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The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Vol.4

By Hervé St-Louis
May 9, 2004 - 16:32

P. Craig Russell has begun the adaptation of the fairy tales of the 19th Century British fantasist Oscar Wilde. The books have a special appeal to parents and schools who want to introduce kids to literary classics. However, the interests in these books are not just the famous stories they adapt. It's also the remarkable visual adaptation into sequential art by Russel.

The first story is an adaptation of The Devoted Friend. It's the story of the cost of friendship and the expectations that comes with it. An expert at literary adaptation, Russell understands where to mix dialogues with monologues effectively without boring the reader. In the second story, The Nightingale and the Rose, Russell continues to mix a complex script with visuals seamlessly.

Russell exploits the visuals of each story. In The Devoted Friend, the characters are cartoony. The page's designs are tighter as there are more drawings and captions per pages. In the Nightingale and the Rose, Russell put more emphasis on the romantic aspect of the story and allowed more space for the poetry of the story to be felt by the reader and using stylized art.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12