P. Craig Russell has been adapting works by dead men like Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner for many years. But he considers it more of responsibility to do justice to their work because they cant look over his shoulder. So its a good thing that Russell is one of the best artists working in the comic book field ever. His latest adaptation is The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde which has been released by NBM Publishing
Check out NBMs website for P. Craig Russell
Daniel Robert Epstein: many Oscar Wilde fairy tales have you adapted?
P. Craig Russell: Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose is the fourth volume. I started doing them in 1991. Oscar Wilde wrote nine fairy tales and I plan to adapt all of them. There are two more to go, The Happy Prince and The Fisherman and his Soul. Hopefully they will all get collected into one volume.
DRE: In The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose there is a big style change from your previous Oscar Wilde work.
PCR: On most of the Oscar Wilde fairy tales Ive taken on a much more cartoony/animation approach to the drawing. I seldom use models and I work everything out in my sketchbook. Its much more freewheeling. Though The Nightingale and the Rose, for its impact, needed a more realistic approach for because the nightingale sees the world as extremely romantic. To draw that one in a more cartoony sense, I wasnt sure would work.
DRE: Did you base the face of the man in The Nightingale and the Rose on anyone?
PCR: Yes it was a guy I know who had modeled for me for the angel Raguel, in Neil Gaimans Murder Mysteries and was a number of characters in The Ring of Nibelung. He has a terrific face that is fun to draw.
DRE: Why do you need to use models?
PCR: If youre going for a certain kind of realism then I certainly do need a jumping off point. Its to get characters that look uniquely individual and realistic at the same time. If you look at comic books done by people like Jack Kirby, Neal Adams and Gil Kane they all tend to draw the same face. Green Arrow and Green Lantern are like Betty & Veronica because only the hair styles change. They learn how to draw a certain heroic face then just change the costumes; John Buscema was the same way. Thats just what happens when you learn draw how to a figure in a classical way out of your head. Its a real challenge to bring a unique personality to each single character especially if they are heroic.
One reason its so much fun doing the Oscar Wilde material because I am making it up out of my head and discovering it in the sketchbook. For the Devoted Friend I filled up 50 pages in a sketchbook. Almost all of those panels were drawn on another piece of paper then I would make copies of it, shrink down then project it onto the page and trace off my own drawing. I think you get a greater feel of spontaneity in the line when you work like that.
DRE: Did you draw the picture of Oscar Wilde thats in the back of the book?
PCR: I drew that from a photo of him.
DRE: Was the miller in The Devoted Friend based on Wildes look?
PCR: Not intentional though I think the attitudes of the miller and the way he speaks is much more like Oscar Wilde.
DRE: Do you feel pressure adapting these works?
PCR: Not at all. Not in the sense that there is anyone looking over my shoulder. Im just having fun doing it.
DRE: How is it working with NBM?
PCR: Its great because they are not interested in doing books that are your typical Marvel and DC books. When I have those sorts of projects it is companies like NBM, and before them Eclipse and Dark Horse, that are more likely to try something different.
DRE: What kind of feedback do you get from your editor on the Oscar Wilde stories?
PCR: I really dont have an editor. As a matter of fact in the latest books were doing computer lettering. I did the lettering first by hand to make sure its designed into the picture with the word balloons. But the words themselves are done by computer. When Cavalleria Rusticana came out it was virtually unproofread and there were numerous errors. I told them now that computer lettering is fine but they have to send me a JPEG so I can proofread it. For most of my career, working for Marvel and DC, I have had editors and proofreaders but the smaller the company is the less people there are working there so you have to take responsibility for your work. I wouldnt call myself an out and out control freak but its fine with me to oversee as much of it as I possibly can.
DRE: How much of Oscar Wildes work gets cut out when youre adapting these stories?
PCR: It varies. The very first one I did, The Selfish Giant, is one of the shortest of them all, I think its about five pages of words. Then I did a 12 page adaptation so virtually every word is in that. One thing I am doing is that I even put in the he saids and she said which people dont usually do. People tend to treat adaptations like films scripts and as if people are saying these things in real time. I think having the saids reads well, at least with fairy tales.
Wilde can really go on and on in his descriptions of things so sometimes I pick out some descriptions and use them. When I was adapting his Salome there were huge chunks taken out. There is maybe 40 percent of the original words.
DRE: Did you ever feel like it was a bit of a clich for a gay artist to adapt Oscar Wilde?
PCR: [laughs] No I guess it was just fate that you just have to accept. I first decided to do them when I was living in New York City in the mid 70s. I was in a bookstore and I just picked up the Oscar Wilde fairy tales which I hadnt even heard of. I was familiar with his work of course but I just thought those stories would make excellent comic books. But it still took me 17 years to even begin it. The first one I read was The Young Prince and I always knew I wanted to adapt that one for sure. At first I was going to adapt a number of humorous stories in a cartoony lighthearted style. I had a Rudyard Kipling story also. [Publisher of NBM Publishing] Terry Nantier suggested I do all Oscar Wilde.
DRE: Why did it take you so long to get to them?
PCR: Partly opportunity. It wasnt so much that I had to wait until I was ready though I did feel that with The Ring of Nibelung. It was in 1972, my first year of working in comics, that I decided I wanted to adapt The Ring of Nibelung. But I knew I had to wait a long time to get to that point. Then as time went on I knew I had better do it while I was still relatively young enough to have the energy to finish it.
DRE: You did a lot of work for Marvels Epic line in the 80s. Did you ever think of pitching those projects to them?
PCR: I actually pitched The Jungle Book stories to them. I had inked some Gil Kane Jungle Book stories for Marvel Fanfare. Then Jo Duffy who had scripted those suggested we do "The King's Ankus." We approached Archie Goodwin with that and he decided it wasnt right for Epic magazine. The irony is that we did it for Eclipse and once Archie saw it, he apparently forgot he had passed on it, because he said that Epic could have done it.
DRE: Did you have any difficulties being homosexual in the comic book industry?
PCR: If anyone was not giving me work because Im gay then I have no idea. Ive always had more than enough offers of work. So I cant say that Ive felt the slightest shred of discrimination in this field. As opposed to someone like Howard Cruse who writes about the state of being gay and the civil rights movement is a theme in his work. I think his book Stuck Rubber Baby is one of the most amazing graphic novels ever done. Those have never been one of my themes. Although since I like Oscar Wilde so much and when you do superheroes youre dealing with beautiful men in tights which I draw well so I suppose a gay sensibility comes through in the choices I make.
DRE: Were mainstream comics always something you wanted to do?
PCR: Yes and no. I grew up reading comics and I went to art school at the University of Cincinnati. But I was so clueless about what I was going to do when I finished school. I wasnt thinking about doing comics until Dan Adkins, the Marvel artist who lived near my home, said he could get me comics work if I worked with him. He basically just dropped a career in my life and I had the sense to run with it. The imagery of comics and especially that Conan/Swamp Thing gothic art noveau rather than New York City superhero stuff was what I liked to do. Even with Marvel and DC the field was wide enough that it could accommodate the kinds of imagery I like work with.
DRE: About ten years ago I was lucky enough to visit Barry Windsor Smiths home and I was surprised there were no suits of armor and the walls werent all beautifully painted. What is your home like?
PCR: Interestingly enough when I started working with Michael T. Gilbert on Elric in 1982, Michael was surprised to see that there were no pictures on my walls. I looked around and realized it was kind of odd. Now I have an art gallery in my house. Everything is beautifully painted and it seems like Ive spent more time fixing up my house so that every room is just so. Almost everyone that walks into my house says its so beautiful. My bedroom is one the third floor and looks like a treehouse. On the second floor the bedroom is a true art gallery of other artists work where I also take pictures of models. I have some Burne Hogarth and original newspaper strips by Milton Caniff and Chic Young and EC Segar.
DRE: How was doing the Endless Nights story?
PCR: Its always great working with one of Neils scripts and also working in the different styles the story required.
DRE: You have a lot of mainstream work coming up.
PCR: Yes a six issue series with Neil Gaiman. In the meantime I was just talking to Brian Michael Bendis and he is doing a large Daredevil book with a number of different artists each drawing a different chapter with a different hero teaming up with Daredevil. Ill be doing a five to eight page story of Captain America and Daredevil.
DRE: When I think of mainstream work what most comes to mind is Dr. Strange. Did you ever do any Daredevil or Captain America before?
PCR: Oh no never. As a matter of fact the strip I was most known for was Killraven and when I finished that they said they wouldnt mind me doing some more mainstream work but I didnt do it. But when Bendis asked me what character I wanted to do, Dr. Strange was already taken, so I thought it would be fun to do Captain America. I asked Brian to set it in Central Park and when he asked me why, I said I wanted to draw trees.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out NBMs website for P. Craig Russell
Daniel Robert Epstein: many Oscar Wilde fairy tales have you adapted?
P. Craig Russell: Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose is the fourth volume. I started doing them in 1991. Oscar Wilde wrote nine fairy tales and I plan to adapt all of them. There are two more to go, The Happy Prince and The Fisherman and his Soul. Hopefully they will all get collected into one volume.
DRE: In The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose there is a big style change from your previous Oscar Wilde work.
PCR: On most of the Oscar Wilde fairy tales Ive taken on a much more cartoony/animation approach to the drawing. I seldom use models and I work everything out in my sketchbook. Its much more freewheeling. Though The Nightingale and the Rose, for its impact, needed a more realistic approach for because the nightingale sees the world as extremely romantic. To draw that one in a more cartoony sense, I wasnt sure would work.
DRE: Did you base the face of the man in The Nightingale and the Rose on anyone?
PCR: Yes it was a guy I know who had modeled for me for the angel Raguel, in Neil Gaimans Murder Mysteries and was a number of characters in The Ring of Nibelung. He has a terrific face that is fun to draw.
DRE: Why do you need to use models?
PCR: If youre going for a certain kind of realism then I certainly do need a jumping off point. Its to get characters that look uniquely individual and realistic at the same time. If you look at comic books done by people like Jack Kirby, Neal Adams and Gil Kane they all tend to draw the same face. Green Arrow and Green Lantern are like Betty & Veronica because only the hair styles change. They learn how to draw a certain heroic face then just change the costumes; John Buscema was the same way. Thats just what happens when you learn draw how to a figure in a classical way out of your head. Its a real challenge to bring a unique personality to each single character especially if they are heroic.
One reason its so much fun doing the Oscar Wilde material because I am making it up out of my head and discovering it in the sketchbook. For the Devoted Friend I filled up 50 pages in a sketchbook. Almost all of those panels were drawn on another piece of paper then I would make copies of it, shrink down then project it onto the page and trace off my own drawing. I think you get a greater feel of spontaneity in the line when you work like that.
DRE: Did you draw the picture of Oscar Wilde thats in the back of the book?
PCR: I drew that from a photo of him.
DRE: Was the miller in The Devoted Friend based on Wildes look?
PCR: Not intentional though I think the attitudes of the miller and the way he speaks is much more like Oscar Wilde.
DRE: Do you feel pressure adapting these works?
PCR: Not at all. Not in the sense that there is anyone looking over my shoulder. Im just having fun doing it.
DRE: How is it working with NBM?
PCR: Its great because they are not interested in doing books that are your typical Marvel and DC books. When I have those sorts of projects it is companies like NBM, and before them Eclipse and Dark Horse, that are more likely to try something different.
DRE: What kind of feedback do you get from your editor on the Oscar Wilde stories?
PCR: I really dont have an editor. As a matter of fact in the latest books were doing computer lettering. I did the lettering first by hand to make sure its designed into the picture with the word balloons. But the words themselves are done by computer. When Cavalleria Rusticana came out it was virtually unproofread and there were numerous errors. I told them now that computer lettering is fine but they have to send me a JPEG so I can proofread it. For most of my career, working for Marvel and DC, I have had editors and proofreaders but the smaller the company is the less people there are working there so you have to take responsibility for your work. I wouldnt call myself an out and out control freak but its fine with me to oversee as much of it as I possibly can.
DRE: How much of Oscar Wildes work gets cut out when youre adapting these stories?
PCR: It varies. The very first one I did, The Selfish Giant, is one of the shortest of them all, I think its about five pages of words. Then I did a 12 page adaptation so virtually every word is in that. One thing I am doing is that I even put in the he saids and she said which people dont usually do. People tend to treat adaptations like films scripts and as if people are saying these things in real time. I think having the saids reads well, at least with fairy tales.
Wilde can really go on and on in his descriptions of things so sometimes I pick out some descriptions and use them. When I was adapting his Salome there were huge chunks taken out. There is maybe 40 percent of the original words.
DRE: Did you ever feel like it was a bit of a clich for a gay artist to adapt Oscar Wilde?
PCR: [laughs] No I guess it was just fate that you just have to accept. I first decided to do them when I was living in New York City in the mid 70s. I was in a bookstore and I just picked up the Oscar Wilde fairy tales which I hadnt even heard of. I was familiar with his work of course but I just thought those stories would make excellent comic books. But it still took me 17 years to even begin it. The first one I read was The Young Prince and I always knew I wanted to adapt that one for sure. At first I was going to adapt a number of humorous stories in a cartoony lighthearted style. I had a Rudyard Kipling story also. [Publisher of NBM Publishing] Terry Nantier suggested I do all Oscar Wilde.
DRE: Why did it take you so long to get to them?
PCR: Partly opportunity. It wasnt so much that I had to wait until I was ready though I did feel that with The Ring of Nibelung. It was in 1972, my first year of working in comics, that I decided I wanted to adapt The Ring of Nibelung. But I knew I had to wait a long time to get to that point. Then as time went on I knew I had better do it while I was still relatively young enough to have the energy to finish it.
DRE: You did a lot of work for Marvels Epic line in the 80s. Did you ever think of pitching those projects to them?
PCR: I actually pitched The Jungle Book stories to them. I had inked some Gil Kane Jungle Book stories for Marvel Fanfare. Then Jo Duffy who had scripted those suggested we do "The King's Ankus." We approached Archie Goodwin with that and he decided it wasnt right for Epic magazine. The irony is that we did it for Eclipse and once Archie saw it, he apparently forgot he had passed on it, because he said that Epic could have done it.
DRE: Did you have any difficulties being homosexual in the comic book industry?
PCR: If anyone was not giving me work because Im gay then I have no idea. Ive always had more than enough offers of work. So I cant say that Ive felt the slightest shred of discrimination in this field. As opposed to someone like Howard Cruse who writes about the state of being gay and the civil rights movement is a theme in his work. I think his book Stuck Rubber Baby is one of the most amazing graphic novels ever done. Those have never been one of my themes. Although since I like Oscar Wilde so much and when you do superheroes youre dealing with beautiful men in tights which I draw well so I suppose a gay sensibility comes through in the choices I make.
DRE: Were mainstream comics always something you wanted to do?
PCR: Yes and no. I grew up reading comics and I went to art school at the University of Cincinnati. But I was so clueless about what I was going to do when I finished school. I wasnt thinking about doing comics until Dan Adkins, the Marvel artist who lived near my home, said he could get me comics work if I worked with him. He basically just dropped a career in my life and I had the sense to run with it. The imagery of comics and especially that Conan/Swamp Thing gothic art noveau rather than New York City superhero stuff was what I liked to do. Even with Marvel and DC the field was wide enough that it could accommodate the kinds of imagery I like work with.
DRE: About ten years ago I was lucky enough to visit Barry Windsor Smiths home and I was surprised there were no suits of armor and the walls werent all beautifully painted. What is your home like?
PCR: Interestingly enough when I started working with Michael T. Gilbert on Elric in 1982, Michael was surprised to see that there were no pictures on my walls. I looked around and realized it was kind of odd. Now I have an art gallery in my house. Everything is beautifully painted and it seems like Ive spent more time fixing up my house so that every room is just so. Almost everyone that walks into my house says its so beautiful. My bedroom is one the third floor and looks like a treehouse. On the second floor the bedroom is a true art gallery of other artists work where I also take pictures of models. I have some Burne Hogarth and original newspaper strips by Milton Caniff and Chic Young and EC Segar.
DRE: How was doing the Endless Nights story?
PCR: Its always great working with one of Neils scripts and also working in the different styles the story required.
DRE: You have a lot of mainstream work coming up.
PCR: Yes a six issue series with Neil Gaiman. In the meantime I was just talking to Brian Michael Bendis and he is doing a large Daredevil book with a number of different artists each drawing a different chapter with a different hero teaming up with Daredevil. Ill be doing a five to eight page story of Captain America and Daredevil.
DRE: When I think of mainstream work what most comes to mind is Dr. Strange. Did you ever do any Daredevil or Captain America before?
PCR: Oh no never. As a matter of fact the strip I was most known for was Killraven and when I finished that they said they wouldnt mind me doing some more mainstream work but I didnt do it. But when Bendis asked me what character I wanted to do, Dr. Strange was already taken, so I thought it would be fun to do Captain America. I asked Brian to set it in Central Park and when he asked me why, I said I wanted to draw trees.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
missy:
P. Craig Russell has been adapting works by dead men like Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner for many years. But he considers it more of responsibility to do justice to their work because they cant look over his shoulder. So its a good thing that Russell is one of the best artists working in the comic...