and The Legend of Luther Arkwrightcreator Brian Talbot This is the end of a story that began nearly 50 years ago. Talbot’s multiverse-hopping agent/assassin Luther Arkwright first appeared in brainstorming comics. Since then, the character’s first full adventure The Adventures of Luther “Arkwright” became one of the most influential British graphic novels of its time. The Beat emailed the creators to talk about this latest adventure and the process behind its creation.
D. Morris: How does it feel to be called the “Father of British Graphic Novels”?
Brian Talbot: I’m used to it now, although I don’t know if it’s entirely accurate. I wrote several original graphic novels a year or two ago The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. They are adapted from two comics Michael Moorcock Elric’s story Jim Cawthornalthough they were published in a large bound comic book format, similar to the “Treasury” editions produced by Marvel in the 1970s, and therefore did not meet the definition of “comics in book form”. Original volume collection Arkwright It came out in 1982, at the same time as the other two first GNs in the UK. Raymond Brig when the wind blows and Percy Simond true love However, Arkwright’s performance in “Almost Myth” and “Hush!” Since October 1978 (with the publication of Will Eisner’s contract with godthe first person to use this definition) it does seem to have advantages.
Morris: What makes Arkwright so unique in the comics is that he is a uniquely British character even among his British comic icons, such as Judge Advocate. Although there are similar characters in British science fiction, what was the impetus for introducing such characters into comics?
Talbot: Aside from Dandel, there were very few British heroes in sci-fi/superhero comics at the time. This is just one of many different things I tried to do with this book, the main thing being to make an intelligent sci-fi adventure comic for adults. It must be difficult for today’s readers to imagine what the American and British comics scene was like in the late 1970s. At that time, except for relatively few underground publications, comics were produced entirely for the target audience of young teenagers. The vast majority are bland, repetitive fare. No gore, no bad language, no sex, no politics, religion, philosophy, etc. This is what I try to do.
Morris: More than 20 years have passed since completion Heart of Empire; The Legacy of Luther Arkwright,sequel The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. The title of this volume is The Legend of Luther Arkwright. While this is still the story of Luther fighting the threats of the multiverse, much of the book focuses on the passage of time. Several supporting characters die in this book. Luther confronts his legacy in the form of Proteus and what it means for human evolution. I’m curious if this was the inspiration for telling a new Luther Arkwright story after so long?
Talbot: It makes the story as different from the original as it is from the sequel. I designed Proteus to look like what experts think humans would be like if they continued to evolve. Arkwright dealt with the concept of superior beings (and indeed the multiverse) earlier than any other comics, so that wasn’t the inspiration for this story
Morris: I think it’s safe to say that each volume of Luther Arkwright reflects the era in which it was written. heart of empire In the Tony Blair era. How many parts can you say The Legend of Luther Arkwright Reflecting the past decade or so?
Talbot: And they did. As opposed to space opera (of which I also enjoy good ones), science fiction is always inspired by what was actually happening at the time of writing. Currently, due to the sense of uncertainty and the economic downturn we are experiencing, we are seeing the rise of nationalism and the far right around the world. The same thing happened in the 1930s.
Morris: The structure of this book is unique. Essentially, you’re telling the story through multiple people, each with their own perspective. Is this a way for you to further explore the concept of Luther’s legacy?
Talbot: This is a different way of presenting the story than the other two books. I want to go back to some of the experimentation that was present in the first one. I liked that Luther was basically out of the story for a long time, kind of like Sherlock Holmes The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is my favorite part – watching the slow evolution of the relationship between Arkwright’s comrade, the gruff and down-to-earth Harry Fairfax, and the mentally disturbed orphan who becomes attached to them.
Morris: The most important characters are two who look like they came straight out of one Mobius comics. I don’t want to speculate on who they are, but they are talking about historical figures, people who did good or evil. Luther is of course the main character, but are you doing this to make the reader wonder whether Luther’s actions throughout the series benefit or harm humanity?
Talbot: Luther had always been morally ambiguous. In the first story, I wanted to leave the impression that another step in human evolution would bring about a different way of looking at the world than Homo sapiens, a different sense of morality. A brief stand-alone historical narrative that, in addition to reinforcing the book’s theme – that people can be good or evil depending on how they are conditioned by their experiences – is something I’ve never seen done in an adventure comic: out of the story Depiction of real life experiences, completely unrelated to the plot, but emphasizing the theme. As I said, I wanted to go back a little bit to the storytelling experiments that I did very consciously with the first story. This is one of the reasons I returned to the black and white, detailed cross-hatched illustration style of my original work. I love Möbius, which is why I drew the framing device of the storyteller and her audience in this style.
Morris: I’m fascinated by how the various worlds in the multiverse that readers visit feel more distant and backward from our current situation than from the grand future landscapes you might see in other multiverse stories. The latter two volumes are set in a world where the English Civil War lasted for more than 300 years. Much of the book follows England as it returns to the Dark Ages after a plague. Isn’t it more interesting to tell a story in a world where things go wrong versus a story in a world where everything goes right?
Talbot: The parallel world of Zero-Zero is a fundamental part of this story;
Future utopias, but yes, dystopias are more interesting. a collection of stories
It would be boring in a perfect world full of good people!
Morris: In previous volumes, aside from the existence of these parallel universes, the concept of the multiverse and how each parallel universe worked was left in the dark. Why explain how it ultimately works?
Talbot: It was first discussed in Heart of the Empire and I expand on it here. It makes my version of a parallel world very, very different from the quantum theory of parallel worlds usually used in stories, where a new alternate reality can start at any point in time and trigger a different reality. In my story, there are limited (albeit numerous) time options that exist simultaneously in different dimensions – different aspects of the same reality, parallel in fact. If not, there would be a ridiculous situation with multiple versions of Luther running around with multiple opponents at the same time! Or multiple Firefrosts in the original.
Morris: One of the things that makes reading the various Luther Arkwright stories so interesting is how you use the comics medium. No matter how you convey your message The Adventures of Luther Arkwright Or the framing device in the book, you obviously enjoy that aspect of storytelling. For you, does content dictate form or vice versa, or is it a combination of both?
Talbot: Comics are purely storytelling. The painting style chosen is to illustrate
Story is a fundamental part of this. That’s why my style keeps changing from comic to comic – it has to fit perfectly into the type of story being told. Images in comics are the equivalent of descriptive paragraphs in prose. They determine how your brain sees it. I can’t tell adventure stories, ghost stories, comedies, documentaries in the same painting style. Not only would this make me lazy, it would ruin the story being told. Every part of the visual must reinforce the message it conveys. It’s not just the drawing style, but the composition – not just the overall composition of each page, but the overall composition of each individual panel, the use of diagonals, horizontal and vertical lines, panel size, shape and placement that guides people The eyelines flow from panel to panel, eye height and light sources are used to emphasize plot and atmosphere, and even the placement of dialogue balloons is an important part of the storytelling.
The layout of facing pages is crucial to the mood and message that can be encapsulated within them – when needed, you can turn the page to completely change the mood or reveal a surprise. I’m always confused when a review of a story makes no mention of storytelling, as if the reviewer didn’t even notice it.
And, in a way, they shouldn’t. This should be below their perception unless
Artists want to draw their attention to achieve a specific effect.
Morris: The last chapter of the book clearly reflects the opening chapter of the book The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. This is an incredible bookend. While this feels like the final volume, is there a possibility of a Luther Arkwright volume in the future? Or do you feel like you’ve said everything you can about the character?
Talbot: Yes, the first and last books begin and end in the same place – 50 years
Except in real time – yes, there will be no more Luther stories.
Morris: Luther Arkwright is now complete, can you talk about future projects?
Talbot: I just finished my 172 prequel art granville series,
Stanford Hawksmoor Casebookto be launched by the end of 2025.
Illustrations for Marie’s sixth graphic novel. The script has been written, but the theme is
It’s absolutely confidential!
The Arkwright Legacy is currently available in print and digital format from Dark Horse Comics.
