It even happens to the writing greats. So many grand ambitions; so many unfinished projects. Like Cristabel, the epic narrative poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Originally intended to be five parts, the pioneering Romantic poet only ever completed two in his lifetime, leaving the dark fairy tale unfinished.
But that’s where writer Erica Schultz (X-23: Deadly Regenesis, The Deadliest Bouquet), interior artist Amagoia Agirre (I Am Hexed), letterer Cardinal Rae (Eat The Rich), and editor James B. Emmett (Mad Cave Studios) come in. These comics industry professionals, and more, are continuing and expanding on Coleridge’s story in the form of Cristabel Vol. 1, a new 72-page full-color graphic novel – which is currently an active Kickstarter this month until 28 April.
The bones of Coleridge’s uncompleted story serve as a foundation for the new graphic novel, which has been described as “part Arthurian Tales, part The Witcher, and part Bridgerton.”
So we have good-hearted, if rebellious, teenage princess Cristabel leaving the palace grounds under a blood moon in an attempt to commune with her mother, who died in childbirth. Cristabel’s jaunt leads to a chance encounter with the beautiful damsel in distress Geraldine, and the good deed of taking Geraldine home rapidly causes the young princess’s life to unravel. Because Geraldine is a sorceress, and with her powers of magic and manipulation, she quickly exerts her will over Cristabel’s widowed father King Leoline, making herself queen – and a warmongering queen at that. Anyone who stands in her way, including Cristabel, is banished.
Having read the first 47 or so pages, we can say that Cristabel, the comic, isn’t trying to replicate Coleridge’s style of yesterday. The book is saturated with modern sensibilities and greater representational diversity. A decade after meeting Geraldine, Cristabel herself is a short-haired and scarred, working as a bounty hunter and mercenary to get while she scours the kingdom for a way to free her father from her evil stepmother’s enchantment. The search reunites her with Wasiun, the former greatest knight of her home kingdom. A fellow exile, Wasiun too saw through Geraldine, and was promptly outed as a gay man, forcing him to leave the court in disgrace.
While the dialogue in Cristabel isn’t as modern and “loose” as Schultz’s other fantasy series, the contemporary-set Forgotten Home, it’s not stilted either. Agirre’s art calls to mind a lush children’s story book, and the combined effect of story and visuals is an immensely likeable and rousing fantasy adventure. For the record, project backers who choose a physical edition of the graphic novel will be able to choose their favourite from four different covers, by artists Natasha Alterici (Heathen), Alison Sampson (Sleeping Beauties), Skylar Patridge (Resonant) and Fabian Lelay (Speed Republic) – seen left to right below.
Speaking of the crowd-funding nitty-gritties, Cristabel is a fairly straightforward comic venture. $12 (USD) gets you a DRM-free digital version of the graphic novel in PDF form, while $18 lands you both a physical and digital edition of the book. From that point onwards, pledges add on goodies like metal bookmarks, journals, magnet sets and multiple physical editions. There’s notably a retail tier where $115 results in eight physical copies of the Cristabel Vol. 1 softcover, which includes two of each cover variant. Estimated fulfilment of backer pledges for Cristabel is January next year.
At the time of writing this article, Cristabel was 68% funded. Here’s hoping it’s a success because the ultimate plan for the story is to tell it in three graphic novel volumes. And nobody wants a repeat of Coleridge’s original TBC situation. Get backing.