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The Friday Review: Ring Of The Nibelung
Writer/Artist: P Craig Russell Comics have a long history of adaptations of works from other media, including prose, movies, music, and even performance art. While a more recent look at mainstream attempts to capture the excitement of, say, a video game in static but sequential art may leave one less than inspired, it does lead one to the notion that an adaptation, at best, is dependent on the depth and quality of its source material first and then the ability of its adaptors to bring it to life in comics. P Craig Russell has, for the most part, staked out his territory in comics by being one of its most capable adapters, taking on a wide variety of projects over the years including ELRIC: STORMBRINGER (from the novels by Michael Moorcock), MURDER MYSTERIES (from a short story and radio play by Neil Gaiman), THE FAIRY TALES OF OSCAR WILDE, and, most improbably, a sizeable number of operas. At first glance, given comics' muteness, it might seem an ungainly match for the tapestry of sound, word, and stagecraft that is opera. Whatever impediment that may offer, Russell has now managed to bring ten of them to bear in comics, though precious few remain at this date in print. The most recent, RING OF THE NIBELUNG, is by far the most ambitious and represents the indisputable masterwork of one of comics' finest artists. The Ring Cycle, as the four operas represented here are often referred to en masse, were the lifework of 19th century mad genius composer Richard Wagner. To call them controversial in their own time is the grossest of understatements. The Ring Cycle, musically, introduced bold new harmonies and chordal ideas that reverberated throughout the theory and composition communities and forged a path towards intentional dissonance that would reach its awful and glorious climax in Stravinsky's RITE OF SPRING. Ideologically, The Ring Cycle has been forever linked to the swell of nationalism that gripped the world in the 19th century (and, some would say, is still gripping it today). Wagner considered its themes holy in a very real way as he manipulated the core essences of Teutonic myth that he considered more German (and thus better, at least for Germans, who were, incidentally, superior to the rest of the world) than Christianity. Because of his efforts, the characters and themes of the Ring Cycle are not alien to the casually literate reader because they have been retransmitted an uncountable number of times through other, perhaps more directly influential, works of art including THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy from JRR Tolkien, THE WASTELAND by TS Eliot, and, yes, even Smilin' Stan Lee and Jack "King" Kirby's THOR over at ye olde Merry Marvel. The good news for the curious-minded that don't normally engage in a lot of opera or just happen to not be able to understand German being sung melismatically is that Russell's adaptation probably represents the most accessible version of it available to English speakers, maybe ever. By removing the apocalyptic soundtrack, Russell offers up to us a powerful story that, aside from the acrid soil from whence it sprung, delivers deep and abiding truths about humanity and our relationship to the forces that brought us to be. RING OF THE NIBELUNG represents a new artistic height for Russell himself for a number of reasons, even as it succeeds on a variety of levels. The challenges inherent in bringing a collection of art songs alive on the page inspire him to invent new layout solutions for more complicated problems. Fortunately, Russell is given all the space he needs to allow the careful pacing and generous silent passages to substitute in a way for Wagner's original score. The decompressed storytelling heightens the emotion (a key component of opera) and the gravity of the events as they unfold on the page. The natural grace of Russell's trademark style is perfectly suited to the bigger-than-everything scope of this story. It is an epic in the true sense of the word as people and even gods are born and die under the curse of the Ring, which moves like a character in its own right through the four individual stories. Working from live models, Russell is able to create characters who seem less like the distant gods and demi-gods of mythology and more like potent forces that shaped the destiny of the world with their power and subsequent foolishness. Archetypal and remarkably enlivened by Russell's imagination, the consequences of obsession and fate take on a significance that transcends Wagner (who adapted them himself from myth) and asserts itself upon the collective unconscious of the impressionable reader as a potent fable of creation, destruction, and rebirth on both a microcosmic and macrocosmic scale that is quite relevant in today's troubled times. The colouring, handled by long-time Russell collaborator Lovern Kindzierski, is really in service to the story and contributes throughout with a diverse yet tasteful palette. It contributes greatly towards capturing not only the mood of the given scenes, which vary dramatically, but also to the clarity and overall lushness of Russell's art. The result is an undeniably gorgeous piece of comics that rivals Moore and Williams' PROMETHEA in sheer scope and, for lack of a better pun, sturm und drang. The heart of Wagner's story is clearly laid out and, I would like to think, ennobled in some degree, by the sublime line work of the artist in the same way it was by its original accompanying score. In many ways, this version is a more palatable vehicle than Wagner's original operas, which, for ill or well, bear the added burden of being musically "difficult" work even for opera. THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG is not difficult comics. It's like instructional chocolate that beckons the reader with its rich flavour to read ever deeper. You can open it up to pretty much any page and just get lost. On a closing note, I'd like to share that I first followed THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG in single issue form, published as it was in four short mini-series from Dark Horse beginning in the year 2000. As Ninth Art columnist and numbers guru Chris Ekman astutely points out here, it was not a heavily ordered book, which is a shame, because there was a wealth of supplemental material published in the back pages, including a profusely illustrated list of Russell's opera adaptations that have not seen print since. THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG is available in trade paperback form in two volumes and was recently released in a complete, hardcover edition that was limited to 500 copies. As a person on a foolishly generous but limited comics budget, it is, I think, a profound statement of my enjoyment of this work that I gladly ponied up the $75 to own it in this more durable form, signed by its author, as part of my holiday giving to myself. This was how I re-read (for the fifth time) for this review and, so far, how I've enjoyed it the most. This isn't a sales pitch, because if you don't have the hardcover already, you may never see it. It's just a reiteration that RING OF THE NIBELUNG, as adapted by P Craig Russell and company, is one of the finest works I've read in comics. It succeeds as an adaptation by making its source material, important to all European culture and its ramifications, as accessible as it has ever been to a non-German speaker, opera bias or no. It succeeds as comics by synthesising 25 years of comics adaptations into a lengthy piece that has both sufficient gravity and space to resonate with a complexity commensurate to Wagner's original operas. And, theory aside, it is just damn pretty and hard to deny as a potent example of comics' potential to involve the reader in a unique way in situations that would be incomprehensibly expensive to deliver in other media. Don't let a fear of opera scare you off this one, because Wagner never looked so good. Rob Vollmar is the Eisner-nominated writer of THE CASTAWAYS and the recently released BLUESMAN: BOOK ONE. 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