Thursday, August 30, 2012

Peter Pan: The Graphic Novel

Hello all!

I'm going to be doing faithful graphic novel adaptation of Peter Pan. This is what we (Ray & I) were working on before Womanthology began over a year ago. I am adapting and penciling, and my husband Ray Dillon is inking, coloring and lettering.

Please read further to see more details. Also look for updates at PeterPanComic.com then follow us on twitter @RenaeDeLiz  @RayDillon and @PeterPanComic . There is not much yet done, but here is the first image.




Why Peter Pan? The story of Peter Pan has resonated deeply with me since I was a child. Now that I myself am a grown up, and a mother, it means even more to me. The original tale has never really been told closely to JM Barrie's novel, especially in comic book format. While I love almost all adaptations out there (movies cartoons, etc) there is still so much more to discover from it's original source. I feel a lot has been cut out, or all out changed because it wasn't a "safe" choice for children to feel the tragedy and deep bittersweet emotions that come from a story like Peter Pan. I however, disagree that these things need to be cut out. While there will be some things that may be added to the story through my own visual interpretations, or few things I must change due to the nature of comic book storytelling, I fully intend to keep it as close as possible to how Peter Pan was intended to be told.

Kickstarter We'll be launching a Kickstarter in about a month for the production, printing & shipping of the first part of the story (which will be either 1/3 or 1/2 of the novel).  I've spent over a year taking care of my responsibilities with the Womanthology Kickstarter, finalizing it as much as possible. Now that is 98% complete and it's time for me and my family to move on while also taking care of the rest.

Will this be published? We have not tried to attach a publisher as of yet. So far we were just planning to self print enough books just for the Kickstarter only. Further distribution is something we haven't thought about yet, but if anything changes I'll be certain to update about it.

What about the Copyright? The original novel of Peter Pan is public domain in the US and many other countries. This is what I intend to do my adaptation from.

Great Ormond Street Hospital  JM Barrie had originally given the rights to Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. It would be completely wrong of someone who truly values Peter Pan to forget that important fact. I contacted GOSH to let them know what I intended, and to get their input. The Peter Pan director has been very supportive so far, as long as I truly do the story justice and make it as intended. While the Kickstarter is purely to get enough to produce the first part of the story, if further distribution happens I have every intention that GOSH  and the children they care for be able to profit from this in some way. I have not pinned down all details yet, but I'll let everyone know as things develop.

You can see our adaptation of Peter Beagles "The Last Unicorn" HERE to get an idea of what to expect in terms of visuals (though I feel I've improved over the last 2 years since I started that). TLU was another tale I have passion for, and I really enjoyed being able to retell it visually. I hope everyone will enjoy the Graphic Novel version of Peter Pan as much as I will be drawing it. :)





2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow!!! How AWESOME!! I really love your work, and am very happy that you are doing alright and are getting back to drawing!!! Can't wait to see more of your Peter Pan!

Tony Laplume said...

You'd better get Tink right!