By Zack Quaintance — This week saw the launch of a really interesting crowdfunded project, a comics adaptation of the famous opera, Carmen. The book is being adapted by writer/singer Alek Shrader, artist P. Craig Russell, inker/colorist Aneke, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s a really interesting project, and you can/should back it on Kickstarter now.

I also recently had a chance to talk with Shrader about the opera, his work with Russell, and the challenge/thrill of adapting it. Check out our full chat below!

INTERVIEW: Alek Shrader talks CARMEN opera adaptation comic

ZACK QUAINTANCE: What makes the story of Carmen a great fit for adapting into a graphic novel?

ALEK SHRADER: It’s a very popular opera (maybe even the most popular). Its music has been used in countless ads and films— I’m sure everyone with a tv would recognize one of Carmen’s many tunes, but they might not know it’s from the opera! The story draws you into the world of Spanish/Roma outlaws while having just the right mix of romance and danger, but the heart of the drama is a young woman who just wants agency over her own life. She has a temper, she’s objectified by men, she fights against systematic misogyny… it's very timely. And once readers absorb that story, maybe they’ll come see the opera itself!

ZACK: With Carmen being so well-known, what kind of difficulties (if any) did that present in translating it for a new medium yet again?

ALEK: Translation was precisely the biggest hurdle. I think the story is powerful in its original setting, so there is no updating or modernization. There’s no “director’s concept.” In fact, I tried to be as true to the source material as possible, and only wrote technology or attire that was appropriate for the time period (for example, everyone smoked but matches were not really a thing yet!). So the challenge was taking the story, which originated from a Spanish woman who told it to a French man, who made it into a French novella, which was turned into the opera by three other French men (who added dramatic devices and characters of their own)… translating all that back into a culturally respectful and accurate portrayal of Spain and the Roma people of that period was something I took seriously, and it consumed a lot of time. Translating the literal meaning of the French text into English (and some Spanish) was easy in comparison.

ZACK: I really love the work of P. Craig Russell, who pairs here with colorist Anenke. What was your working relationship like with Russell, logistically?

ALEK: Aneke is also our inker! Her work is magnificent. I will forever be grateful to Craig for taking me under his wing and teaching me the way comics are made. His creativity is boundless, as is his care for the art form. He was a true collaborator, starting with my script, adding things, removing things, asking questions or giving notes. I eventually got up the courage to disagree on a point or two… and we found the solution together. I am still astonished to have this relationship with him, and so truly grateful. He is legendary in all ways.

ZACK: How did you prepare for working on this project? Were there any graphic novels or other resources in particular that provide useful resources or inspiration?

ALEK: Before I reached out to Craig, I had all his previous opera adaptations (and his other adaptations as well). He was the guy! I was going to ape his pages, and teach myself to write a script by deconstructing what he had done. I also have Roy Thomas and Gil Kane’s Ring Cycle (excellent!). I have Alex Alice’s Siegfried trilogy (incredible!). I have every opera adaptation that I know of (except the old Bailey comics, which are now priced beyond my means!). I studied all those adaptations for pacing and panel layout. I also bought literally every how-to-write-comics books I could find. All of them! Literally! And I reached out to writers like Kurt Busiek, who generously responded. Patrick Zircher gave me great advice as well. Mike Friedrich kindly explained a lot of the process of comic creation. I really tried to prepare myself as best I could, but actually doing the thing taught me the most. And doing the thing with Craig taught me better than most, I imagine.

ZACK: Finally, aside from the obvious, were there any surprising ways that scripting a graphic novel varied from singing and directing opera?

ALEK: From the beginning, I suspected that there would be some magical correlation between the duration of a musical moment and space on the page. I’m still exploring that… To be honest, Craig and I had to be very efficient with our page count. I even convinced him to do a double-page spread! Finding room (and appropriate room) for everything we wanted to say was a constant challenge!

Carmen pin-ups below are by Natacha Bustos, Erica Henderson, Marguerite Sauvage, and Erica D’Urso with Marissa Louise.

Back the Carmen Kickstarter now!

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.