The first printing having sold out a month or so after its publication in November 2021, Johh and M D Penman have decided to release a new, improved, bigger, hardback edition of their adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Published in November 2022, the new edition features an introduction from Alan Moore (Jerusalem, Voice of the Fire, The Show).
But we need your help. We need enough pre-orders to be able to guarantee that we can afford to bring you the best possible new edition.
So, please, head over to the Green Knight page, and pre-order now.
John and Mark were recently interviewed by Matt Badham for Down the Tubes about creating their adaptation and about the forthcoming new edition.
The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has been told and re-told, re-imagined many times. Why did the two of you decide to retell it and what are you bringing to this adaptation?
John: Mark and I have known each other since 2016, and we’d been looking for something to collaborate on for a good few years. Then the opportunity to do something together arose through Mark’s role at Leeds Arts University.
I’ve done a fair few adaptation projects in the past (Dracula, Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, M. R. James, H. P. Lovecraft, and so on), so I thought it would be great to do something like that together and bring something new to an existing story. We’re both very into fantasy stuff and all the giant swords and monsters and folklore and magick that goes with that, so the story of Sir Gawain just seemed to fit the bill.
Mark: As John says, this kind of came about from a new job I got at Leeds Arts University. I had started as a senior lecturer on their BA Hons Comic and Concept Art course, and they were looking for their tutors to undertake research projects.
I’m a big fan of John’s spooky essays in stuff like Hellebore, Daily Grail and Fortean Times and I had been itching to do something with him, so I reached out to see if he fancied doing a project together. We decided on an adaptation that would act as an introduction to a mythical tale, an accessible starting point for further academic study, and the project quite quickly took shape as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
John really took the lead on the story adaptation and direction choosing to maintain the poetic nature of it which freed me up to focus solely on the art. I’m a fan of medieval history and artworks so I wanted the book to have that kind of look but still feel decidedly modern.
Read the full interview at downthetubes.net