Frank Miller And Tom Wheeler Discuss ‘Cursed’ At NYCC 2019

What a lovely way to end the show! The panel promoting Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler’s new YA novel Cursed (which is being produced into a Netflix show as we speak) gave us some glimpses into the origins of the dual-project and what the actors looked like in their costumes. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the slides, but I did take photos of the people at the event so I’ll post those at the end.

Wheeler sort of played the straight man to Miller’s wiseass as they discussed how they became involved in the project. The CEO of Miller’s company put the two together and they initially didn’t know what the collaboration would involve. Miller was interested in working on the Arthurian legends in some way while infusing them with a new twist. It all started with Wheeler writing fifty pages and Miller responding with a slew of drawings. Wheeler was cautious about not giving away too much at the panel and Miller ribbed him more than once over this.

The main character is Nimue, a young Lady of the Lake. Already, this should set off alarm bells because in the original legend, Nimue was the young witch who traps Merlin if I’m not mistaken. In Cursed, she has a massive sword that may or may not be Excalibur. From what I could tell from the photos we saw of the TV show, the actor playing Arthur is half-black. They’re definitely playing around with things.

It was good to see Miller joyous when talking about his current project. His face’s complexion still showed some strain but he smiled often and joked easily. He leaned towards his left shoulder in his characteristic way and listened often, jumping in now and then with a reaction or observation. Miller’s eighties work has borne the utmost influence on me as a writer so I can’t pretend to be objective about him. I know that there are a lot of people who feel just as intensely about his work so I’m not unique. It was really special for me to see him. Here are the photos: