1. What draws you to create in the comics medium?
While I grew up reading all sorts of literature, plays, poems, etcetera, I found that my brain tended to find comics the most fulsome and enriching. Over the years, this has remained the case, and, when I am attempting to build or shape a narrative, I innately see it as a comic first. The combination of word and image, not to mention the techniques and devices they each enjoy, offer such a rich field of expression that I almost find other media somewhat limited by comparison. (I'm sure creators in other media likely feel the same way about their own fields, of course). Friends like neuropsychologist Neil Cohn could tell you the specific brain activity involved when reading comics, but, to me, it feels like I'm using both sides of my brain when engaging in a really good, immersive comics narrative. It's that "fullness" that I look to pursue whenever attempting to make a comic myself.
2. Please tell us about your adaptation of The Prophet.
Even after 100 years -- The Prophet hits its centennial in 2023 -- there is still a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from Kahlil Gibran's remarkable words. My artistic collaborator Justin Renteria and I try to set a visual environment in which the words can remain central and potent. In some cases, the visual imagery in the poem itself translates beautifully into a landscape for the main character, Almustafa. We have also tried to give him a subtle backstory as a way to amplify the verses and deepen their origins. In all, I hope we've made an accessible-yet-compelling adaptation of The Prophet that remains true to its roots.
3. What were the challenges you faced in adapting this work?
In adapting anything -- to comics or to another medium -- there is the risk of warping it and making it into more of a chimera than an effective narrative. We knew we wanted to remain close to Gibran's words, so allowing them to breathe while not overwhelming the page was vitally important. At the same time, we couldn't dedicate a panel to each precious line; that would have been equally untenable. So, we had to strike a balance between finding the natural division of verses and the proper visual backdrop for each. In truth, I'm really delighted by how it worked out!
4. Please tell us about your creative process.
While Justin researched various time periods and architectural styles that we felt would work best for this material, I dove into Gibran's own backstory and the origins of the poem. Without limiting it to his biography, I wanted to know what circumstances informed his writing, if possible. Then, I set out about dividing up the poem into manageable pieces, envisioning Almustafa's oration amongst a cast of Orphalese citizenry; I worked all this choreography and setting into a comics script for Justin to parse, and he would come back to me both with wonderful sketches of all the characters & scenery and with rough thumbnails detailing how he saw it all coming together. After minor changes and tweaks, he'd lay out the lettering and get to work on the final images (which turned out to be so lovely and rich, I feel).
5. Where can we find more information about your work, including social media
tags?
Until Musk entirely wrecks it, I am still on Twitter as @adlewis for the foreseeable future, and I maintain an active Facebook and LinkedIn presence. I try to update ADavidLewis.com with any new news and items as events warrant. Justin is on Instagram as el_justo_draws.
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