When you're querying a comics project, you need great sample art. That's why I reached out to artist extraordinaire, Danica Brine, who produced some tremendous pages for me. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting the first seven pages of Oscar Wilde Conquers America. And here's page #1! (Click for full size)
The painting we are seeing here is Lawrence Alma-Tadema's Sappho and Alcaeus. As Wilde (off panel) explains, Sappho is the woman on the left at the lectern and Alcaeus is her (maybe) lover on the right with the lyre. Sappho is famous as the woman who gave us the word Lesbian (she hailed from the island of Lesbos and was likely attracted to other women). Here she eyes up a man, which you might think unusual for a gay woman. But Wilde, who many today regard as the most famous gay Victorian, was also attracted to the opposite sex. As we will see in the following pages...
