Mike Poulton will be in conversation with Terry Hands to discuss how he condensed Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur a compilation of stories into a three and half hour stage production as part of the 2010 Kaleidoscopic Festival on Saturday 11 September.

To get you in the mood we interviewed John Matthews and Will Sweeney who have adapted Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur into a graphic novel.

Can you tell us a little about yourselves and how you came to be working together on this adaptation?

JOHN: I’ve been a professional writer for the last 40 years and considered a world expert on everything Arthurian. I edited an edition of Le Morte D’Arthur in 2000 with illustrations by the fabulous artist Anna-Marie Ferguson (the first woman to illustrate Malory) In 2004 I was historical advisor to the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster King Arthur, from which I learned a lot about the visual side of things. Soon after I wrote my own Graphic Novel, based on the older Welsh stories of Arthur included in The Mabinogion. It was called ‘The Chronicles of Arthur’ and was illustrated by Mike Collins. It was done for a US publisher and aimed at kids between 9 and 12, and meant to be the first in a series (so far not picked up by anyone here) As I wrote I began to think – wouldn’t it be great to do a grown up version, based on my personal favorite King Arthur book Le Morte D’Arthur. I approached SelfMadeHero with the idea and they went for it. It was they who matched me up with Will Sweeney, whose work I already admired and its been a great time working with him, even though we have so far only met once in New York.

Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur clocks in at a whopping 600 pages. How did you go about cutting down the original source material, and have you deviated from in it in anyway to create your own take on the Arthurian legend?

JOHN: It wasn’t easy! The first thing I did was drop most of the Book of Tristan, which winds on for a lot of pages and isn’t the best bit of the book. Then I started looking at the shape of the text,. Malory was a master of prose and narrative – though he occasionally got lost and brought characters back in after her had killed them off! – but once you start looking at the main part of the book you can quickly see which side stories can be omitted or simply referred to in passing. Of course, we’ve only just got to the end of the first volume. There are four planed in all, and I’m about to start on part 2. After that, we’ll see… But I was determined from the start to be as faithful as I could to the original. Of course I couldn’t use the original language – 15th century English is great but needs as lot of space and interpretation and still won’t get too many fans from 21st century readers! So I really have changed very little, and we also decided to go for a 15th century look (when the book was written) to armour and costumes.

There have been numerous interpretations (film: Excalibur, TV: Merlin, Theatre: Spamalot and the RSC’s recent Morte d’Arthur) of the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which have created a kind of visual template of what the characters look like. How much did you feel the need to adhere to these visual stereotypes?

JOHN: Well, as I said, I wanted to be as faithful to Malory as possible, so we went for a 14th/15th century, high medieval, look. But I was clear with Will from the start that if he had a vision of his own he should be free to include it – so the end result is imaginative. People who love Excalibur in particular will recognize the world in which they are. I personally get annoyed when film makers especially mix everything up – Dark Age with Medieval, history with fantasy – but when you leave it out and try to be accurate as we did with ‘King Arthur’ people complain that there wasn’t enough Morgan le Fay or wizardly magic! At least the Mort has all of that!

How does the relationship between the adaptor and illustrator work?

JOHN: Well, I write the script and send it in batches of about 25 pages to Will. He draws roughs and sends them to me. I jump up and down with delight, send him a few thoughts (rarely, as he has an uncanny ability to read my mind). Then I get ion wit the next batch while he draws… We established a rhythm early and its worked pretty well so far. The most important thing – and real luck on my part – is that Wil and I hit it off right from the start. We give each other plenty of room to breath and have really enjoyed working together.

If the graphic novel is a success are there any plans for a spin off series (e.g. King Arthur in Space?)

JOHN: As I said there will, hopefully, be 4 vols to complete the series. If they go well I hope to tackle the Tristan story – though that will need more work, and possibly some of the many great tales of Arthur not included in Le Mort D’Arthur. As for King Arthur in Space – didn’t Disney do that already? There will be more, if my editor lets me….

And the interview with Will Sweeney…..

Can you tell us a little about yourselves and how you came to be working together on this adaption?

WILL: I grew up in Massachusetts in the U.S. My favorite artists included the guys who drew for Marvel comics, the Illustrators of book covers and imaginative realistic painters (John Buscema, NC Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta). They were the artists who made the imagination come to life. I’ve been an artist for animation since 1995. Mainly, I’ve drawn the storyboards, for a variety of animated television shows, mostly action adventure stuff. I’ve worked on shows like Spawn, Jackie Chan Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, most recently The Secret Saturdays and Scooby Doo. I’ve worked for studios like Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Sony and more. After 15 years, I wanted to shake things up a bit and create the finished art as opposed to the rough drawings and tell a longer more complex story. On the side, I did some comics pages for an author who had written story that took place in Rome, 9A.D. He was keen on the historical accuracy of the soldier’s gear. Emma Hayley from SelfMadeHero saw some of that art and showed John Matthews. John and Emma really liked my style and so Emma approached me about illustrating John’s adaptation of Le Morte D’Arthur. My first thought was, hell yeah. I googled them both. I found out SelfMadeHero had adapted one of my favorite books, The Master and the Marguerita, as a graphic novel. I decided that only a company that loves the art form as much as I do would do that. When I found out more about John, that he wrote Arthur of Albion and a plethora of other Arthur related books, my second thought was holy !@#$ this is gonna be great!.

Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur clocks in at a whopping 600 pages. How did you go about cutting down the original source material, and have you deviated from in it in anyway to create your own take on the Arthurian legend?

WILL: I took John’s translation of the original Malory book out of the local library and wondered the same thing. The book is Three inches thick! So many characters. So many little stories. And after speaking to John and understanding his desire to be faithful to Malory’s intent I had difficulty seeing the forest through the trees. Then I got it, the unique aspect of the book is that it‘s an adaptation striving to be faithful to the work of the original author. It’s not a story that is paying homage to one piece or an aspect of it. Then John’s pages started to arrive in these vinettes with a common thread. I noticed every five pages or so an iconic moment in the Arthur myth would occur. Uther’s son, Arthur, is born and pulls the sword from the stone by page 18. It took Disney an hour and a half to do that. Then I understood how John was going to pull the translation off in a pleasing and new way– one of my rules in comics is to have something change in the plot every five pages. As the artist, I looked at it from the perspective of someone who was directing a giant war movie with a huge all star cast. One, because there are many battles and two because there a lots of distinct characters that change circumstances throughout the story, each with his own important story. My challenge is to keep it simple– focus on the story and keep each character as a unique individual.

There have been numerous interpretations (film: Excalibur, TV: Merlin, Theatre: Spamalot and the RSC’s recent Morte d’Arhtur) of the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which have created a kind of visual template of what the characters look like. How much did you feel the need to adhere to these visual stereotypes?

WILL: I selfishly ignore, even shun, classic stereotypes and cartoon conventions. As long as the designs suit Malory’s description of the character I feel free to get away with my personal take on them. There’s a big cast in this book. I like fresh characters and designs that are a bit understated unless it serves the story.

As an example, Arthur is a handsome warrior king. As a character designer, I avoid classic goodlooking hero schtick, it feels phoned-in, and play up his common man qualities. The same goes for Merlin, I’ve designed him as a virile man in his late 30’s. I hope my women characters are attractive but aren’t classic beauties either.

John is very specific about the time period of the props, backgrounds and costumes, 1400-1500. We agreed that the movie, Excalibur was a good launching point for design reference. I added the movies The Messenger and Beckett to that list and scoured the internet and the library for the rest of the reference. I use armor and weapon designs from all over Europe. John’s had me change drawings for more accuracy i.e.,.. removing carpets from floors and replacing them with straw and removing big windows and peaked roofs from castle exteriors. For magical creatures the gloves are off though and I strive to present them in an orignal unique way. I show the questing beast swimming under water because its never been done before.

How does the relationship between the adaptor and illustrator work?

WILL: The best collaborators let me know why they chose to work with me, stay confident with the choice they made and allow me to tell their story. John does that. I appreciate it. We also have an editor that keeps us honest. I try to approach each story as if it was the first script I ever read. I’m an actor/director wannabee, I try to sell the writers idea, acting out each bit in a fresh way that appeals to my taste and sticks to the required number of pages. I like this kind of story to be told in a gritty scary weird way. It’s a lot of work that happens fast

If the graphic novel is a success are there any plans for a spin off series (e.g. King Arthur in Space?)

WILL: The plan is to create the story in 4/140 pg. volumes. I hope to see it bound in one book that’s as fat as the original un-illustrated version I took out of the library last December.

Posted on Monday 6th September 2010 at 04:57 PM.