The Painful Predicament of Adaptation

About a year or so back I had done another really fun interview on my friend and mentor Mark Lynch's radio show INQUIRY on WICN which we chatted about my at that point new release Sherlock Holmes: The Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner. One of the questions he had asked me was I afraid of a backlash from Holmes fans. Which I had not thought about at that point. But it was a good question. Especially with Guy Ritchie's big budget re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. just out around the time I was doing the interview with him.

I suppose I hadn't thought of anything of that sort because I see myself as a purist when it comes to the character and my ambition when doing the book was to not only remain true to the play William Gillette had written but also remain true to the character that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had created. All his quirks, faults and everything else that has made the character endure for nearly three centuries.

But why the Gillette play? Why THAT Sherlock Holmes? Why choose THAT to adapt into a graphic novel?

Another good question. The play itself has been somewhat controversial with fans over the years. For one thing, Sherlock Holmes falls in love. For purists, Sherlock Holmes is above this. If he allows himself to be clouded with an emotion like love then he would not be the best at what he does. And I think that's asexuality is what makes the character so accessible for fans.

Then why choose the play?

I actually have three reasons why I chose the play over a story like The Hound of the Baskerville, Valley of Fear or another established Sherlock Holmes novel or short story.

1.)The New England connection. William Hooker Gillette was born Hartford Connecticut. As both a New Englander and Sherlockian myself, I felt a kinship with Gillette's appreciation for the character.

2.)Gillette's play is really a brilliant anthology of all the great stories. Originally Conan Doyle had written the initial play and it ended up in the hands of Charles Frohman who then handed the play to Gillette to elaborate on. Which Gillette proceeded to take the best bits from many of the great Sherlock Holmes stories like The Sign of Four, A Scandal in Bohemia and The Final Problem to make one original tale. Which I thought might give readers a broader scope of the character rather than doing one of the established stories. Some of which like The Hound of the Baskerville have been adapted way too much. But with that said, other stories like The Valley of Fear have not been adapted enough.

3.)As much as the Gillette play has been criticized over the years for establishing many of the stereotypes we know Sherlock Holmes for nowadays like the deerstalker hat and the meerschaum pipe, I truly think without the play we would not have had this long and rich history of portrayals of the character from Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett and most recently Robert Downey Jr. Although, Holmes was like superhero status already in England, I felt like Gillette is due a great deal of respect and thanks for the popularity of the character in the United States thanks to his 1,300 appearances between 1899 to 1935.

The Gillette play has actually been a project I've been working on for the past nine or ten years. I had originally written the play straight out from a couple books which reprinted the script from the play. But a stage version with my artwork for the set and costume design just wasn't in the cards, so that script sat on several of my hard drives.

Enter Alterna Comics.

I had started reworking the script from play into a comic script around 2006/2007. I had also started some pages after a trip to Gillette Castle. The page weren't turning out to my liking and so I shelved the project again before I decided to begin anew in May of 2008.

But the script needed massive rewrites and revisions. There were many problems with the script I needed to iron out before I could really start to add pencil and ink to Bristol Board.

For one thing, the original adaptation I had written topped out at (I think) around 600 pages! And that's 600 pages of talk and being stuck in one setting for at least 50 or so pages!! This is fine for a play because you need to pack so much information into an act. But this would not do for a graphic novel.

If I'm getting bored reading it, then I can imagine my readers might get bored too.

There was just a great deal of dialogue, scenes and characters that just were not necessary and did not really move the story along at all.

What's worse. Sherlock Holmes actually does not appear until halfway through Act One. Most of the action concerns a great deal of dialogue between the Larrabees, Sid Prince, the butler Forman and Terese the Maid.

As much as I want to remain true to the play William Gillette had written, changes had to be made to help the pace of the story. The first decision I made was the cut the maid Terese. I just felt she wasn't really doing much for the story. That and I wasn't sure if she was supposed to be French or German. I think she's supposed to be French. Either way, I think the faux French/German accent would just grate on a modern audience.

Next up on the chopping block, I cut a lot (and I mean A LOT) of the dialogue. There was a great deal of dialogue between the Larrabees and Alice Faulkner in the original play. I wanted to limit her appearance in the beginning to add to the mystery of this character until Sherlock Holmes arrives.

I thought that would add an extra punch when Holmes finally comes face to face with Alice.

At this point, I had whittled down the story enough where readers wouldn't be pulling their hair out waiting for Holmes to arrive. But I still found having all the action taking place at Edelweiss Lodge was still a bit too dull. But reading the script I found that I could lace a lot of the scenes in Moriarty's Lair from Act Two into the action of Act One.

With a play, you don't have the luxury of the cutaway. Like I said, you have to cram a great deal of action into that act. However with a graphic novel, much like a movie, you can do that.

It's bad enough you don't see Sherlock Holmes till halfway through Act One. Professor Moriarty doesn't even appear until ACT TWO!!

But he's mentioned by Sid Prince as someone the Larrabees need to contact to deal with Sherlock Holmes. But for readers unfamiliar with the Gillette play I wanted to keep that a secret. I cut out any mention of Professor Moriarty when Prince talks about him and I even keep Moriarty's face concealed in the shadows until the end of the first act.

Yes, I kept the book in two acts ;-)

Now I'm rolling. I've got the story whittled down to a point where it translates better to a graphic novel format. And I've given it pace.

Now I had decided to make revisions more on a personal level. In my own way I sort of approached adapting the play the way William Gillette did. He added elements from the Sherlock Holmes stories so I decided to add a few of my own.

I decided to include Sherlock's older brother Mycroft in the story as well as Inspector Lestrade and a brief appearance by Mrs. Hudson. These characters would make up for the characters I removed from the story. That and I think fans of Holmes would much rather see a scene with Mycroft or Mrs. Hudson rather than Terese the Maid.

And then came the final decision. Does Sherlock Holmes fall in love?

As I mentioned before, I am a purist when it comes to the character of Sherlock Holmes (see my stated reasons above). But instead of removing it completely, I decided to be a bit more devious and underhanded than that.

I downplayed it.

I had thought about removing it altogether but then I thought about perhaps just adding it in a way that would leave it up to whomever is reading the book. Does Sherlock Holmes fall in love with her? Or is his feelings towards her merely great admiration for her strength and her fighting spirit to be able to go through what she went through and still remain strong.

In all, I wanted this to feel closer to the stories and character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while still maintaining the spirit of Gillette's play.

The final addition came long after I had started penciling and inking the pages. Jeremy Holstein who I had met through a Sherlock Holmes messageboard had posted this really great radio performance of the Gillette play. I didn't realize Jeremy had posted this video. I had heard the video before I met him on the board.

But there was a line Alice Faulkner says in the radio dramatization that wasn't in the play during her final scene with Sherlock Holmes which when Holmes is stating basically why he is no good for her she says "Mr. Holmes. Don't you like me at all?"

It was simplistic but I loved it!! I could just see Holmes turning away from her in shame as she looks up at him with tears welling in her eyes.

I just thought it would make a great little moment right before Holmes delivers his final big speech at the end.

As for my take on Holmes, I didn't just have one inspiration but several.

The first came from William Gillette himself. I decided in Act One to have Holmes dressed very similar to Gillette's costume in the play. As a matter of fact I based Edelweiss Lodge on Gillette Castle in tribute to William Gillette.

My other four inspirations for Holmes came from Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Robert Stephens and Jeremy Brett. Rathbone and Brett I think are the primary inspirations for the look of my Sherlock Holmes.

However, Peter Cushing and Robert Stephens also inspired my interpretation of Holmes as well. Cushing has this habit in all of his films to suddenly point his finger directly up in the air when he is delivering a poignant line. Robert Stevens is a bit lesser known in the pantheon of Sherlock Holmes films. But I enjoyed him a great deal in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. What stuck with me about his performance was the way he would place his hands on his hips when he was explaining something. The weren't really placed on his hips but closer up on his ribcage. It was a strange stance but I liked it and I added it to my interpretation of Holmes.

Peter Cushing was also the key inspiration for Professor Moriarty in my story. I think he would have made a great Moriarty later in life. Just because his face was so severe. I decided despite being famous for Sherlock Holmes, he would become my Moriarty.

Dramatic finger pointing and all.

And that's the whole story. Adaptation isn't as easy as all that. There's a lot to be considered when taking on beloved characters and stories. You're more than welcome to do both and fresh reinvention of the character. But just be ready for the backlash it might cause.

But just as long as that bold re-imagining stays true to the spirit of the original stories and character, you should be fine. And even in some cases, you could end up creating a great story.