All collaborations have their own challenges, but the one that faces Ramon Perez, the artist for A Tale of Sand, due out this fall from Archaia, is especially delicate: He is drawing a graphic novel based on an unproduced movie script by Muppets creator Jim Henson.
Working with a world-famous collaborator who happens to have died 20 years ago really puts the pressure on; Perez knows that many people who are not comics readers will pick up the book because of the Henson connection, so he must illustrate it for them as well as for habitual graphic novel readers. He must also contend with a legacy that is as diverse as it is celebrated: Henson was the creator not only of the Muppets and Fraggle Rock but also of the fantasy films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and the surrealistic short film Time Piece.
Perez was in Los Angeles to meet with staff at the Henson company, and he was sitting next to Kermit as we discussed his latest work over the phone.
PW Comics World: What is this story about?
Ramon Perez: I think it is open to interpretation, but for me it's the story of the journey through a man's psychosis or mind. At first glance it is a very kind of quirky, fun, silly, bizarre story. It's just like one bizarre thing after another happens to this poor character Mac, the lead guy, then the end comes and you're like "Oh, ok, this takes it to a whole new level."
Having read the script multiple times, with every reading I'm peeling away another layer of the story, and it's been kind of fascinating because before I read the script I never was familiar with Jim Henson's career outside the Muppets, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth. When I signed on to the project, they were kind enough to send me some screeners of Time Piece and short interstitials from the 60s that were another facet of Jim Henson's output. Time Piece is the sister piece to A Tale of Sand. It's the short they would have based the movie on.
A Tale of Sand was one of [Henson's] more personal works and speaks more to him as a person and the trials he would face as part of the creative force. You can see Jim in the story, you can see his struggles through the lead character's struggles, his creative visions as he tries to get out his scripts. As a creative individual, it's really about a man's struggle to achieve his goal, no matter what the goal may be. Mac, the lead character, is on a journey, but he doesn't know the journey's end. He has been told where to go, but he doesn't know why he is to go there.
PWCW: Who is the target audience for this book?
RP: A young reader could take this quirky ride of a story and enjoy it for what is; an older reader could enjoy that but delve into it and superimpose their own life experiences on it and extrapolate things. A good story pulls out a reader, a reader can share in the experience of their own life, I think this story does that. The script itself is so meticulous and precise, but at the same time the characters are so vague you could use them as a vessel for yourself. I can see why it didn't get made as a film, it was too existential, it would have been an art house film, I think it is interesting to do as a book where the reader can immerse self in characters and story and take away what they want. I think readers would take out something different each time they read the book.
PWCW: I understand that you are illustrating the script as it is, rather than working from an adaptation. What sort of new challenges does that present?
RP: When Archaia approached me for the [project], they asked if I would like a writer to adapt it, and I said no. I prefer to work directly from the script. It is the most freeing aspect of it: I get to set the pace, see the moments, pull the script so it works. With most comic strips, you have a panel breakdown of the script and you are told what to draw in each panel. In this, if I want to stretch out a scene for a page or two to drive the point home, I could, and I think that makes for a better graphic novel.
PWCW: What was it like working from a script that has been hidden away for decades?
RP: It was kind of cool to work with something that was buried for 30 or 40 years. The copy I am working from was edited in 1974, and it is very much of its era. It's a film that wouldn't work today with today's audiences. I love classic 50s noir and 70s films, and there is a definite pacing to these films that most people today would sleep through because it is not quick cuts. I can picture this script being made in the 70s. He actually reused some of the sequences, not verbatim but the essence of the sequences, in other movies, so I can see how this would have been done back then. The kernel of the idea could be done now, but it would have to be reworked to appeal to the majority of today's audiences.
PWCW: What is the art style of the book? I have seen some ink and wash drawings…
RP: I'm doing the black and white with a wash, but there will be color. It won't be full color; there will be moments of full color, but where it needs it, it will come in. Jim used color quite interestingly in some of his short films, so I want to play that in A Tale of Sand. I think certain sequences should be black and white, while others should be primary colors or going full color like traditional comics, creating a more visually enchanting scene. So I want to not just go through full color but use it as a visual point.
PWCW: Were the colors specified in the script?
RP: No, he did not specify color at all in the script. He talks about music at moments. He refers to some nighttime sequences and color palettes, but not really. I'm thinking more of some of his shorts like Time Piece and some of his Sesame Street sequences, where he plays with color and sound.
PWCW: Were there any guidelines at all in the script as to how characters or scenes should look?
RP: When some of the important characters come into the story they are described. Mac is described as a short, stocky man, weathered by life in the desert, wearing a workman's shirt, slacks, and work boots, sort of an overall appearance thing but not specifying the actor. Jim was storyboarding a lot of his stuff at the same time so there are a lot of visual references, but this was a fully realized script with no visual references at all for it, maybe because he was collaborating with Jerry Juhl, who was more of a wordsmith, but no sketches which was more common with other stuff where he had character roughs, sketchbooks.
Nothing to go on but words in a script. I tried to extrapolate as much as I could. The scenes where he described the appearance of a character were quite rich. Hopefully I am doing them justice.