chatterbox L’Amour, Mon Amour A New Medium for the Old West Thomas Yeates & Co. present the first graphic novel adaptation of Louis L’Amour

by Jon B. Cooke CBC Editor and terrifically impressed with the book, set out to talk I’m in Southern California this past summer, moseying down with the famous author’s artists’ alley at Comic-Con International 2013, and I’m a sad, son, Beau L’Amour, who was sombre hombre. This here’s my first San Diego in a few years intimately involved with the and the aisles might as well have been the dusty dirt roads of project since its inception. a ghost town. Oh yeah, there are plenty of creators there, but “My father wrote the short few I knew from the good ol’ days and most of ’em not but story, ‘Law of the Desert young greenhorns. I was one lonely desperado. Born,’ in the late 1940s and it Suddenly I hear a “Hey, you!” and yonder there’s my pal was published in a pulp mag- from cons of yesteryear Thomas Yeates waving me to to his azine,” Beau said. “I think it booth. Thomas is one of the finest comic book artists I know, was the third Western he’d an expert delineator of Swamp Thing, Tarzan, Zorro, Time- ever written.” After Louis’ spirits, and — yee-hah! — current artist on maybe the most phenomenal success — with revered Sunday newspaper strip, Prince Valiant. And he’s over 200 million copies of his also one of the kindest, warm-hearted dudes I’ve ever met, novels in circulation! — it compassionate and a nice guy. Well, cowpokes, he wanted was decided to produce to know if I knew of any mags who might help promote a new audio books as if they were graphic novel he had just finished drawing. “Well now,” says oldtime radio plays and that I, tugging at my whiskers and eyes roaming up to the hall was when the junior L’Amour rafters, “let me chew that one over a bit, Thomas…” came into the picture. “I was producing and writing the Tales of the old West, scripts to some of these and whether dubbed Westerns I had several writers working or, as the late legendary for me who were doing even author Louis L’Amour pre- more,” Beau explained. ferred them called, “frontier “I had handed Law of the stories,” have been a staple Desert Born off to Katherine of the American comic book Nolan but, although she was since the dawn of the form. a really competent writer, Particularly popular during she wrote a script that was the 1950s, when cowpokes quite a bit too long. At first and gunslingers abounded on we were sure we could cut black-&-white televisions it but, ultimately, the two of us had to recreate the entire Above: Thomas Yeates’ cover art nationwide, Westerns are story in a completely new adaptation. It was a very exciting for the new graphic novel — the still, at present, a viable if process because we had very little time before we had to be first adapting a Louis L’Amour story, somewhat scarce category. in the recording studio. A few years later, we decided to try Law of the Desert Born. Ye Ed calls Today, it’s apt to be a mash- the story as a screenplay… it was only years after that, long it a perfect coupling of artist to up with other genres, as with after the program where Kathy and I worked together had story. The humanity and sensitivity East of West (science-fic- been scaled back, that I rewrote it as a comic book.” of Thomas Yeates shines through tion), High Moon (horror) or Okay, Westerns have been a longtime staple in comics, the expert storytelling. Inset “Jonah Hex” (weirdness). but L’Amour had never been adapted, so why now? “To start left: Thomas’ pencils to a panel Rarer is a straight story of with, we hadn’t done one,” said Beau. “It’s one of the mar- from the book, courtesy of Beau those frontier times, straight kets that my dad [who passed away in 1988], so far, hasn’t L’Amour, Louis’ son and a major in setting, with the charac- appeared in. Also, the marketplace for comics seems like the creative force behind the project. Below: Louis L’Amour [1908-88] as ters and in the telling, with paperback book business did in the heyday of genre fiction, painted by Fred Pfeiffer. no dystopian landscape or the 1950s through the ’80s. That sort of bookseller enthusi- lycanthropic howling or hy- asm and customer feedback is infectious. A great deal of per-violent weirdness… But the rest of today’s entertainment landscape is very jaded. suddenly there comes along On the aesthetic side, I like telling stories in pictures. I was Law of the Desert Born, the trained as a filmmaker and worked in the movie business on first graphic novel adaptation and off for quite a few years. Law of the Desert Born was a of a Louis L’Amour story, an film script at one time and I wrote it with a great deal of care authentic, understated and, as to how it would be shot… making the switch to a graphic well, dignified comic book novel was really not at all like laying out a movie, but there story of posses and rustling are similarities. It’s still telling a story in pictures and I find and lingering resentment. the efficacy and subtlety of that appealing. In many ways, I This writer, prompted by a now like comics better than film, once you have accepted desire to help out a good pal the realities of the medium, the compromises are far fewer.” ©2013 Louis L’Amour Enterprises, Inc. ©2013 Louis L’Amour

Comic Book Creator • Fall 2013 • #3 37 ©2013 the Estate of Les Daniels. ©2013 Louis L’Amour Enterprises, Inc. Above: Triptych of pages from Law Law of the Desert Born, about a posse on the trail of a often sending me back to rewrite or condense sections as of the Desert Born, art by Thomas killer, is remarkably poignant in a quiet way, more the tale we discovered how it was going to play out visually. Yeates. This scene depicts the of how impulsive decisions of neighbors can escalate into “Charles had warned me that we might end up using an opening to the graphic novel, told life-changing, and life-ending, events. Thomas, “Year One” off-shore artist and I was concerned that any one we hired in sober, documentary style (befit- Kubert School graduate, is the perfect artist for the job, im- would only know Westerns through the lens of crummy TV ting the black-&-white presenta- bibing his characters with a humanity and dignity that adds shows or old movies. So I started creating a ‘bible,’ careful tion) and yet not with dispassion. nuance to the simple, if ambiguous story. The graphic novel descriptions of characters, costumes, tools and the locations is an expert matching of the right artist to the right story. they would travel through. I documented all these descrip- “I knew Thomas was the guy as soon as I saw his tions in about 300 photographs I had taken over the years.” artwork,” Beau reveals. “Cartooning and caricature plays an But on-shore artist Thomas Yeates was chosen and, enormous role in comics, but we were telling a story that ex- “Once Thomas came on,” Beau said, “the bible only added ists in a very real world, with delicate emotions and no larger to his knowledge of the West. Thomas grew up riding horses than life characters. Thomas tells stories sequentially, but he near Sacramento and hiking the Sierras. The two of us were can produce images like an old-fashioned illustrator, a truly often on the phone to each other two to three times a week. dying breed. I have worked a good deal as an art director for We would discuss upcoming scenes and sketches he had book covers and really knew what I wanted to see.” completed. Once in a while, I went out and hiked around Produced in fitting monochome, “Thomas used a tech- the actual places I had envisioned as our locations bringing nique that is essentially a black-&-white watercolor,” con- back maps and video, anything to add to his reference tinues Beau. “It allows for beautiful graytones and that really materials. Occasionally, we rewrote sections of the script (a Below: April 1946 edition of Dime helps him focus the reader’s attention and create a sense of process that didn’t end until the final documents were sent Western Magazine, published distance and atmosphere… literally, atmospheric distortion. to the printer), he followed Charlie’s adaptation closely yet by Popular Publications, the pulp Far too many current comic books crowd the frame with made changes when he needed to and they were always an which featured Louis L’Amour’s first information, all of it having the same value. It can be a bit like improvement.” Western story to appear in print, ‘Where’s Waldo?’ So, allowing different parts of the image to After the artist handed in his pages, “I followed on the “Law of the Desert Born.” have more or less black density really helps when used by a heels of Thomas’s work with my old friend and Photoshop

master like Thomas… especially in a black-&-white book.” jockey, Paul O’Dell,” Beau said. “We got every scan cleaned TM & ©2013 the respective copyright holder.. The story of the graphic novel is not a faithful adaptation and exposed perfectly and made needed changes in the of the original short story. Through the process that started artwork, sometimes compositing in elements that Thomas with the audio play, it morphed over time, quite likely into would send to us. The amazing thing about the project was something better. But Beau has written, “Clearly, Louis was that I got to supervise every stage, from beginning to end.” the creator of the entire environment in which every version Beau added, “I think that my work (scripts adapted from of this story exists.” And the author’s son shared, “The my father’s work or other projects) tends to respond well amazing thing about Law of the Desert Born was that, back when challenged by changing the medium several times. in the days when it was an audio script, we didn’t have time During each change, from short story to audio script, audio for that. We created the story starting with the end, sort of to film, and film to comic, the story has grown and deepened. writing it like we were watching the movie Memento, and Changing the medium allows me to approach the material in throwing ideas at one and other in a fast and furious manner. a fresh manner, to gain perspective as if I was a new writer Later drafts were more relaxed, solitary affairs.” who just came onto the project yet still retaining all of the Beau also revealed the creative process working with project’s history. It’s a good way to stay fresh!” the comics writer of Toplin, Conan, and Ayn Rand’s Anthem, There you have it, partners, a behind-the-cactus peek among others: “Once I pulled together a deal with the at the first graphic novel adapting a Louis L’Amour story. people at Bantam, I worked with Charles Santino to adapt So, saddle up and git along now down the trail to the the script into a blueprint that an artist could use to illustrate town bookstore or comics shop. Law of the Desert a book. He broke down all the pages into panel descriptions, Born, she’s a’waitin’ fer ya!

38 #3 • Fall 2013 • Comic Book Creator