the construction.

Roel also described receiving in the mail "meticulously drawn 'megagraphics' of the Manhattan skyline. . . Puzzled, I called their creator, John Wagner, for an explanation."

Roel wanted to know why someone 2,000 miles away in Colorado would be moved to draw pre-9/11 Manhattan.

Once employed as a newspaper artist in Colorado Springs, Wagner was assigned in 1994 to portray in detail the mountain view west of Denver and Colorado Springs. One project led to another. In 1998 Wagner left the newspaper to start his publishing company Grandscapes and to begin a three year visual survey of the skyscrapers of New York City.

Roel completed the connection by citing Wagner's roots in West Reading, Pa., and frequent trips to New York City. Roel quoted Wagner as saying"We always took the Lincoln Tunnel. That view [from the tunnel approach] was always breathtaking."

Roel characterized Wagner's project a "reconstruction [of] the skyline, from the west and the east, drawing one building at a time on a computer." Eventually more than 3,500 structures were rendered in each view.

When the towers were attacked, Roel described Wagner as immobilized. After "he struggled back and forth, debating what to do about the towers," he decided to leave them in the panoramas, Roel wrote.

"I set out to draw the New York skyline with the World Trade Center," Roel quoted Wagner as saying. "I had no interest in drawing the holes left behind."

Roel's 800-word column was headlined "Their Ways of Remembering Sept. 11" and appeared in the business section of Newsday.

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The article's headline read "Fractured skyline hard to picture," followed by the subhead "Springs artist unsure what to do with N.Y. poster."

Denver Post Southern Colorado Bureau reporter Erin Emery began by describing Wagner's childhood connections with New York City from his boyhood home in southeastern Pennsylvania. "Wagner loved those trips [to New York] — especially the friendly competition he enjoyed with his brother: Who could be the first to spot the top of the Empire State Building? And, later, who could be first to spot the World Trade Center towers?"

Remembering the vista, Wagner set out to create on a computer "a comprehensive and exhaustive view of the New York City skyline," Emery wrote. "Then came bloody Tuesday. . . Like so many other people, he can't fathom the enormity of the loss."

On the day of the attack, Wagner "with a few strokes on his keyboard did what the terrorists had done for real: He deleted the 110-story World Trade Center."

"It seemed to rip the heart out of the downtown," Emery reported Wagner as saying. "These two World Trade Center buildings, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building are the stars of the show. And I lost half my cast in one morning."

Emery's article goes on to describe the process of gathering the research for the artwork, including hiring a private plane to take pictures from the air. Wagner explained the rules regarding access to Manhattan from the air before the current restrictions went into effect to help prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks.

"You have to fly at least 1,000 feet above the island, and at that time, people weren't thinking about terrorism," Wagner explained to Emery. "It was in case you lost power. If worst came to worst, you could coast or glide into the river to avoid crashing into the buildings."

Wagner also described his explorations of the streets of the city with camera in hand like a "classic geeky tourist." Wagner said, "Those were incredible trips — I must have logged 10-15 miles a day — and of course, what was neat about it is I got down on the streets, smelled the smells and met the people."

Emery explored the issues of selling an image of the New York City skyline in the face of such tragic events. "While Wagner is invested financially, professionally and emotionally in his project — an impressive, 77-inch drawing of 3,000 buildings, or part of them — he doesn't know what to do with the work in light of Tuesday's horrific events," Emery wrote.

Wagner grappled for a sense of the events that at the time of the interview had taken place just days before.

"There's a part of me that thinks this would be crass commercialism at this time" selling images of Manhattan, Wagner explained to Emery. "There's another part of me that says (to) put those buildings in a ghost image and sell it as a commemoration of what was lost — at least as far as the buildings go, though I can't address the people."

Whatever Wagner decides, Emery concluded that "his foremost goal is to be respectful . . . He knows there will always be little boys from Pennsylvania who will make a trip in the family car to New York. They'll be looking for the tallest buildings."

The story appeared in the Metro section of the newspaper, was approximately 750 words long and included a photograph of Wagner with early proofs of the soon-to-be-published prints. The photograph was taken by Chuck Bigger.

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