BY G. CONNOR SALTER

Meredith Finch’s journey into writing comics began with family encouragement. She discovered comics through her future husband, David Finch (the renowned artist behind series like Cyberforce for Top Crow Production and numerous stories for DC and Marvel Comics). After several years of encouragement, she began writing comics.

Her first comic book writing was a contribution to Zenescope Comics’ The Tales from Oz series. Since then, she has written for Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Age of Conan: Valeria, among others. She moved into creator-owned comics in 2017, writing the series Rose for Image Comics.

More recently, she has worked on several graphic novels released by Cave Pictures Publishing. The Light Princess, the first graphic novel adaptation of George MacDonald’s 1864 fairy tale, appeared in 2019 with illustrations by Renae de Liz and Ray Dillon. The following year, Cave Pictures distributed Finch’s independently produced The Book of Ruth, illustrated by Colin Dyer.

Finch has returned to adapting MacDonald for a new Cave Pictures project: a graphic novel adaptation of MacDonald’s 1858 fantasy novel Phantastes, adapted by Finch and illustrated by Christine Norrie and Andrew Pepoy.

Meredith Finch was kind enough to answer a few questions.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

You’ve mentioned that working on The Light Princess graphic novel was your introduction to George MacDonald’s work. What were some of your reactions when you discovered him?

One of the things I knew about George MacDonald going in was that he had inspired on of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis. I made a point of not just reading The Light Princess, but also his letters and sermons to really try to understand his relationship with God and what he was trying to accomplish in his fantasy writing. His words resonated with me for his honesty and the obviousness of his great, personal love for God

Generally, it seems people discover Lewis and Tolkien before they discover MacDonald. How familiar were you with their work before you came to MacDonald’s writings?

I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and there aren’t many of his works I hadn’t already read prior to encountering MacDonald. You can see his influence in Lewis’ spiritual writings in that they both sought to reach the “every man” and not to write only to intellectuals. You can see their desire to reach people and to share the joy and love of God that had touched both of them so deeply and in Lewis’ case, changed his life profoundly.

You’ve talked about how MacDonald had a gift to “cut to the very heart of Jesus’s teachings… love.” How has reading his work influenced your understanding of Jesus?

“Seek and ye shall find.”  The more you strive to know and understand Jesus, the more you will come to know and understand Jesus. The ability of great writers like MacDonald to reach into your heart and show you theirs is a gift that can’t help but touch the reader.

To the best of my knowledge, the MacDonald projects and The Book of Ruth are the only times you’ve adapted a whole work—the plot, the characters, etc. How does that compare to something like The Tales of Oz, where you’re taking established characters but can develop a new plot?

Both bring their own unique challenges, but in many ways adaptations are much more difficult. As a writer you have to balance what people know and love about a story with crafting a narrative that makes sense in the allocated amount of space or given medium.

Phantastes is a different story than The Light Princess—different length, different plot complexities. Was the adaptation process harder or easier this time around?

Phantastes is an extremely complex and at times confusing story that was infinitely more challenging to adapt than the much more straightforward Light Princess. There were scenes that I had to cut out completely not only to ensure that we stayed within the required number of issues, but also to prevent confusing the reader. I would say the comic version, it is a fantastic introduction to the book, but I would encourage everyone to go back to the source material if you want to fully experience the “baptism of the imagination” experienced by C.S. Lewis.

Phantastes tends to have a big reputation in Inklings’ fan circles—even those who haven’t read it remember it as the book that C.S. Lewis said “baptized his imagination” and helped him move from atheism to faith. Did that reputation make the project intimidating?

I think that reputation made the book that much more interesting for me, rather than intimidating. I think it helped me to really focus on pulling out the truths that are there to be discovered within the pages.

Cave Pictures’ president Mandi Hart mentioned in a Mere Orthodoxy interview that while you were considering the Phantastes project, you’d been reading other MacDonald works for reference. What were some other MacDonald works you explored?

As I mentioned earlier, I had several books of MacDonald’s sermons and personal letters. I also read more of his fantasy works including The Princess and the Goblin, The Golden Key, and The Princess and Curdie.

You’ve talked about the challenges and fun that come with writing male or female characters. Phantastes presents an especially interesting challenge—a story following a male protagonist who starts out in a fairly selfish place, though he grows from there. What helped you approach the character?

I think it helps that I live in a house of men. I have three boys and of course my husband, David. That gave me a unique perspective into how men view the world and approach problems. But ultimately a person’s personal journey from selfishness to faith doesn’t necessarily need a gendered voice, as much as it needs the ability to be open and honest.

You’ve discussed trusting God as this project developed, to “always do our best but let him drive and he’ll take us great places.” What were some great places that you didn’t expect?

I’ve had the ability to meet so many wonderful people along this journey, but trusting God doesn’t always mean that the wonderful places he’ll take you are the places you think you should go. The greatest journey I’m taking with God right now is on our farm.

If you had to recommend one or two MacDonald works to introduce people to his work, what would you recommend?

That’s a difficult one. The Light Princess is definitely the most accessible of his works, but I would also highly recommend his sermons and letters.

Any new or upcoming projects you’d care to share?

I’ve taken a step back from writing for the last few years to focus on our farm, but I can already feel God’s hand stirring my heart to get back to writing again. Who knows what he has in store.

The Phantastes graphic novel can be ordered via Indiegogo. Readers wanting to learn more about Meredith Finch’s work can check out her blog or Amazon page.

Works Cited

Lederman, Jess (writing as Onesimus). “The Light Princess: A New Graphic Novel Edition.” Works of George MacDonald, November 15, 2020. worksofmacdonald.com/pictures-and-poems/2020/11/15/the-light-princess-a-new-graphic-novel-edition.

Kirk, John K. “INTERVIEW: Meredith Finch on ‘Rose’ and writing characters both feminine and strong.” Pop Mythology, March 14, 2017. popmythology.com/meredith-finch-interview/.

Sargeant, Alexi. “Journey Into Understanding: Adapting George MacDonald’s Phantastes.” Mere Orthodoxy, November 15, 2021. mereorthodoxy.com/journey-into-understanding-adapting-george-macdonalds-phantastes.