How did you get the idea for a graphic novel based on Lauren Jackson’s play ‘Duffy and the Cloakroom Bullies’?

Jeff: At Duffy’s 25th Anniversary celebrations I broached the idea with the organisation. Basically, we do these shows - a new one each year - 100,000 young people see them, love them - and then, as is the nature of theatre, these stories get put to bed. They’re good stories! I felt they could have another life. I also felt it was important that that life be in a book form. Duffy is about reading: He has to have a book! 

What was the process for adapting the playscript into book form? 

Jeff: As I had spent so long with the story, from development through to production, I knew it inside out. Instinctively, I knew Lauren’s play ‘Duffy and the Bullies’ was the best first story to adapt. 

I work with story all the time. I work with the mechanics of plot and character as both a director and actor. And I’m a lifelong reader of graphic novels/comics and all other books besides. I have also directed series drama for TV, so thinking in images and panels comes easy. 

Altogether it took me about three months to get the first draft completed. Initially, I turned in a draft of 106 pages and had 9-11 panels per page. All for an 88-page book, that was requested to be 5-6 panels per page! BUT that editing process was great for me. (I lost a couple of things that were nice, but immaterial to moving the narrative forward. I will hold them for future stories, should those characters come back.) But the editing really focused the story and pacing. The editor, Carolyn Lagaheteau, and Ant were both great for this “wordy part” of the process. I have immense respect for them both.

Although you had been involved with the play, Jeff, were there major challenges in rewriting for readers instead of a live audience?

The joyous challenge was turning a 45-minute stageplay into an 88-page graphic novel. Things that can work on stage often can’t translate easily to the page. Or need to. For example, the B-story, ie. the book-within-the-book (that provides the seeds to solve the problem at hand) was the most challenging part. The stage characters served purpose in the play, but really needed fleshing out to make them, and their importance to the narrative, credible in the graphic novel. They were, necessarily, thinly drawn for the stageplay. Finding their voices, especially Paul T. Geist’s, was time-consuming - in the best way. Once I found him I was away laughing.

I read. I’m a reader. Always have been. And I’ve also read comics and graphics across my life. I was always aware of our target audience, ie. the intended readers, for this book. 9-12 year olds (and aspirational 7-year olds, sneaking the book from their older siblings shelf!) and, hopefully, appealing to boys. My biggest challenge lay in creating something they’d want to put the phone down for… And then gently challenging them with the content so that they could grasp the intent without feeling lectured to. We shall see.

At what stage did you begin to collaborate on the visual representation of the story? 

Jeff: When I pitched the project, I wrote a script of 10-indicative pages and reached out to Ant to draw five of them. 

I always knew Ant was the artist for this book. His work is excellent, has an accessible style for young audiences, and an unmistakably Kiwi quality. Place is incredibly important in Duffy’s world. 

When the funding came in, Ant and I worked in earnest to realise the characters, in the first instance. The world came after. As I’ve been working with the character of Duffy for over a decade now, rehearsing new actors into the role each year, I felt I had a good handle on him as a character. And then I also realised we had a blank slate, in many ways, here. No one actor was in the forefront of my mind when realising Duffy. They all were! 

We had always defined Duffy as a reading superhero. So why not just make him a true hero? A great kid, on his way to becoming a great man. Captain of the First XV, the Debating Team, Head Boy, whip smart, charming, curious, loves his whānau, Kiwi-humble, accessible etc. etc. He’s the best of us. The rest flowed rather smoothly from there.

Did you start with a clear image of the characters look and the school setting, or did that emerge as you worked? 

Ant: As Jeff has worked with the Duffy character and the world of Duffy, for so many years I thought it was really important to hear his thoughts on the character and location designs from the outset. During the early stages especially, we had long discussions about how Jeff envisioned the characters, and these were very useful as Jeff had definite ideas about who the main characters were, what their vibe was, what they looked like, and the surroundings which they occupied. Some of the other characters were less concrete, so it was a process of back-and-forth as I showed Jeff character sketches, got his thoughts, and revised accordingly. In this way, some of the characters did emerge from fuzzy ideas, to fully formed characters. It was a really satisfying process – working with Jeff to bring these characters, and their world, to life in visual form.

Jeff: One day I took Ant on a field trip around a suburb I felt could work for Duffy’s turangawaewae, Awatea. That was fun. Everything Ant said above, too!

To complete the art, Ant, did you need to work in isolation or was it important to keep testing the graphic form with Jeff? 

Ant: Making comics can be a very solitary pursuit. It involves long days of sitting alone, drawing in the studio. But it was important to keep Jeff (and Carolyn from Oratia) up to date, to check that they liked the way I was adapting the script into visual form. It was great having a second pair of eyes on the comic as I went through the various stages of roughs, finished inks, and then coloured art – picking up on things I’d missed, inconsistencies etc. And sometimes when I was having doubts it was encouraging to know I could get a second opinion. Also, when I was really pleased with a page, it was a joy to get their enthusiastic feedback!

Jeff: When Ant sent me the rough draft for the first time… that was Thrilling! It was wild to see it then shift from sketches into outlines and colours - arresting at first, to be honest - because it was now so definitive after the roughs. Another aspect I appreciated, and learned a heap from, was seeing the clean images without words/speech balloons. I came to a clearer understanding of the potential and economy available to words within the form of a graphic novel. I’ve always read graphics, but seeing my own work in this way was deeply impressionable. I will take the learning from this with me into future writing. Having said that, I will state that a key part of my intent for making the book is to invite the audience to read: Not only the pictures but the words, too. And I deliberately included a lot of words to encourage that. We’ll see how that pans out, I guess.

Could you summarise the key messages that the book gives to kids who may be facing bullying at school? 

Jeff: You need not suffer alone and in silence. You can talk to those who can help: They may even be a new friend you sit beside on the bus. 

We are all in this together and we can stand to learn from each other. 

Art can make a difference. Even an overwritten horror story that is part of an outrageously popular book series! (I'm talking about the Endscape series that is part of the Duffy book.)

How do the characters resolve the bullying in your book? 

Jeff: By reading a story that acts as a mirror for the reality they are all a part of. Through empathy with the characters in the book-within-the-book, they can see themselves and their actions and they decide who they wish to be in the face of that. They then take responsibility for their actions and act as they want to be seen.

Do you foresee more books based on the Duffy Theatre programme? 

 Jeff: An emphatic yes.