Seven Seas to Publish Vogler's Ravenskull
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on January 10, 2006 Sign up now!
by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 1/10/2006
After adding licensed manga and Web comics print adaptations to its publishing program, OEL manga publisher Seven Seas Entertainment has now signed Christopher Vogler, a highly regarded story analyst and Hollywood consultant, to write a manga series slated for publication in June 2006.
Vogler's new book is called Ravenskull and features art by Elmer Donaso, who provided art for Ted Naifeh's Unearthly, also available from Seven Seas. Vogler is best known for the book The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, a guide to storytelling technique informed by the works of Joseph Campbell and based on patterns found in the ancient tales of world mythology. Over the years Vogler has worked as a story consultant for Walt Disney on films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. He wrote the screenplay for the European-released animated film Jester Till and currently works as consultant for Paramount.
He says Ravenskull is inspired by Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe; the story picks up after the death of the book's central villain. And Ravenskull is definitely based on the epic storytelling patterns Vogler discusses in The Writer's Journey. "I have an agenda with the book," says Vogler. "I want to bring out some of the mystical stuff that I've learned about civilization and how it can be represented in the structure of the story."
Although this is his first manga-influenced project, Vogler has long been interested in both anime and Western animated film. "I've always been interested in comic books, fantasy, sci-fi. I was a pop-culture analyst for the studios. " And yes, he says, "we hope this leads to movie possibilities. "
Seven Seas publisher Jason DeAngelis says Vogler happens to be a family friend and described him as a teacher. "The The Writer's Journey is one of the cooler books used in film curriculums. He's a fan of heroes and he's well-versed in medieval lore and the history of myth. It's exciting. OEL manga is a new art form and in Ravenskull he's applying these structures to it."
