John Higgins on ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ graphic novel adaptation : UK SF Book News

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Sep

16

John Higgins on ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ graphic novel adaptation

Posted in: UKSFBN Talks To on 16th September 2007 by Sandy Auden

It's worryingly easy to think that the premise of The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning [Amazon] could actually have some sort of basis in fact: that a small town in the US desert could be horrifically poisoned by above-ground nuclear testing. The story's subsequent events - as the nice townsfolk devolve into horrific mutants over a number of generations also - maintain that edginess of possibility.

Inspired by Wes Craven's film The Hills Have Eyes and this year's movie, The Hills Have Eyes 2, publishers Harper Paperbacks have decided to take you back to where it all began with this graphic novel adaptation of the series' origin story.

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning is a hard-hitting, violent and bloody read, made all the more powerful by the provocative artwork of John Higgins. An artist with an excellent backlist, including Watchmen, 2000AD and Hellblazer, Higgins has worked on a wide range of projects, so what impressed him about this one?

"Jimmy and Justin, the authors, wrote such a 'screen play' of a script!" he told us. "It made my job so much easier by giving me direction to make the action and scene change flow without bogging me down with too much detail, which is a very hard act to do unless you are an experienced professional writer, such as these two."

It's just as well Higgins wasn't bogged down: "The deadline for Hills was so tight, we had no time to pussy around with the direction or changes, which made it a joy (except for the deadline) for me to work on. This meant we had to get it right first time, which suited me as I hate being directed too much, the editor should: either hire you for your expertise and trust you to do the job, or they should get someone else."

And the deadline just escalated other problems. "Doing the work over the Christmas period meant it was sometimes very tight getting feedback due to people on holiday and there being no leeway because of the deadline. Getting the reference for the new mutants before I had to draw them was always a bit tricky as no one wanted for them to be seen before the movie publicity let them out, security always being tight on this type of job, so having such a deadline and over Christmas did make it more of a juggling act trying not to waste time. You had to work around that part then come back to it if needed."

Fortunately, Higgins is also a horror fan, so the work was at least pleasurable, if pressured. "I grew up with black and white horror comics. For some reason they seemed to be more interesting than most four colour superhero comics and had some of the most interesting artists.

"When I went to art college, I rediscovered them due to a friend who introduced me to many new independent comics that came out of the San Francisco alternative scene which had some great Horror comics amongst the Surreal and Head comics, such as Gore, Grim Wit, Silent Death and Cannibal Funnies. These pushed the boundaries of the American Comics Code and good taste well beyond the bleeding point.

"Richard Corben was for me one of the greatest Artists to come out of that scene. I still aspire to hit the extreme horror he hit consistently with the monstrous mutants and dripping gore he did on every title he worked on. So to try and give a black and white illustration a gross out and believability was my aim for Hills and as a result the full page cannibal dining room with limb gnawing mutants and fresh flesh being delivered, was probably one of my favorites pages."

Never short of work, Higgins is now back working with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and enjoying himself. "We're doing a Jonah Hex story for DC. They've given me another script that is completely pared down to the right amount of direction yet still giving their personal story signature. I cannot over emphasize how good it is to work on such a script. Not only because it is clear in story telling for the reader but it also saves time - an artist doesn't have to fight against inconsistencies that can sometimes only become apparent once the visual interpretation of a given script starts."

You can find out more about The Hills Have Eyes at John Higgins' official website, www.turmoilcolour.com.

Source: John Higgins

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