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Read P. Craig Russell’s Complete Comic Book Adaptation of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”

By John Freeman on December 27, 2019 • ( 1 )

Just before Christmas, in the spirit of the season, Wayne Alan Harold, who’s busy publishing Fine Art Editions of the work of comic artist and illustrator P. Craig Russell, offered his fans the opportunity to read his Complete Comic Book Adaptation of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi“.

Available in full here, the twelve page story is presented in the spirit of Wayne Alan Harold Productions‘ Fine Art Editions, as scans made directly from Russell’s original art.

The same publisher will be uploading more goodies from his archives in the coming New Year, so if you’re a fan of the work of P. Craig Russell, do subscribe to their newsletter.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a degree in painting, P. Craig Russell has run the gamut in comics. After establishing a name for himself at Marvel on Killraven and Doctor Strange, he went on to become one of the pioneers who opened new vistas for this underestimated field with, among other works, adaptations of operas by Mozart (The Magic Flute), Strauss (Salome) and Wagner (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Russell is also known for his Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde series as well as his graphic novel adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, American Gods and Norse Mythology.

Wayne Alan Harold, who is currently restoring, preserving and republishing Russell’s acclaimed creator-owned projects from the 1980s and early 1990s, is a graduate of Kent State University with a degree in communications and film. Soon after graduating, Harold began producing short comedic segments for MTV about Cleveland-based “Genuine Nerd” Toby Radloff. He also created comedy shorts for online video outlets including Turner Broadcasting’s SuperDeluxe.com.

Harold’s documentary, Night Music: The Art of P. Craig Russell, has had public screenings at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus. Night Music also inspired the subsequent instructional video series, P. Craig Russell’s Guide to Graphic Storytelling.

Wayne is also the creator of the Kent Comic Arts Festival (“KentCAF”) in Kent, Ohio which has hosted guests as diverse as My Friend Dahmer‘s Derf Backderf, Funky Winkerbean‘s Tom Batiuk and Jill Thompson, Scott Hampton, Galen Showman and other artists of the graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.

• Wayne Alan Harold Productions is online at www.wahprods.com

With thanks to Van Reid and WPW for the heads up

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.