Soap operas… hands up anyone who never saw a single episode of Dallas or Dynasty. Nobody? It seems we all sneer at them while simultaneously checking through the TV guide for the next episode of Lost.

Soap operas, or telenovelas if you are Latin American, pin millions of people to their TVs, following the vicissitudes of JR or Pamela.

Our great-great-grandmothers enjoyed similar entertainment, the only difference being that they read these stories in book form. Stories with plenty of thrills and drama, often read surreptitiously because they were considered too dangerous for the gentle, delicate minds of young ladies.

Basic ingredients of the plot are as follows:

1 ~ a young girl: she has long, blonde hair and big, blue eyes. She is the orphan of both parents, and the heiress of a reasonable fortune.

2 ~ an evil relative: he or she is either an uncle, an aunt or a cousin. This person is stony-broke, therefore they plan to steal the heroine’s fortune.

3 ~ a young lover: he is the son of the arch-enemy of the girl’s family: either that, or he has been undeservedly accused of a crime. With his love he will save the girl and her fortune.

4 ~ a location: a dark castle with dungeons, barred windows and long, narrow corridors…

5 ~ an ending: the villain dies asking forgiveness, and the two lovers marry and live happily for a long time.

I was prepared for a similar plot when I was given the job of adapting The Dream, by Mary Shelley. In this story the heroine, Constance, can’t marry her sweetheart, Gaspar, because he is the son of the arch-enemy of her family. I could imagine young ladies weeping at the thought that such gentle love could never be, just because of ‘family matters’. OK, so Gaspar’s father butchered Contance’s father and brother during a religious war, but these are mere trifles…

Because love must always win out, Shelley used an old trick, a deus ex machina: in this case, the vision of St. Catherine appearing in a dream. The saint blesses Constance for her love, the girl changes her mind, Gaspar is forgiven and they all live happily ever after. The end.

Though I did my best to preserve the saccharine nature of the story in my script, I wasn’t sure if an artist could convey, through my descriptions, this cloying sweetness. When I saw Anne Timmons artwork, which she kindly showed me at the pencil stage, I knew she was the right artist. Anne has a soft and gentle touch, and was able to soften those passages where I couldn’t cut corners. The result is a graphic story depicted exactly as if seen through the eyes of a young lady of the nineteenth century. Although I prefer stories that are stronger stuff, I found The Dream very enjoyable to adapt.

The Dream is published in Graphic Classics©: Special Edition. This is a limited edition first published for Free Comic Book Day 2008. You can buy it from the Graphic Classics website.

I asked Anne a few questions about herself. Here are her answers:

Barbarella or Catwoman?

Barbarella. Who wouldn't like flying with an angel? Barbarella has more costumes, too!

What’s in your drawer?

Templates, lead holders, pencils, compass, a quartz crystal, glasses case, lens cleaner, barrette, toy from a cereal box and a mini calculator

What was the first book you ever read?

Cat In the Hat

If your life were a book, it would be a book about…

A person who could go to any city they wanted to in the world, at a moments notice.

What would you be happier without?

Doubt.

What do you wish you had bought but never got around to it?

A scooter.

It’s a waste of time to…

let yourself worry about everything little thing.

Instead of taking sleeping pills, you would read a couple of pages of…

I rarely read to go to sleep but if I just can't sleep, I'll read articles in old TV Guides.

Never give up…on a friend. Stand by them through everything.   

Why do you do it?

Drawing? Because I know it's something I will do till the end. I don't think I'll ever retire like most people do. It's always been the most comfortable way of expressing myself.

Anne Timmons' pencils for pages 12 and 18 of Mary Shelley's The Dream.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:29:25 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]