The following is an interview with Hugo Award winners John Jennings and Damian Duffy regarding the release of Parable of the Talents: A Graphic Novel Adaptation with Abrams ComicArts. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Jennings and Duffy about their shared creative process in approaching this sequel adaptation, how they hope the story’s themes will connect with today’s readers, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the release of Parable of the Talents! Following your award-winning work on the graphic novel adaptation of Parable of the Sower, what were you most excited to tackle with this impactful sequel?
Damian Duffy: Thank you so much! It was really exciting to have the opportunity to tell the triumphs and tragedies of Lauren Oya Olamina’s adult life. And, it was exciting that some of the story extended into a future that allowed for more overtly science fictional elements, particularly the virtual reality environment Lauren’s grown daughter, Asha Vere, uses to relate her mother’s biography.
John Jennings: I was really excited to tackle the structure of the book itself via the artwork. A lot of Sower and Talents are epistolary in nature. That is, we have a sequence of curated journal entries through which we get the story. I loved the idea of this and I was stoked to figure out how to do this with David Brame and the rest of our coloring team. I love the result!
BD: Given your past collaborations, did you find that you shared a creative “shorthand” with one another in approaching your creative process for this graphic novel?
DD: Well, John and I have been working together for over 20 years at this point, so we definitely have a shared understanding and language around telling stories and making comics. But if we have any particular creative shorthand, it’s that we try to make part of every project figuring out how best to collaborate in service of the particular story we’re trying to tell. For instance, with this project, part of that was bringing in a third collaborator, David Brame, as layout artist. And, since John and I have also collaborated with David several times before over the past like… 10-15 years (When did we get old?), we were also able to pretty seamlessly work together to produce an adaptation of Parable of the Talents that honors the original with the kind of visual storytelling that comics does best.
JJ: We’re like an old married couple at this point. Damian often puts anecdotes and references that I will only understand into the script. It’s pretty awesome, honestly.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that Asha Vere’s story may connect with readers, and what, if any, conversations do you hope that it may initiate?
DD: Asha Vere is a difficult character, because she’s openly critical of Lauren, and if you’ve read Parable of the Sower, and even reading Parable of the Talents, you tend to be sympathetic to Lauren, maybe rooting for her. But, part of Talents is unraveling how Asha comes to have this animosity towards her mother, and I think their complicated relationship can help people consider their own complicated relationships with parents, and older generations overall. There is a current of intergenerational trauma that runs throughout these novels, and Asha is an example of how difficult and prevalent these kinds of issues can become.
JJ: I hope that people read our graphic novel and realize how prescient and powerful Octavia’s warnings were to us! These books are a call to action and, although I want people to be entertained, I want them to realize that we are in tumultuous times and that Sower and Talents can be useful in navigating them.
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
DD: Well, if readers like Parable of the Talents, John and I have also collaborated on two other Octavia E. Butler adaptations, Kindred and Parable of the Sower. There are also the many fine offerings of John’s Megascope line of books through Abrams ComicArts, including After the Rain, John’s adaptation of a Nnedi Okorafor short story, illustrated by David Brame and lettered by me.
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell fans who want to learn more about Parable of the Talents: A Graphic Novel Adaptation and your other work?
DD: Probably the best place to find information about me is my website, http://damianduffy.net.
JJ: You can find me at: johnjenningstudio.com!
