3 out of 5

Collects several previously published ‘Opuses’ from the artists – Adaptations of Parsifal, Salomé, some Mahler bits, and Pelléas & Mélisande

Russell is one of those seemingly universally praised artists to whom I’d never been exposed too much but I’ve had interest in reading a defining work… if there is one.  He’s been on both sides of the fence, with straight up comic stuff and more independent fare.  And, as the somewhat pointless quote on the back of ‘Opera’ explains, Russell is “the comics artist who has most actively involved himself with opera.”  Indeed, glancing at his comicbookdb.com resume, he’s got a few adaptations racked up, and some more hidden away in compilation books like ‘Star*Reach.’  The inside cover pages of ‘Opera’ list out 28 Opuses, actually, which is a fun numbering method for Russell, although not all of these are actually opera pieces, making it more akin to the NIN halo numbers as a way for just keeping track of the artist’s work.

Art-wise, what I’ve seen of P. Craig previously had me seeing him as a fantasy artist, with a dash of grace and surrealism to his compositions.  ‘Opera’ backs up that view, such that the kings and castles period settings always seem close to suddenly going full fairy-land on us – big, open starry skies into which our characters stare yearningly; swooping clothing and tresses that appear to grow as a character dances across a panel.  The pastel-tinged coloring is notable throughout, but especially striking on the Mahler pieces – which are boxes of lyrics and matching images, so Russell can go even more artistic – and Pelléas & Mélisande, where the color shifts play off the drastic emotional flip-flopping.  The penciling style still isn’t exactly to my taste, but it’s interesting to see the methods shift between pieces.  Parsifal, an earlier work, has a very comic book look to it, in telling a tale of a ‘wandering fool’ seeking a way to save his king.  The story has a matching sense of the ridiculous – witches, wizards – that makes it most suitable to this style, but it’s a surprising inclusion in the collection as some character poses are somewhat herky jerky and the foreshortening in places just looks off, so twasn’t the best explanation as to the praises Russell’s received.  Salomé – which I’ll poorly describe as a crazy chick falling in love with a crazy prophet who wants nothing to do with her – has a much more sleek, musical look to it, though all of the characters have a very posed, stiff look to them.  The Mahler stuff is hard to judge since its more accurately drawings with accompanying text than a comic, but Pelléas is undoubtedly a work of art, all of the panels and layouts flowing gorgeously and the surreal flourishes sprinkled in at just the right moments the give the tale of jealousy and confused love the edge it needs.  With a few lines, Russell breathes life into his principles, such that the subtleties of motion and emotion are instantly readable in each panel.

But – I could’ve done with a bit more of explanation, I suppose.  Operatic works, like some classic literature, are some of those things that I’d like to have more exposure to or a better understanding of, so I was looking forward to reading these to get the gist of some of the stories.  And I got the gist, I think, but some plot machinations are extremely odd and the brief blurbs before each tale are written by opera fans and not people trying to get us in the right mindset for reading.  Thus, I would think this collection is for those who just want this stuff collected more conveniently, but who are already on board.  As a straight read, save ‘Pelléas,’ there’s just not enough to really settle into.  It’s not difficult to read, though – either these pieces don’t have much dialogue or Russell was thoughtfully spare in what to include – and it is a good tour of his different art styles.