BRITISH COMICS NOW! As mentioned at Broken Frontier earlier this year six British/UK-based comic creators will be attending this year’s Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF) as part of the British Comics Now initiative from the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF), and funded by Arts Council England, The Adlard Foundation and The British Council. To mark this at BF we’ll be looking to shine some spotlights on the practice of the six artists involved, starting today with the acclaimed Isabel Greenberg (The Encyclopedia of Early Earth, Glasstown). We caught up with Isabel to chat folklore in comics, her small press roots, and her new book Young Hag…
(Photo by Robin Christian)
ANDY OLIVER: A love of mythology and folklore is something that runs through much of your work like The Encyclopedia of Early Earth and The One Hundred Nights of Hero. What draws you to revisiting those themes? What universal truths can we find in those stories?
ISABEL GREENBERG: I never get sick of folk tales and mythology. There is something so fantastic about the simplicity of them. Characters are always archetypes; a brave soldier, a cunning queen. One hundred years can pass in a single sentence and you never question the most strange occurrences; a baby born in a nutshell, a harp made out of a woman’s body. They leave so much room for embellishment, retelling, reappraising. I loved Arthurian legends growing up, and always wanted to play around with those, which is what set me off with Young Hag. What I love about these is the sheer quantity of tellings and retellings that exist in literature and pop culture.
AO: Of all your work my favourite to date remains Glass Town (below), your exploration of the Brontë juvenilia which blends speculative biography with the metafictional. Can you tell us a little about how you researched and structured the book? What fresh insights into the lives of the Brontës did it give you?
GREENBERG: This was probably my favourite book in terms of the process actually. I love doing research, and this project really allowed me to delve really deep into the subject. I had to discard a lot of material, as there was just so much amazing things I wanted to squeeze in. The entire imaginary world of Emily and Anne, Gondal, did not feature in my book, as two imaginary worlds in one graphic novel was too much! In terms of fresh insights, I think for me the sheer scope and ambition of the worlds they built as children never ceases to amaze me.
AO: Most recently at BF we covered The Midnight Babies (below) which while ostensibly an illustrated children’s book also contained a lot of “language of comics” storytelling. What was the genesis of that project?
GREENBERG: The genesis was definitely my own daughter, Frieda, who was a few months old at the time. It was lockdown, and I was on maternity leave, and she just would not sleep. I became convinced she was secretly waging war against bedtime. And the idea of a band of babies marching against sleep came to me. I love weaving the language of comics into picture books, I think children enjoy it too. They like to follow stories and point out sequences.
AO: You’ve worked with your sister Imogen on a number of books including Athena: The Story of a Goddess. How does that collaborative process work between you both?
GREENBERG: We haven’t worked together in a while, but our process was very fluid. She wrote the content, then we kind of riffed off the images I created, she would react to my drawings, changing bits of dialogue and adding jokes and asides when the images suggested it. They were great fun to work on!
AO: Your latest graphic novel Young Hag debuts this month. What can readers expect from its pages?
GREENBERG: Young Hag takes familiar Arthurian legends and characters, and wraps them up in a new narrative. The titular character, Young Hag, is a witch on a coming of age quest, trying to find out who she is and where she comes from. The story takes place a generation after King Arthur, and Young Hag is being told the tales by her Grandmother, who turns out to have been a key player in the narrative herself. Growing up I was especially keen on Arthurian stories. Rosemary Sutcliff, T.H. White, Michael Morpurgo all wrote adaptations of the
material that I loved. I also have a lasting fondness for a BBC adaptation starring Sam Neill!
The stories been played with and adapted so many times, the characters reworked and reappraised for new audiences, and I always wanted to have a go myself. Young Hag is my homage to all the fantasy epics I loved to read as a child. It’s also the first graphic novel I’ve written with a more YA audience in mind. I wrote the graphic novel that teenage me would have loved to read, so I hope that some younger audiences pick it up too!
AO: I first discovered your work maybe 11-12 years ago when I picked up your Barnum zine, among others, at the old Comica Comiket fairs. You still occasionally return to the self-publishing world with comics like Confinement (below) which we reviewed last year at BF. What does the small press scene continue to offer you in terms of experimentation and creative freedom? Is it important for you to keep a foot in that world?
GREENBERG: For me it’s a great way to experiment with new ideas or techniques. But also I just love tabling at conventions. It’s a really amazing experience in terms of meeting fans and fellow creators, talking to people who love the same things you do and connecting in a really instant way with an audience. When my work is sold in book shops its obviously really exciting and a thrill to go in and see it on a table, but there’s also something really special about selling at a comic festival!
AO: The inevitable process question. Can you give us some insights into your creative process and the mediums you work in? Does that ever differ depending on the project you might currently be working on?
GREENBERG: My first two graphic novels were done in ink, with brushes, dip pens and wash. But Glass Town and Young Hag are made using soft palomino blackwing pencils. I then scan in the artwork, clean it up and play
with contrast and levels, and then colour it digitally.
AO: What excites you the most about being part of the British Comics Now delegation to TCAF?
GREENBERG: I’ve always wanted to go to TCAF, so this is an incredibly exciting opportunity to visit. I hope to discover some new creators and meet some nice people.
AO: And, finally, what else are you currently working on? Any teases you can give us for upcoming creative endeavours?
GREENBERG: I’m working on a couple of things. I’m illustrating a graphic biography of Jane Austen, written by an Austen scholar called Janine Barchus. It’ll be out in 2025 with Quercus. I’m also starting to work out a new graphic novel. But it’s too early to talk much about that at the moment!
And also getting into some crafty personal projects too! Ceramics, quilting and felting!
Interview by Andy Oliver
