Linda Medley may have grown up in rural California but that didnt stop her from reading comics. She grew up reading such kiddie books as Richie Rich but then later she became obsessed with the X-Men. She attended the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and eventually became a working comic book artist on such books as Books of Magic and Batman. But like many comic book creators Medley has had a book in her for many years and her new hardcover Castle Waiting has appeared under the banner of many other comic book companies. But now it is firmly in place at Fantagraphics where Medley will be starting a regular Castle Waiting series.
Castle Waiting is a very unique fantasy book that takes place in medieval times. The logline is that it takes place after the fairytales end. But it is also so much more. Medley has infused the book with the wit and dialogue of a Neil Simon play and created a large cast of characters mostly centered around the Solicitine which is an order of bearded nuns.
Buy Castle Waiting
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Linda Medley: Not a lot, just cleaning house.
DRE: Now that the books done, do you have time to do other stuff?
LM: Yeah, Ive got some other projects. The Castle Waiting series is starting up, so Im working on that.
DRE: What made you curious about the idea of what happens after happily ever after?
LM: Folktales and fairytales are so iconic. By the end of the story you get the lesson you needed to learn thing. But if you look at them as more complex stories and the personalities of the characters as being more realistic thered have to be something more going on.
DRE: You do touch on some famous tales, how did you decide which stories you were going to go after?
LM: I cant even remember now. Ive read hundreds of them and there are certain elements that come back to you. After youve read so much material, there seemed to be a loose end with somebodys evil stepmother or something.
DRE: How long ago did you start working on this?
LM: I actually started it in 1994. It took until 1996 to get the first graphic novel out. I think I worked on it for about seven years and then stopped doing it about three years ago.
DRE: At what point in the past ten years did it become about the Solicitine?
LM: Thats the one thats almost a mistake. What happened was that I had started out telling the story with the girl Jane that comes in at the beginning and the whole story with the nuns was supposed to take place later because it was all a flashback. But my publisher at the time, Cartoon Books, wanted a whole new storyline to start the series with a number one so they wanted me to wedge it into the one I was working on. I ended up moving that up in the timeline of the whole book, which I wish I hadnt done. I wish I had it in the right sequence because it falls right in the middle of a story thats already happening.
DRE: Was it difficult to connect everything?
LM: With doing Solicitine I added stuff like a whole framing sequence of having the nun tell the story rather than just being able to do it all as one whole graphic novel, which is what I wanted to do. So I did end up having to change the Solicitine story by putting in that whole framing sequence but as for the ongoing story I didnt change anything.
DRE: How about the idea of using modern dialect?
LM: I cant stand reading books that have that fake archaic sound to them. It is fantasy fiction but even if you were actually transported through time to some ancient medieval age, wouldnt people be speaking their own version of slang? This is the way I assume people would have been talking in olden times. Its just translated into modern speak. I just cant believe everyone used perfect grammar in the 1200s.
DRE: With all the different characters, did you work on one character at a time or would you write the story and then just whatever came up you needed to put in?
LM: A little bit of both. I started with the characters backgrounds and then came up with the entire storyline. Then at certain points I would figure out how a certain character fits in. Everything just fit together which was better than creating a plot and then making a character to fit into the plot.
DRE: Besides the fact that youve been living with this book for so long, what was personal about it for you in the first place?
LM: There are definitely some characters I relate to more but I wanted to create a lot of different types of characters. If youre an accomplished storyteller you ought to be able to let go of yourself enough to get into roles that are totally alien to you. In some ways I think I set up some things that are going to be real difficult to do. Theres one character that always wears a mask and he never takes it off. How do you show what this person is thinking when you cant see their face.
DRE: Is the Solicitine based on anything real?
LM: It isnt actual truth but it is based on an actual Catholic saint. But in 1968 they finally decided that it couldnt have ever happened and I think that her and St. Christopher were dumped at the same time. Though for centuries people believed it was true. All around the world there still are still churches in her name and you can find religious paintings of a bearded lady.
DRE: The book isnt like overtly feminist or anything like that but there are definitely feminist ideas in it. Was that something you wanted to put in or did it come out of the idea of doing a story mostly focused on women?
LM: Its funny, because I never thought of it as feminist and I never thought of it as being focused on women. I actually wanted it to be humanist and there are stories coming up that have nothing but men in them. I wanted to show all aspects of life.
DRE: At one point did you feel that you were in the right direction for the book?
LM: Probably around issue four or five.
DRE: Which was what storyline?
LM: That was about the time that Janes baby was born. At that point I started getting a better handle on storytelling. I had never written anything before so for the first graphic novel and the first few issues of the book I was learning what I was doing. I knew the characters but I was figuring out how to portray them and what I could get away with in terms of confusing or offending people.
DRE: Is the book any way autobiographical?
LM: I never really thought about it in those terms but I did grow up on a farm. In that respect it is but life wise I think there are little bits of me in all of the characters.
DRE: At what point did Fantagraphics get involved?
LM: I had been with another publisher and they didnt follow through with what they said they were, so I quit. Fantagraphics asked if I would be interested in reprinting the collection. I said no because I didnt want to deal with it anymore after eight years. Periodically they kept coming back over a few years saying, Well, are you interested yet? I kept telling them no until last year they finally wore me down and said, Well, you might as well come back and at least do this. Then a couple months later it was, Are you interested in doing a series again? I said, I will give it one more shot and see what happens this time.
DRE: Why didnt you want them to reprint it?
LM: It had been a long time with it and I had started working on other projects. In fact, I got a whole other couple graphic novel series I wanted to do. Part of me wanted to move on but there was this whole storyline in Castle Waiting that never got finished.
DRE: Were you surprised that Fantagraphics wanted to publish it because they dont really do books like this?
LM: I was really surprised. I kept asking them. Are you sure you want to do this? They said they did so Im curious to see how it all pans out.
DRE: Will the regular series be in color?
LM: No itll be black and white.
DRE: You dont sound happy about that.
LM: Well it has always been in black and white. Im a painter and I worked for years as a colorist but my work is all in black and white. I basically draw for color and then I have to go back in and add detail and drop in blacks.
DRE: You did a lot of mainstream books before Castle Waiting.
LM: Yeah, when I first started I was drawing some Justice League Europe and then did a little run of Justice League America. Then I did Doom Patrol for about a year. Then I stopped penciling for a while and just started doing coloring. The best one was Batman Adventures.
DRE: Was fantasy something you always liked?
LM: I liked fantasy as a kid like Lord of the Rings but I dont really read fantasy now. I like folklore and folktales.
DRE: You also worked as a commercial artist.
LM: Actually Ive only been doing comics lately but Ive done childrens books and stuff and textbooks.
DRE: Whats going to be the first storyline in the actual Castle Waiting series?
LM: It is picking up where the story that Solicitine fell into the middle of. Basically Jane gets settled into a new room and in the whole process of that you get the chance to go into every characters room and in so doing it makes the castle itself more of a rounded character.
DRE: I recently interviewed Colleen Doran. She told me that when she was doing mainstream comics they always tried to put her out on books like Barbie. You came along later than her but did you ever have trouble like that?
LM: I hate to say it but I dont have a real girlie style. I dont draw real pretty people. Im really good at drawing ugly people. Im not the first person they think of to put on Barbie because Ill give her acne and a weight problem.
DRE: What other work are you doing now?
LM: Nothing but Castle Waiting right now but I would like to develop some of the other ideas. I like writing my own stuff because then I dont actually have to write anything down. I dont write scripts so it cuts out a whole step.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Castle Waiting is a very unique fantasy book that takes place in medieval times. The logline is that it takes place after the fairytales end. But it is also so much more. Medley has infused the book with the wit and dialogue of a Neil Simon play and created a large cast of characters mostly centered around the Solicitine which is an order of bearded nuns.
Buy Castle Waiting
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Linda Medley: Not a lot, just cleaning house.
DRE: Now that the books done, do you have time to do other stuff?
LM: Yeah, Ive got some other projects. The Castle Waiting series is starting up, so Im working on that.
DRE: What made you curious about the idea of what happens after happily ever after?
LM: Folktales and fairytales are so iconic. By the end of the story you get the lesson you needed to learn thing. But if you look at them as more complex stories and the personalities of the characters as being more realistic thered have to be something more going on.
DRE: You do touch on some famous tales, how did you decide which stories you were going to go after?
LM: I cant even remember now. Ive read hundreds of them and there are certain elements that come back to you. After youve read so much material, there seemed to be a loose end with somebodys evil stepmother or something.
DRE: How long ago did you start working on this?
LM: I actually started it in 1994. It took until 1996 to get the first graphic novel out. I think I worked on it for about seven years and then stopped doing it about three years ago.
DRE: At what point in the past ten years did it become about the Solicitine?
LM: Thats the one thats almost a mistake. What happened was that I had started out telling the story with the girl Jane that comes in at the beginning and the whole story with the nuns was supposed to take place later because it was all a flashback. But my publisher at the time, Cartoon Books, wanted a whole new storyline to start the series with a number one so they wanted me to wedge it into the one I was working on. I ended up moving that up in the timeline of the whole book, which I wish I hadnt done. I wish I had it in the right sequence because it falls right in the middle of a story thats already happening.
DRE: Was it difficult to connect everything?
LM: With doing Solicitine I added stuff like a whole framing sequence of having the nun tell the story rather than just being able to do it all as one whole graphic novel, which is what I wanted to do. So I did end up having to change the Solicitine story by putting in that whole framing sequence but as for the ongoing story I didnt change anything.
DRE: How about the idea of using modern dialect?
LM: I cant stand reading books that have that fake archaic sound to them. It is fantasy fiction but even if you were actually transported through time to some ancient medieval age, wouldnt people be speaking their own version of slang? This is the way I assume people would have been talking in olden times. Its just translated into modern speak. I just cant believe everyone used perfect grammar in the 1200s.
DRE: With all the different characters, did you work on one character at a time or would you write the story and then just whatever came up you needed to put in?
LM: A little bit of both. I started with the characters backgrounds and then came up with the entire storyline. Then at certain points I would figure out how a certain character fits in. Everything just fit together which was better than creating a plot and then making a character to fit into the plot.
DRE: Besides the fact that youve been living with this book for so long, what was personal about it for you in the first place?
LM: There are definitely some characters I relate to more but I wanted to create a lot of different types of characters. If youre an accomplished storyteller you ought to be able to let go of yourself enough to get into roles that are totally alien to you. In some ways I think I set up some things that are going to be real difficult to do. Theres one character that always wears a mask and he never takes it off. How do you show what this person is thinking when you cant see their face.
DRE: Is the Solicitine based on anything real?
LM: It isnt actual truth but it is based on an actual Catholic saint. But in 1968 they finally decided that it couldnt have ever happened and I think that her and St. Christopher were dumped at the same time. Though for centuries people believed it was true. All around the world there still are still churches in her name and you can find religious paintings of a bearded lady.
DRE: The book isnt like overtly feminist or anything like that but there are definitely feminist ideas in it. Was that something you wanted to put in or did it come out of the idea of doing a story mostly focused on women?
LM: Its funny, because I never thought of it as feminist and I never thought of it as being focused on women. I actually wanted it to be humanist and there are stories coming up that have nothing but men in them. I wanted to show all aspects of life.
DRE: At one point did you feel that you were in the right direction for the book?
LM: Probably around issue four or five.
DRE: Which was what storyline?
LM: That was about the time that Janes baby was born. At that point I started getting a better handle on storytelling. I had never written anything before so for the first graphic novel and the first few issues of the book I was learning what I was doing. I knew the characters but I was figuring out how to portray them and what I could get away with in terms of confusing or offending people.
DRE: Is the book any way autobiographical?
LM: I never really thought about it in those terms but I did grow up on a farm. In that respect it is but life wise I think there are little bits of me in all of the characters.
DRE: At what point did Fantagraphics get involved?
LM: I had been with another publisher and they didnt follow through with what they said they were, so I quit. Fantagraphics asked if I would be interested in reprinting the collection. I said no because I didnt want to deal with it anymore after eight years. Periodically they kept coming back over a few years saying, Well, are you interested yet? I kept telling them no until last year they finally wore me down and said, Well, you might as well come back and at least do this. Then a couple months later it was, Are you interested in doing a series again? I said, I will give it one more shot and see what happens this time.
DRE: Why didnt you want them to reprint it?
LM: It had been a long time with it and I had started working on other projects. In fact, I got a whole other couple graphic novel series I wanted to do. Part of me wanted to move on but there was this whole storyline in Castle Waiting that never got finished.
DRE: Were you surprised that Fantagraphics wanted to publish it because they dont really do books like this?
LM: I was really surprised. I kept asking them. Are you sure you want to do this? They said they did so Im curious to see how it all pans out.
DRE: Will the regular series be in color?
LM: No itll be black and white.
DRE: You dont sound happy about that.
LM: Well it has always been in black and white. Im a painter and I worked for years as a colorist but my work is all in black and white. I basically draw for color and then I have to go back in and add detail and drop in blacks.
DRE: You did a lot of mainstream books before Castle Waiting.
LM: Yeah, when I first started I was drawing some Justice League Europe and then did a little run of Justice League America. Then I did Doom Patrol for about a year. Then I stopped penciling for a while and just started doing coloring. The best one was Batman Adventures.
DRE: Was fantasy something you always liked?
LM: I liked fantasy as a kid like Lord of the Rings but I dont really read fantasy now. I like folklore and folktales.
DRE: You also worked as a commercial artist.
LM: Actually Ive only been doing comics lately but Ive done childrens books and stuff and textbooks.
DRE: Whats going to be the first storyline in the actual Castle Waiting series?
LM: It is picking up where the story that Solicitine fell into the middle of. Basically Jane gets settled into a new room and in the whole process of that you get the chance to go into every characters room and in so doing it makes the castle itself more of a rounded character.
DRE: I recently interviewed Colleen Doran. She told me that when she was doing mainstream comics they always tried to put her out on books like Barbie. You came along later than her but did you ever have trouble like that?
LM: I hate to say it but I dont have a real girlie style. I dont draw real pretty people. Im really good at drawing ugly people. Im not the first person they think of to put on Barbie because Ill give her acne and a weight problem.
DRE: What other work are you doing now?
LM: Nothing but Castle Waiting right now but I would like to develop some of the other ideas. I like writing my own stuff because then I dont actually have to write anything down. I dont write scripts so it cuts out a whole step.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
tcosk33:
I am currently half way through the collected HC and I love it! Can't wait for more!!!!!
lumenagerie:
Castle Waiting is one of the greats.