Originally appeared in “P. Craig Russell: Isolation and Illusion, Collected Short Stories 1977-1997,” published by Dark Horse Comics, 2003
Most people associate P. Craig Russell with big, epic works. Cosmic stuff. You know – Killraven, Dr. Strange, opera comics – that sort of thing. The guy adapted The Ring for Siegfried’s sake. The whole friggin’ Ring!
But it’s not all epic-length tales of gods and heroes for Craig. He’s just as good with shorter stories and more intimate works. In fact, I’d argue that the key to Craig’s art – what really brings it to life – is the small stuff.
As someone once said, “God is in the details.” (Or was it the Devil? Either way, it fits. Craig’s drawn plenty of gods, and he once did a mean Mephisto for a Marvel poster. But I’m getting off track …)
Just look at some of the selections in the book you’re holding. (And if you’re standing there in a comic book store, just reading it, go to the counter and pay for it already. This ain’t no library!) These are short stories, after all, where Craig had to make every page, every panel and every line count. And he did.
Of course, in the earlier stories, there were a lot more lines. Check Out “La Somnambula” and “Isolation and Illusion.” Both are lushly rendered, almost ethereal visions in which Craig seems to be showing the reader just how well he can draw. Over the years, he would strip his art style down, if not to its bare essentials, then to something a lot more graphically concise than the intricate drawings seen in these two comics. Somehow, including less in his renderings allowed him to include more in the comics themselves.
This brings me to another thing about Craig: Most people miss how damn funny he can be.
Craig is always sticking little visual jokes or bits of business in his stories – not for their own sake, but to make the stories richer and more complete. Just check out what might be my favorite comic in the book, “A Voyage to the Moon” by Cyrano de Bergerac. Admittedly, it’s a little lighter than “Dance on a Razor’s Edge” or “Breakdown on the Starship Remembrance,” but Craig still manages to cram in enough funny bits to equal Will Elder at this best. Examples? How about all the crashed spaceships on page 1 or the nervous sheep on page 8? And I haven’t even mentioned the character design of the Moon Men themselves, all furrowed brows, broad shoulders and hairy backs.
H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond,” adapted by P. Craig Russell
Sometimes – though, admittedly, not in the case of the Moon Men, those characters are the result of creative casting. Craig has a knack for finding just the right real person to “play” the characters in his comics. When I was a student at Kent State in the late ‘80s, I was lucky enough to make a cameo as a dead street punk in his adaptation of Clive Barker’s “Human Remains.” My roommate Frank was even luckier. Though he never even read comics and was the furthest thing from a scientist, Craig saw something in Frank’s pale, scrawny form and said “Eureka! I’ve found my mad scientist.” You can check out Frank – along with Tom, another roommate of mine – in Craig’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond,” which is included here. Also, be sure to check out “The Gift of the Magi.” The dutiful husband in the O. Henry tale is played by Marty, whom you might also recognize as Mowgli from Craig’s acclaimed “Jungle Book” stories.
I’ve been a fan of Craig’s ever since I stumbled across an issue of War of the Worlds as a kid, and I’ve been a friend of Craig’s ever since I met him during my tenure at Kent. One of the great things about actually knowing Craig – besides the gourmet cooking and the drunken games of Pit and the incredible movie collection – is the chance to see him at work. Craig’s been in the business for what – almost three decades now? – and he still approaches comics with enthusiasm, energy and innovation. Though a complete adaptation of The Ring would’ve been the capper on most cartoonists’ careers (Hell, it would’ve killed most cartoonists), Craig barely slowed down when the fat lady sang, and he’s got plenty of new stories in the works.
Maybe, one day, some of them will be collected in another book just like this.