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Adapting Walter Dean Myers’ Monster into a Graphic Novel: Five Questions for illustrator Dawud Anyabwile and writer Guy A. Sims

How did it feel to work on the award-winning book Monster, by Walter Dean Myers?

Guy: Three words: Excitement, wow, and anxiety. First, I was excited to be asked to do something I hadn’t done before. It was quite a mental challenge to consider taking the important and influential work of Mr. Myers and interpreting it through the Guy Sims lens. Second came the wow factor. When I shared with family and friends I was preparing to work on Monster, they were ecstatic. They knew how impactful this book was in the literary world and what a wonderful and unique opportunity this would be for me. Some had known of Monster for years while others knew Mr. Myers personally. This information transitioned me from the wow stage to the anxious stage. Because of my age and the age of my children, I hadn’t known about the book Monster before. I didn’t know the reach the book had or how attached people were to the material. People who knew the book told me, “You had better stay true to Monster.” Talk about pressure.

Dawud: This was definitely an honor, as I was already familiar with Mr. Myers’ history. I was not familiar with this book in particular; however, I learned about its importance not long after receiving the first phone call informing me that Walter Dean Myers had chosen me to work on the graphic novel adaptation of his book. My son told me that he was already familiar with the book, and the more I spoke to individuals around me the more I realized what a great opportunity I had before me. This was my first time illustrating a graphic novel. However, I am not unfamiliar with comic book production on an independent level. The entire process of working on Monster was filled with a myriad of emotions. It was daunting at times because of the magnitude of work that I had to interpret, but it was also exciting to re-imagine this novel into a format that would bring the imagery to life. I was even more excited to know that my brother was also chosen to do the adaptation of the writing. That helped me in ways that I cannot describe because he literally broke the book down and simplified any complexities so that I could clearly understand what the characters were feeling and going through. My brother and I have a symbiotic relationship, which makes working together a breeze.

Describe any major challenges you encountered in adapting the work.

Guy: For me there were two major challenges. The first was getting myself extremely familiar with and comfortable with the work. I read Monster about eight times over the course of two weeks. I read it for different reasons: overall story; sensing tension; character personalities; the different settings; and, most of all, the emotion. There was a lot going on in the book, and I wanted to respect what Mr. Myers presented more than fifteen years ago. My second challenge was the long passages of dialogue. With the courtroom setting key to the story, I was challenged to interpret and adapt what the attorneys were saying into images for Dawud to design. I didn’t think I could just have Dawud make one large dialogue bubble and jam a page or more of text into it. That wouldn’t be very graphically appealing.

Dawud: The subject matter was definitely not a simple task to take on and required a lot of research. It affected my mental state because this subject matter impacts a lot of lives and families. Many of us can relate to Steve and his family’s struggles. The feelings that ran through me during the making of this book were transferred to my illustrations. The anxiety, fear, doubt, and pain wrapped around Steve Harmon like a shroud was something that I knew many young men in his position must deal with even if they are not troublemakers or gangsters. Often they are positive youth who make bad choices due to their surroundings or the people they hang with, which is an issue that is close to many of us. I felt that and put it on paper.

How did Walter Dean Myers react/respond to the project as it developed?

Guy: I never had any direct conversations with Mr. Myers. For me, the first, and very important, comment from him, which came through HarperCollins, was his reaction to my interpretation of the first two pages. It was an opportunity for him to see my style and approach to adapting his words. I sent the manuscript pages in and waited. I finally received an email back with the comment, “He likes it.” After that, I felt confident that my approach was acceptable and had his seal of approval. Sad to say, he passed away before the project was completed but he did give positive comments at the point we had the book scripted out so he could see what the final product would look like. I was extremely pleased that he was happy with our work.

Dawud: As the book was coming together, Mr. Myers was giving his thoughts on every stage. We had rough sketches, cleaned-up sketches, and even cover concepts that we would send to him for his feedback. He was always giving us positive reviews and if there was something that needed a change or to be tweaked he would let us know. Since my brother and I are professional about what we do we would always honor his requests and make the changes. When the book was finally completed I submitted the final cover and was told that he was already pleased with the direction. However, when I received word that he passed away it hit me hard because we were finally about to finish and I was looking forward to thanking him personally for this opportunity.

How was it to collaborate with your brother?

Guy: Working with Dawud is so natural for me. As brothers we have a bond, an understanding, and a mutual respect with and for each other. I am able to give broad ideas to Dawud and am confident that his response to my words will be as I imagined it if not better. This is not to say that we never disagreed with how an image should have been presented, but respect, as I mentioned earlier, is key to our collaboration process and success.

Dawud: My brother and I have been creating stories and publishing books since we were teenagers, so we have no problem working as a team. It is a natural extension of who we are and how we were raised. We both respect each other’s skill set and even if we disagree it’s always in a respectful manner where we look at variables in the disagreement and find the best way to resolve it. This was our first time working together on a project of this magnitude and we are sure that as we continue to work together that we will be able to show the world what we can do and also inspire others to collaborate with their loved ones.

What are your expectations for how the public will receive the work?

Guy: I am very, very excited to read, hear, and experience the public’s reaction to Monster in the graphic novel format. I am confident that it will find a new audience as well as satisfy longtime fans. My son and daughter read my copy and they loved it. They found it difficult to put down and were impressed by the interpretation of key scenes. This book is going to take the world by storm.

Dawud: When I work, I focus on creating the best possible product that I can without focusing on what the audience will say. The world is so vast and so many people will see different things in my work so I have learned to stay true to the work to the best of my ability and allow it to be what it will be when it is released. I am proud of what we have created and that gives me confidence in knowing that there will be those who will see its value and share in the celebration of Mr. Walter Dean Myers’ vision.

READ MORE ABOUT THE MONSTER GRAPHIC NOVEL HERE!

#walter dean myers #monster #graphic novel

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