Why a once unloved graphic novel was snapped up in the pandemic

Sunday Star-Times print producer Arthur Whelan’s previously rejected graphic novel, set during the 1918 Spanish flu, gained footing as the world became embroiled in a new pandemic.

So who knew that a story of friendship and loyalty during a global pandemic would be followed by ... a global pandemic? Just call me Nostradamus. But seriously, it is more than a bit eerie to see how The Visit of the Spanish Lady, set during the 1918 flu epidemic, suddenly became relevant a few years after it dropped, initially into obscurity and publishers’ rejection letters.

It seemed like an original idea at the time. The flu, known as the Spanish Lady, was bookended by world wars and thus overlooked by history despite its devastation.

I’m not sure when it occurred to me that the life and death dramas of those times offered rich potential for a story about courage in adversity. And somewhere along the line the flu virus became personified by the Spanish lady of the title, a glamorous stranger who drifts into a small US town in November 1918 and starts claiming victims.

Well, yes, it was fulfilling to finish a 170-page, full-colour, hand-painted graphic novel after all that research. But there it sat, rejected by US publishers, until Jason Lennie of Beyond the Ledge Press and Funtime Comics in Christchurch asked around in the New Zealand comics community last year if anyone had any pandemicrelated material. Funny you should say that...

And so last year I came to be holding copies of the Spanish Lady and reflecting on the weirdness of being a pandemic prophet, and on the long creative process leading up to that point; finding a writer (Sal Brucculeri in New Jersey) to bring the idea to life, researching the architecture and the fashion of 1918; reading and re-reading Geoffrey Rice’s Black November, the definitive account of the flu in New Zealand.

Finding space for cameo appearances – of Little and Friday, the cafe where I did a lot of drawing, and Benjamin, a well-known local cat in my town. Grant Smithies of Family Jewels Records in Nelson appears as the mayor of Grottenstown. The model for the cover was Leda Petit, one of New Zealand’s top burlesque artists.

My dog randomly takes up space on the sidewalks as the Great War veterans and the ladies in double dresses hurry to learn the latest in the struggle against the beastly Hun, not knowing the deadly threat that has arrived in their own town on the afternoon train.

And as the Spanish Lady starts claiming victims, it is time for a hero to rise. Unfortunately, our champion Bertie, the only guy who figures out what’s going on, is also the only guy in Grottenstown no-one would ever believe. Some of the themes might sound familiar. Local business events must go ahead no matter what. There is bravery and community spirit among some, shallow selfishness among others. Some humour, also sadness.

There is no vaccine, but there is a surreal journey of delirium into the Darkness – the underworld of the Spanish Lady – as our cowardly town screw-up Bertie realises it’s all on him, and he has to find his courage.

It would have been nice to have set the whole story here in New Zealand, but given all the research, drawing, inking, scanning and lettering, on top of a day job, it was just realistic to compromise when bringing a writer on board.

At least this way, the Spanish Lady not only came to town, but into print and into our libraries. Young Poppy got to fall into an upside-down ocean and survive. Mr Henderson got his Liberty Bonds parade. And Bertie got to smooch Matilda.

The Visit of the Spanish Lady ($39.99) is available from beyondtheledgepress.bigcartel. com