Multi-omni award winner Colleen Doran is to reproduce Neil Gaiman classic Chivalry for Dark Horse. It is her latest Gaiman comics adaptation and follows on from the massive success of 2019’s Snow, Glass, Apples.
Doran has form in reproducing Gaiman stories. She contributed on Gaiman’s Sandman series from DC/Vertigo; around that time, she adapted Troll Bridge in 1993. The story has since been reprinted in volume 2 of The Neil Gaiman Library (Dark Horse).
Dark Horse has developed a significant catalogue of Gaiman story adaptations by various artists from the likes of Gabriel Moon and Fabio Bá, Michael Zulli, and of course – Doran.
The 2019 adaptation of “Snow, Glass, Apples” won her an Eisner, a Bram Stoker, and a Ringo award last year.
Chivalry tells the tale of an elderly widow who finds a small goblet in a thrift store. It turns out to be the legendary Holy Grail and she gets periodically visited by a knight hoping to obtain it.
In a press release Doran said,
“I’ve wanted to do an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry ever since he sent a draft of the story to me at about 1AM via fax machine decades ago. It is one of Neil’s loveliest, most charming stories, and I cried with happiness when I learned I would get to do the adaptation.”
Digging deeper into how she has approached the adaptation visually Doran will draw inspiration from Golden Age illustration styles and studies of medieval Illuminated Manuscripts.
Gaiman had this to add on the subject:
“[Colleen]’s created a whole new style to tell the story of Mrs. Whitaker and the Holy Grail, and I’m thrilled with every page she sends me. I can’t wait until the world sees what she’s done.”
The short story first saw publication in the Michael H. Greenberg, Richard Gilliam, and Edward E. Kramer edited 1994 anthology Grails: Quests of the Dawn (Roc). It was reprinted in Smoke & Mirrors (1998) from Harper Collins.