P. Craig Russell

There's a tender and sad, but still somehow more than a little snarky, cynicism to these two little stories, which Russell's always excellent art and layouts accentuate by being lush, lovely and reassuringly fairy tale-looking. I have no other experience with Wilde's writings, but these adaptations of Russell's have been well worth reading, and "The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose" is one of the stronger volumes.

Turning a perfectly wonderful novel into a graphic novel is a tricky endeavour, but Gaiman and Russell do it spectacularly in this instance. The pacing matches the story so well that it's almost as if Gaiman had written the story for this format in the first place! But of course, both parties (as well as the guest illustrators) have a huge amount of experience in this arena, so I would have been more surprised if they had failed. The visual allowances of this format really work in Gaiman's show more favour in this instance, as it blends seamlessly with the dialogue to really immerse the reader in the goings-on of the graveyard. Some things become more apparent (notably Miss Lupescu's and Silas' supernatural selves) and other are wonderfully enhanced (I have a special fondness for the Danse Macabré scenes), so I am very much looking forward to the second volume. show less

This final volume of THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG can be summed up in a single word: stunning.

The story itself can be silly at times, utterly ridiculous at times, yet it can also be heartbreaking and soul crushing.

But the real strength here is P. Craig Russell's incredible art. I've been following this guy since the 70s, and I've never seen better work out of the man. But equal praise must be bestowed on the colourist, Lovern Kindzierski and letterer (yes, really!) Galen Showman because, instead show more of simply workmanlike colouring and plodding type, both have worked hard to take Russell's already high quality art and elevate it. The colours and especially the type work with the art to bring a synergy to all the elements and all serve the story and the individual scenes.

This is the comic form being used to its full potential that is far too rare.

Having no knowledge of Wagner's original work, I have no idea how close this hews to the original, but I can say this adaptation is simply a stunning achievement in its own right. show less

So, unlike many of the reviewers, I am utterly and completely ignorant of Wagner's opera on which this and the next volume are based. I know nothing about opera. Nothing against it, but it's simply an art form I have no interest in.

However, P. Craig Russell is one of those seminal comic book artists that I will pretty much buy on sight. I've been a fan since he and Roy Thomas gave me my first introduction to Elric, and I've followed Russell's work since, and I don't think I've ever been show more disappointed.

That said, I don't think, in all the incredible work he's produced since that Elric adaptation, that he's blown me away again like his has with this. This, I think, is Russell's masterwork. The art is utterly gorgeous, yet it never gets in the way of the storytelling, which is a skill less and less comic artists seem to possess these days.

But what about the story? I'll leave it to others to debate how close he stayed to the original, or how good or bad his changes were. Coming into this cold, I can only say I was impressed and delighted with what's turning out to be a very classic tale of the gods that also seems to scoop up elements (or the authors of these works stole liberally from the opera) of Norse mythology, Thor comics, the Lord of the Rings, King Arthur's mythology... honestly, it kind of feels like the original fantasy tale that everything else was spawned from.

I am excited to dive into the second, final volume. show less