Interview with Peter In Peril creator Helen Bate

This has taken me a shamedfacedly long taken to publish.  the publisher gave me a copy of Peter in Peril - Courage and Hope in World War Two back in October or November last year.  I read it pretty quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it and was asked if I would like to do an interview with the author.  Of course I said yes, and then it took me a few weeks to send questions, then another few weeks to send follow up questions and now a few months later I am actually publishing this.

I reviewed Peter in Peril over on New readers.... It's about a Jewish boy living in Budapest in the 1930s and it covers his life before and during the war.  It's told from the point of view of Peter and is suitable for ages 8 up.I found parts of it very affecting and I think it's a good addition to WW2 literature.  So, I asked the creator, Helen Bate, a few questions. Here we go.

Q1.  I understand that Peter in Peril is your first book and that you used to be an architect.  How did you get into comics and did being an architect have any influence on how you approached constructing the comic pages?
I gave up my architectural career after 10 years to do a degree in illustration and I initially illustrated some children’s books for Frances Lincoln and Harper Collins. The Peter story was done as a student project initially but in a very different form. I was thrilled when I got the opportunity to work with Janetta Otter-Barry to produce it in a way that would suit 8-10 year old children and the graphic story form seemed to be the one that best suited the complexity of the subject and the age range. I used more text than other graphic stories, as I wanted to allow the book to be read to a child. I also felt it was important with the subject matter to adequately explain to children what was happening in more detail.

I think my architectural background has quite an influence on my drawing style - drawing with a black line is a very big part of architectural drawing and I always tend to gravitate to that way of drawing… even though I’d quite like to have a looser style … but drawing is pretty much like your handwriting - it’s very personal to the individual. 


Q2. Describing artistic styles in comics is one of my weak points, so for the benefit of readers can you describe your art style and how you came to illustrate the way you do?
I don’t think my artistic style fits into any particular category. The drawings are very much graphic and line based because that’s the way I work - and I use layering and watercolour to add depth and mood… Because I also do picture books for younger children, my style is influenced by that too.

Q3. I read that Peter is a member of your family.  Creating this book must have been quite emotional.  Can you tell us about the process of developing it and how you ensured the story stayed true to life?

Peter is my brother-in-law and his story has always been one that I have felt was an important one to pass on to future generations, especially within our own family. Because he and his parents and his cousin Eva all survived, it has a more positive outcome than the story of Anne Frank and others like it; Because of this it’s more suitable for younger and more sensitive children. And in this age of world problems, when intolerance and persecution are becoming more prevalent again, I feel it’s a really topical theme and much needed.

My sister and my brother-in-law wrote down his story in as much detail as he could remember some years ago, so we have a family book that I was able to use to get the details. I then showed Peter at every stage of the development to ensure he was happy with the simplification and the depiction of his childhood experiences. He and his cousin Eva have been amazed by the reaction of people to their story.. they genuinely didn’t think anyone would be interested. 

Q4.  Have you read many other comics dealing with World War Two?  Can you recommend any?
There are a couple of comic style books or graphic stories that I have read about WW2 (both holocaust stories involving children) and that I’ve found really interesting because of the different ways they are portrayed - but they are aimed at older children or adults … 

They are ‘Hidden’ by Loic Dauvillier, Mark Lozano and Greg Salsedo published by First Second in 2012 and ‘We are on our own’ by Miriam Katin published by Drawn and Quarterly, Montreal 2006

Q5. Was it Otter-Barry that asked you to do a children's book or did the idea come from you?

It was my idea for the book and Janetta Otter-Barry really liked the idea. 

Q6. Presumably you think comics are good for children, do you feel they improve literacy or that they offer more (or different things?) than prose books do? How so?  What do you think is important about them?

I think the graphic novel style of picture book or comic style - whichever you want to call it, makes reading more accessible for those children who may be less happy reading straight forward prose with some illustrations. So if reluctant readers can be encouraged to read by providing them with comic style stories on more serious themes done well, then that’s a great contribution to literacy.

Although I love reading fiction, I am also a very visual person, so I love mixing the two. I know my 11 year old grand daughter and my 8 year old grandson are big comic or graphic novel fans, and although they read prose fiction too, I see comics as offering them something very different that helps them to see storytelling and fiction in a different, and more visual way. Providing them with a good cross section of styles helps with their visual literacy and develops their aesthetic judgement.

I think comic style stories can also be a great stepping stone to understanding film making and theatre, and I think that is a big plus.

Doing Peter in a comic strip form helped to make a difficult subject more accessible - and although I did use a lot of prose in it, that was to ensure that the complexities of the subject were explained more fully. My next comic style story, although also a difficult subject, is set today so needs less explanation and will be more visual.
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There we go.  Many thanks to Helen for answering my questions and for being patient regarding my delays.  You can read more about Peter in Peril on the Otter-Barry website.  Please please check it out.

I have also published this interview on my other blog, www.paipicks.blogspot.com.  Just in case you came across it twice and thought I stole it. 

Green Arrow - finally

So, I've finally managed to get round to putting up Green Arrow stuff. My
main thoughts on these issues now center round the gorgeousness of the covers from the Mike Grell run. Have a look:
(I"m having a bit of trouble with the layout of this thing, and can't seem to get the pictures to sit on the right next to my text)

So, apart from the covers, what else did I take from this run? The Mike Grell issues had the most intelligent letters column I've ever seen. This was quite obviously inspired by the adult way in which the comics were written, practically every story arc dealt with one social issue or another. There were no crazy shape shifting aliens, no superpowers, just a normal guy looking after his family and city. The series had a mature readers tag until issue 63 and as such had some pretty heavy themes running through it. The stories treated the readers like adults. there was sex, but it wasn't gratuitous. There was honesty and the characters were all treated like real people - no gimmicks.
Back to the letters column, nearly all the letters on Grell's run were well thought out, debates over a specific views would last for months. Arguments, disagreements were conducted in a civil way. These weren't debates over characterisation or minor petty trifling things, these were debates about wars, animal rights, marriage, the environment, everything that the comics themselves looked at.

Dinah didn't get a lot of screen time unfortunately, not even as Black Canary. Now while I can see the argument that it's a GA book, not a BC one, you'd expect their costumed lives to intersect somewhat more often than they did. given the constant flood of letters urging that we see more of BC I can't help but wonder why she wasn't given more time. And was this Grell's choice or the DC editors? The editor of the letters page certainly seemed to be supportive of more BC.

But again, the issues featuring Dinah dealt with her very well - her recovery from her ordeal in The Longbow Hunters, finding out Ollie had a child with Shado and her then catching him cheating on her again with their lodger.
When Dinah met Shado she thought Ollie had consented, and with this knowledge she realised where the fault lay - i.e. with Ollie. She could have been portrayed as a screaming harpy but Grell didn't do that.
Having said that, Shado did rape Ollie and it's really creepy reading her rationale for doing this. This rape wasn't acknowledged until very recently, in a conversation between Dinah and Babs, before Dinah and Ollie got married. It should have been dealt before, by Mr Grell.

There was no gratuitous cheesecake in this run. All the women with panel time were there for a reason, and had a part of the story. Compare this to when Mike Grell left and pretty darn near immediately you have women in cheesecakey poses and with no real role in the story. Just there as background material for the readers to leer at. You also got aliens and weird baddies and the feel changed immediately to a more cartoony story. I preferred the grown up, mature readers feel myself.

Ollie got himself killed because he couldn't bear to lose an arm and not be able to shoot. So his pride killed him. Idiot.

I loved the introduction of Connor, but his GA was not as good or important to me as Ollie's GA. That's a personal thing. I enjoyed watching all the women Connor met eye him up, whilst he was oblivious. Entertaining. And creates an entirely different dynamic - for once the women aren't passive. That's good to see. I've read some views that Connor may bi, but from this reading, I don't see that. I just reckon he doesn't want to sleep around.

Now I've got to get hold of the Green Lantern/Green arrow run. But first, I'm working my way through the Connor Superboy books. And reading Beauty by Sherri S Teppler - really really good. A reworking of the Sleeping Beauty story and it's wonderful.

I also read The Boy In The Striped Pajamas last week. It's about Auschwitz and is told from the point of view of a 9 yr old German boy who's totally innocent of what's going on. His dad runs Auschwitz and the whole family has moved there and the kid thinks that people living in the camp have cafes and restaurants and he can't understand why they don't wear jumpers when it gets cold.
This could have been a trite terrible book but it wasn't. I didn't get too emotional reading it but that's because I didn't let myself - last time I read Primo Levi books I had nightmares. The book has just been made into a film, and I would recommend picking it up (the book not the movie, books are always better).

Holocaust gaming

So, there's a new console game being developed called Imagination is the Only Escape, and the subject is the Holocaust.
I promised in my earlier post that I would talk about this more extensively. I read the info about it in the magazine gamestm and at the time it seemed massively urgent that I write about it. Now, I'm not so sure.
My first reaction upon glancing at the article and seeing the subject matter was wtf? How on earth can you create a game about the Holocaust that is not exploitative and deals with the subject in a sensitive and appropriate manner?
I should add that my experience of gaming comes purely from the boyfriend playing. I don't play. I don't get the appeal and I have no desire to pick up a console. The Wii got me interested for all of 5 minutes, and yeah cow racing and the wii-lypmics are fun but there's no way I'll sit down and game all evening.
So with my limited knowledge I was very concerned that it would be a shoot em up beat em up chicks with huge boobs type thing - no I don't know how this'd fit in either but as I said, I have a very limited experience of games. Then I read the article - always a useful thing to do I find (!).

The game's designer is Luc Bernard. the storyline is comparable to the movie that came out a few years back about a father and son in a concentration camp, the father creates a a game out of it for the boy in order to shield him from the worst of the horrors. It was Italian I think. (And if anyone can tell me the name of the movie I'd be very grateful). In the game a child is taken to the camp and he creates an imaginary world in order to cope with what he's experiencing. Gradually throughout the game reality seeps in more and more. The game also contains facts about the Holocaust, including the one featured in my earlier post.

Here's an article on a Holocaust survivor's reaction to the game.

My thoughts on this? If it can be handled sensitively and appropriately then yeah, make a game out of it. use it to educate people. It'd not been designed for entertainment purposes, which is good. Shock people into realising what happened. I don't think we know enough. I've been to a holding camp in the Czech republic and I've been to Auschwitz. They were vile horrible experiences but people should go. When I read the fact in the magazine I broke down and cried. I do not cry at anything, I am not a weepy person. I read that and cried for half an hour. We had friends over that evening and I had to excuse myself whilst I went upstairs and cried for 40 minutes. If a game can do this then hell yeah, develop it, put it out, increase people's knowledge. And for god's sake don't forget that atrocities are still being committed in the world. Ethnic cleansing is still happening. Genocide is still being carried out on government orders. Use the knowledge people and start making little changes in your home towns, notice the people around you and stand up for what's right. Please.

The Holocaust

Nazi doctors at death camps tortured children, they were exposed to several inhumane surgeries without anesthesia. Some of those 'experiments' were injections of lethal germs, removal of organs and limbs, sex change operations. The victims were then murdered after the experiment was over.

Something is very wrong.

The text in bold is taken from the new game Imagination Is The Only Escape. This is a story of a child's struggle to survive the concentration camps of WWII. I will blog about the game at a later date. Right now I can't. This post is to highlight the atrocities committed by the Nazis and any comments about the existence of the game will be deleted from this post. This footnote ic included to give legitimacy to the above text.