Time for Cakes and Ale

Welcome to The Tally Ho, a podcast about the classic TV series The Prisoner.

In this special episode we look at the new comic book series based on The Prisoner from Titan Comics. We chat to editor David Leach and writer Peter Milligan about the genesis of the project and their interest in the show, and they give us a hint at what to expect! We also had the chance to ask artist Colin Lorimer a few questions. Check out our Q& A below.

Direct download: The Tally Ho talks The Prisoner comic with David Leach and Peter Milligan

A Q&A with artist Colin Lorimer:

Have you always been a fan of The Prisoner?
I would have discovered it in the late 70’s, early 80’s and at being such a young age I obviously hadn’t a clue what was going on. However it’s visuals and sheer weirdness did leave a lasting impression on me. On revisiting it again years later I became a huge fan of the show and remain so this day.

The Prisoner had a very distinctive visual style. How did you go about translating such an iconic aesthetic into the comics?
I purposely went for quite a traditional, old-school style with the art so that it had an almost ‘aged’ quality to it. When I was checking out Joana’s first colour pass my son looking over my shoulder remarked that it had an old seventies 2000AD vibe to it. I can live with that.

Are there any particular features of The Prisoner that you have enjoyed drawing?
I love drawing architecture so being surrounded by tons of reference photos of the wonder that is Portmeirion (The Village) has been a true joy. Also, the 60’s vibe with the clothing, etc, is something that I’ve always been drawn to, so that’s a plus.

Are the visuals already incorporated and described in Peter’s script, or have you had flexibility in how you interpret the material?
Peter’s scripts are quite succinct in their descriptions and he’ll pop in the odd reference picture if there’s something specific he had in mind but like most good writer/artist relationships it’s a pretty organic process.

Did you look at any of the Kirby/Kane adaptation?
I only found out about that quite recently through that glorious two-page spread of The Village that’s been floating around the internet. Kirby really played to the beat of his own drum and like most projects he worked on added a visual flair that most of us can only dream about. I’ll be picking up the new Titan print of this for sure. I should add that plug is completely unintentional.

Much of the look of The Prisoner comes from the wonderful architecture of Clough Williams-Ellis who built Portmeirion. Have you visited the village? How much leeway do you have to depart from the geography of the original show, which often took liberties with the landscape of Portmeirion itself?
As mentioned above, I’m trying my best to be as faithful to the original series as possible and getting The Village right is key to that. Of course I do have to fudge and cheat some aspects as I just don’t have the appropriate reference, but the fact that this book is set fifty years after the original series gives us a bit of leeway as we can expect a few things may have changed in the interim.

You worked before with colourist Joana Lafuente on The X-Files and Millennium, which captured the look and feel of the original shows. How does the relationship work between an artist and a colourist when putting together a finished comic, especially for an adaptation?
Yes, those projects are what brought us together. I have Denton J. Tipton at IDW to thank for the introduction. Joana and I have a really good rapport and have worked on numerous projects together (some outside of comics). In regards to The Prisoner we tried to keep it as close in tone to the original series as possible adding some comicbook flourishes where we could. I suggested the films of Powell and Pressburger and the art of Andy Warhol and Peter Blake for inspiration.

As well as The Prisoner, can you tell us about any other projects you are working on?
I’ve another book in the works that I’m writing and drawing which should hit before the end of the year. I can’t say too much about it at this point bar to say that like my last book, The Hunt, it’s another horror tale.

We’ve had a preview of the first issue and we love it! We’ll review the series later in the year. Issue 1 of the four-issue The Prisoner miniseries is availble on April 25th. There are several variant covers available for the first issue:

Cover 1: Art By Mike Allred. Colors By Laura Allred
Cover 2: Photo cover
Cover 3: Art By Jack Kirby. Inks by Mike Royer. Colors by Mike Allred
Cover 4: Art By Colin Lorimer. Colors By Joana Lafluente
Cover 5: Art by John McCrea. Colors by Michael Spicer
Cover 6: Art by Mike Allred (black and white Cover 1)
Big Finish exclusive available direct from Big Finish, or through a pre-order of Volume 3 of the wonderful The Prisoner audiodrama. Details here.
Diamond UK exclusive featuring the 50th anniversary artwork by Chris Weston.

Finally, a huge thanks to David (editor), Peter (writer) and Colin (artwork) and the additional members of the creative team Joana Lafuente (colours) and Simon Bowland (letters). Be seeing you!

The Tally Ho episodes will run concurrently with our regular Time for Cakes and Ale ones and are available via our main podcast feed. Find out more here.