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Isolation and Illusion: Collected Short Stories 1977-1997
Since the 1970s, P. Craig Russell (Murder Mysteries, The Ring of the Nibelung) has created some of the most sophisticated and lavishly drawn stories ever to hit comics shops. Dark Horse is proud to present a rare sampling of the work spread over his long career, including early masterpieces like "Dance on the Razor's Edge" and "The Starship Remembrance," along with more recent adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's "From Beyond" and O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi." If you're a lover of fine illustration and masterful storytelling, these long out-of-print stories are an essential addition to your comics collection.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2003
74 people want to read
About the author
P. Craig Russell
513 books262 followersPhilip Craig Russell was the first mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay. Since 1972 his work has won multiple Kirby, Harvey, and Eisner Awards, and Cartoon Crossroads Columbus presented him the Master Cartoonist Award in 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 2, 2012
"Dance on a Razor's Edge"
"Dance on a Razor's Edge" dramatizes the interior monologue of the protagonist, Kimitake, at the point of death. The story's subtitle alludes to the suicide of author Yukio Mishima who committed public seppuku at the Japan Self-defense Forces headquarters after unsuccessfully attempting to incite a coup d'état in 1970. Like Mishima, Kimitake has chosen a ceremonial disembowelment as the only honorable resolution to his existential crisis. Although this story is text heavy for a comic, Russell's realistically detailed illustrations in black and white do more than merely complement the narrative; they extend the by plot juxtaposing Kimitake's self-inflicted anguish with his mental attempts to attain serenity. The strict colorless symmetrical and asymmetrical balance that Russell has wrought on each and every page mirrors Kimitake's "passion for purity" even while questioning it and cautioning the reader that "we must not discount the possibility that...Kimitake may have been just a bit unabalanced" (14). This multi-faceted text pairs well with William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis"and will easily fuel an analysis of mood and tone.
"From Beyond"
An unnamed narrator recounts his tale of woe in which he returns to the home of Crawford Tillinghast after having been banished. Tillinghast has created a device that allows an individual to detect beings that are ordinarily outside of human perception--a portal to a hyper reality. Upon the narrator's arrival, Tillinghast subjects him to the experience, and the narrator finds himself preyed upon by the Lovecraftian horrors as not only can he see but he can also be seen. Destroying the apparatus and preventing his own demise, the narrator discovers that Tillinghast has died and escaped the consequences of his actions. Contrasting realism with expressionism and a muted palette with a broad range of vibrant hues, Russell renders Tillinghast and his hyper reality more real than "reality," leaving the narrator and the audience with a "hideous sense of pursuit [that] sometimes comes chillingly on ... when [we are] weary" (24). Russell's adaptation of this tale could serve as either an introduction to Lovecraft's text or as one text among several that is studied as part of a multi-genre thematic unit about forbidden knowledge including works such as the myth of Prometheus, Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park.
"Voyage to the Moon"
This is a three part tale of an Earthling who is sucked up by the moon's gravity well and transported to its surface. Having landed in a lush forest, the adventurer stops to admire a delectable flower, and its mere scent makes him twenty years younger, foreshadowing a society where mores are the opposite of those on earth and youth is more highly prized than age. Shortly thereafter, he is discovered by the race of men who inhabit the planet. Unfortunately, they make sport of him and treat him as an oddity until he encounters a man from the sun who helps him navigate his way through this world. Russell's simple playful lines and broad color palette render a caricatural depiction of this seventeenth century science fiction novel--with its exotic world and denizens--that complements and extends the text yet is fitting for modern sensibilities. "Voyage to the Moon" would find a home in a literature study of early science fiction that includes works such as Jules Verne's From The Earth To The Moon Round The Moon, H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In addition, it couches social commentary in an outlandish plot, thus it is critical without being biting; consequently, this tale would make a nice introduction to other indirect critiques of modern society such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
"The Gift of the Magi"
Christmas Eve finds Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young practically penniless, living in nigh penury, and practicing parsimony. Unable to countenance the thought of not gifting each other at this time of year, each sells the only items of value that the couple possesses in order to purchase a gift for one another. Ironically, the items that were purchased are intended to be accompaniments to the items that were sold. The couple's gifts to each other, like those of the wise men who welcomed baby Jesus, are gifts of sacrifice born of love and are received as such. Russell's ornate, idealized illustrations reflect the tale's turn-of-the century setting. Moreover, his choice of a limited color palette that is largely comprised of gold and bronze tones complements and extends the text by providing a tension between depicting the story in sentimental sepia tones and keeping the couple's lack of monetary wealth ever present in the mind of the audience. This adaptation could be part of a multi-genre study that includes O. Henry's short story, a movie adaptation, and the song by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Similarly, it could be included in a text set of different versions of this story or a set focusing on different winter holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Solstice, and Diwali.
"La Sonnambula and the City of Sleep: A Fragment of a Dream"
In this wordless tale, Russell employs colorless, romantic and surreal illustrations to evoke the strange opulence of a dream world. The plot begins with a frame story in which the protagonist sleepwalks. While sleepwalking, she dreams of being an angel who joins others to journey to the City of Sleep where they gather at a tower and peer through the window at a Rude Goldbergesque machine that generates the world of dreams. Upon entering this world, the angels soar through the air, narrowly escape the predators of the sea, and revel in their own splendor. Eventually, the protagonist leaves the group and returns alone to the city where she re-enters the tower and exits the dream world that it creates. "La Sonnambula" pairs well with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" which was composed one night after an opium influenced dream. Coleridge was interrupted while writing the lines of poetry that came to him from his dream, causing him to forget the remainder. Like Russell's tale, Coleridge's poem is "a fragment of a dream."
"Isolation and Illusion"
Although wordless for the duration of the story, it bears an epigraph attributed to Rosetti,"Beauty without the beloved is like a sword through the heart," which appears at both the beginning and end. Although the attribution is specious, the expression lends perspective to the multi-layered tale of loss, solitude, fear, hope and death. The action follows an angelic figure rendered in the style of Michelangelo in uninked pencils as he travels from atop a tower in a dead city to the hinterlands, where he is caught in a nightmarish trap of thorny vines, from which he is freed by doves, allowing him to continue on to find a half-submerged cathedral, where he encounters his beloved. All this is an illusion, though, as he has been impaled through the heart by a malevolent bramble while in the trap. Russell weaves an extended visual metaphor for loss and its potential aftermath, from the immediate devastation at the point of impact to loneliness, the sudden unexpected aftershocks of pain, through false hope and into terminal despair. "Isolation and Illusion" could be paired with Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" for an intertextual comparison of their plots.
"The Insomniac"
"The Insomniac" depicts the tale of one man's fitful snatches of sleep in a largely sleepless night. Because the plot occurs mainly at night, Russell employs realistic illustrations in blue, black, and green that complement and extend the text. Thwarting the protagonists' attempts at sustained rest, colorful dream fragments--rendered in varying styles ranging from blocky ink brush sketches to surrealism--interject throughout the sleepless night and allude to artists such as Heinz Edelmann, Salvador Dalí, and the author himself. The repetition and failure in the story lend it to pairing with other similar tales of trial and failure, such as the Hellenic myths of Sisyphus and Tantalus.
"Breakdown on the Starship Remembrance"
Ironically, Lieutenant Jordon Alexander--who, from an early age, has romanticized space travel--suffers a mental breakdown while serving on the starship Remembrance where "fantasies of Venusian summers and Plutonian nights are replaced by ... the ultimate inertia of routine activity" (100). Alexander steals a shuttle pod and flees to a nearby planet where he finds solace. Russell's realistic black and white illustrations allow the reader to empathize with Alexander and symbolize the mind-rending dichotomy that has been his experience with space travel--the actual and the ideal. Russell concludes with two possible endings--one in which Alexander makes his dreams come true and one in which he abandons them. "Breakdown on the Starship Remembrance" could serve as introduction to George Orwell's Animal Farm as an example of a course of action which fails to fulfill its initial promise.
"Dance on a Razor's Edge" dramatizes the interior monologue of the protagonist, Kimitake, at the point of death. The story's subtitle alludes to the suicide of author Yukio Mishima who committed public seppuku at the Japan Self-defense Forces headquarters after unsuccessfully attempting to incite a coup d'état in 1970. Like Mishima, Kimitake has chosen a ceremonial disembowelment as the only honorable resolution to his existential crisis. Although this story is text heavy for a comic, Russell's realistically detailed illustrations in black and white do more than merely complement the narrative; they extend the by plot juxtaposing Kimitake's self-inflicted anguish with his mental attempts to attain serenity. The strict colorless symmetrical and asymmetrical balance that Russell has wrought on each and every page mirrors Kimitake's "passion for purity" even while questioning it and cautioning the reader that "we must not discount the possibility that...Kimitake may have been just a bit unabalanced" (14). This multi-faceted text pairs well with William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis"and will easily fuel an analysis of mood and tone.
"From Beyond"
An unnamed narrator recounts his tale of woe in which he returns to the home of Crawford Tillinghast after having been banished. Tillinghast has created a device that allows an individual to detect beings that are ordinarily outside of human perception--a portal to a hyper reality. Upon the narrator's arrival, Tillinghast subjects him to the experience, and the narrator finds himself preyed upon by the Lovecraftian horrors as not only can he see but he can also be seen. Destroying the apparatus and preventing his own demise, the narrator discovers that Tillinghast has died and escaped the consequences of his actions. Contrasting realism with expressionism and a muted palette with a broad range of vibrant hues, Russell renders Tillinghast and his hyper reality more real than "reality," leaving the narrator and the audience with a "hideous sense of pursuit [that] sometimes comes chillingly on ... when [we are] weary" (24). Russell's adaptation of this tale could serve as either an introduction to Lovecraft's text or as one text among several that is studied as part of a multi-genre thematic unit about forbidden knowledge including works such as the myth of Prometheus, Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park.
"Voyage to the Moon"
This is a three part tale of an Earthling who is sucked up by the moon's gravity well and transported to its surface. Having landed in a lush forest, the adventurer stops to admire a delectable flower, and its mere scent makes him twenty years younger, foreshadowing a society where mores are the opposite of those on earth and youth is more highly prized than age. Shortly thereafter, he is discovered by the race of men who inhabit the planet. Unfortunately, they make sport of him and treat him as an oddity until he encounters a man from the sun who helps him navigate his way through this world. Russell's simple playful lines and broad color palette render a caricatural depiction of this seventeenth century science fiction novel--with its exotic world and denizens--that complements and extends the text yet is fitting for modern sensibilities. "Voyage to the Moon" would find a home in a literature study of early science fiction that includes works such as Jules Verne's From The Earth To The Moon Round The Moon, H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In addition, it couches social commentary in an outlandish plot, thus it is critical without being biting; consequently, this tale would make a nice introduction to other indirect critiques of modern society such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
"The Gift of the Magi"
Christmas Eve finds Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young practically penniless, living in nigh penury, and practicing parsimony. Unable to countenance the thought of not gifting each other at this time of year, each sells the only items of value that the couple possesses in order to purchase a gift for one another. Ironically, the items that were purchased are intended to be accompaniments to the items that were sold. The couple's gifts to each other, like those of the wise men who welcomed baby Jesus, are gifts of sacrifice born of love and are received as such. Russell's ornate, idealized illustrations reflect the tale's turn-of-the century setting. Moreover, his choice of a limited color palette that is largely comprised of gold and bronze tones complements and extends the text by providing a tension between depicting the story in sentimental sepia tones and keeping the couple's lack of monetary wealth ever present in the mind of the audience. This adaptation could be part of a multi-genre study that includes O. Henry's short story, a movie adaptation, and the song by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Similarly, it could be included in a text set of different versions of this story or a set focusing on different winter holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Solstice, and Diwali.
"La Sonnambula and the City of Sleep: A Fragment of a Dream"
In this wordless tale, Russell employs colorless, romantic and surreal illustrations to evoke the strange opulence of a dream world. The plot begins with a frame story in which the protagonist sleepwalks. While sleepwalking, she dreams of being an angel who joins others to journey to the City of Sleep where they gather at a tower and peer through the window at a Rude Goldbergesque machine that generates the world of dreams. Upon entering this world, the angels soar through the air, narrowly escape the predators of the sea, and revel in their own splendor. Eventually, the protagonist leaves the group and returns alone to the city where she re-enters the tower and exits the dream world that it creates. "La Sonnambula" pairs well with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" which was composed one night after an opium influenced dream. Coleridge was interrupted while writing the lines of poetry that came to him from his dream, causing him to forget the remainder. Like Russell's tale, Coleridge's poem is "a fragment of a dream."
"Isolation and Illusion"
Although wordless for the duration of the story, it bears an epigraph attributed to Rosetti,"Beauty without the beloved is like a sword through the heart," which appears at both the beginning and end. Although the attribution is specious, the expression lends perspective to the multi-layered tale of loss, solitude, fear, hope and death. The action follows an angelic figure rendered in the style of Michelangelo in uninked pencils as he travels from atop a tower in a dead city to the hinterlands, where he is caught in a nightmarish trap of thorny vines, from which he is freed by doves, allowing him to continue on to find a half-submerged cathedral, where he encounters his beloved. All this is an illusion, though, as he has been impaled through the heart by a malevolent bramble while in the trap. Russell weaves an extended visual metaphor for loss and its potential aftermath, from the immediate devastation at the point of impact to loneliness, the sudden unexpected aftershocks of pain, through false hope and into terminal despair. "Isolation and Illusion" could be paired with Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" for an intertextual comparison of their plots.
"The Insomniac"
"The Insomniac" depicts the tale of one man's fitful snatches of sleep in a largely sleepless night. Because the plot occurs mainly at night, Russell employs realistic illustrations in blue, black, and green that complement and extend the text. Thwarting the protagonists' attempts at sustained rest, colorful dream fragments--rendered in varying styles ranging from blocky ink brush sketches to surrealism--interject throughout the sleepless night and allude to artists such as Heinz Edelmann, Salvador Dalí, and the author himself. The repetition and failure in the story lend it to pairing with other similar tales of trial and failure, such as the Hellenic myths of Sisyphus and Tantalus.
"Breakdown on the Starship Remembrance"
Ironically, Lieutenant Jordon Alexander--who, from an early age, has romanticized space travel--suffers a mental breakdown while serving on the starship Remembrance where "fantasies of Venusian summers and Plutonian nights are replaced by ... the ultimate inertia of routine activity" (100). Alexander steals a shuttle pod and flees to a nearby planet where he finds solace. Russell's realistic black and white illustrations allow the reader to empathize with Alexander and symbolize the mind-rending dichotomy that has been his experience with space travel--the actual and the ideal. Russell concludes with two possible endings--one in which Alexander makes his dreams come true and one in which he abandons them. "Breakdown on the Starship Remembrance" could serve as introduction to George Orwell's Animal Farm as an example of a course of action which fails to fulfill its initial promise.
March 20, 2018
So let's get one thing straight - P. Craig Russell is one of the top two, maybe three, artists in comics history, and I'll fight anyone who disagrees! ;)
This book contains Russell's adaptations of short stories by O. Henry, Cyrano de Bergerac and H.P. Lovecraft, so the quality of the stories is pretty high (and Russell incorporates large sections of prose, to really capture the authors' tone), and in all cases, Russell's lyrical, imaginative storytelling serves to carry the authors' intent. Lovecraft's story is twisted, full of wild designs and creatures, while his take on de Bergerac's tale is whimsical and comic.
The Russell-written story "Insomnia" showcases Russell's ability to shift styles, while "La Sonnambula" features Russell's gorgeous pencil drawings and heavenly renderings of angels and, well, heaven! He even includes a nice trashy sci-fi tale that recalls the splendor of Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel.
For Russell fans, this book is just another brick in the wall of evidence supporting Russell's greatness. For those who aren't fans, it's a nice showcase for an artist who deserves a look.
This book contains Russell's adaptations of short stories by O. Henry, Cyrano de Bergerac and H.P. Lovecraft, so the quality of the stories is pretty high (and Russell incorporates large sections of prose, to really capture the authors' tone), and in all cases, Russell's lyrical, imaginative storytelling serves to carry the authors' intent. Lovecraft's story is twisted, full of wild designs and creatures, while his take on de Bergerac's tale is whimsical and comic.
The Russell-written story "Insomnia" showcases Russell's ability to shift styles, while "La Sonnambula" features Russell's gorgeous pencil drawings and heavenly renderings of angels and, well, heaven! He even includes a nice trashy sci-fi tale that recalls the splendor of Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel.
For Russell fans, this book is just another brick in the wall of evidence supporting Russell's greatness. For those who aren't fans, it's a nice showcase for an artist who deserves a look.
July 10, 2017
Creative interpretation of Yukio Mishima's seppuku and a great adaptation of H.P Lovecraft story - From Beyond. The other stories, unfortunately, offer little.
February 13, 2020
Unas historias mejores que las otras, pero me encanta el dibujo :D
April 22, 2024
Overall midiocre stories ... but it has super From Beyond adaptation for which alone its wroth buying this book !
October 6, 2024
Dibujo muy bien, toda una delicia. Los guiones ya son otra cosa, por desgracia.
December 31, 2019
Impressive art, but certainly shows the want of a stronger story - perhaps not all are meant to carry the whole load of artist and writer
March 9, 2013
Although I had read most of these stories in their various previous apparition, I would be hard-put to tell you which publications they had appeared in before this.
As it is, this book collects some of the early Russell work in a single package, and they deserved no less... well, they could have been published as a hardcover, but it's still "fun" that they do get re-printed at all.
The art is classic Russell. Although he was still developing his style at this time, and when I ask you is a true artist ever "done" developing his style? But the thing about Russell was that he already had "style" when he started out doing graphic novels, it may have developed over the years, but he still had his own personal way of doing things from the get-go.
My only regret is that is that it ever ends... oh that and that these stories deserved the hardcover treatment.
As it is, this book collects some of the early Russell work in a single package, and they deserved no less... well, they could have been published as a hardcover, but it's still "fun" that they do get re-printed at all.
The art is classic Russell. Although he was still developing his style at this time, and when I ask you is a true artist ever "done" developing his style? But the thing about Russell was that he already had "style" when he started out doing graphic novels, it may have developed over the years, but he still had his own personal way of doing things from the get-go.
My only regret is that is that it ever ends... oh that and that these stories deserved the hardcover treatment.
September 12, 2016
Russell creates art that is immediately identifiable. Like Durer by way of Dali, his panels are each impeccable to say nothing of his brilliant layouts and transitions. The only element to detract from this work is the occasional lapse of the storytelling, whose faults are only more apparent when juxtaposed with such visual quality.
August 5, 2009
I still can't believe someone this awesome survived the University of Cincinnati.
July 30, 2011
Short stories from a master artist and storyteller, drwn from different periods in his career. The stories themselves were a bit uneven, however.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews