Set to Sea by Drew Weing

Drew Weing - author. Set to sea. Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics, 2010. ISBN: 978-1-60699-368-2

Author website: http://www.drewweing.com/

Media: pen and ink

Genre: graphic novel, adventure, comic

Annotation: A portly potbellied landlubbing poet, who finds himself in a slump while writing about life at sea, gets shanghaied aboard a ship and gets an inside view on the trials and tribulations of sailor life.

My thoughts:

This is Drew Weing’s debut 2010 graphic novel, though the crosshatched full-page black and white panels could have been published in bygone eras. Sailors, pirates, and the high seas set this comic adventure book. The style and characters are very reminiscent of the classic Popeye comic strip. Only these characters definitely cast in Popeye-like story. These are characters that do not get lots of spinach. They don’t swim with mermaids (unless tossed to sea by pirates). And, these sailors don’t have time to tan on their backs. (Popeye song) These sailors toast “long hours, short rations, and not even a stone to mark your grave!” Though the giant hero is able to steal away brief moments for his poetry and is able to find wordlessly communicate the solace he finds as the sunrises in the artic.

There is very little dialogue throughout the book. So, the images provide the narrative. And, they do so very effectively. The transition of our fat hero poet starts from when he is depicted more as a vagrant poet wandering local pubs (and getting the boot) to an honorable sailor who protects his mates and publishes legitimate stories about life at sea. In the end, the patched up barely held together coat is replaced and his is adorned in the garb of a fine gentlemen. He even has a nice eye patch to cover his eyeball-less eye that was shot out by a pirate. He can sit in the “Angry Kitten” (the same bar where he was given the boot) write leisurely while snoozing and is waited upon by said owner/ boot possessor.

It’s nice to see a protagonist grow not only materially but also in maturity. This is also depicted through the tribulations at sea when the whalelike character befriends his fellow crewmen, fights pirates, muscles the steer during a storm, has a moby dick moment, gives his mates advice, works the directional cross, saves a mate during a storm, etc. He no longer sulks around making up stories. He lived it.

The visual storytelling really stands out for me. This is not the common current style. It is unique. Every page holds a carefully crafted illustration that probably can be discussed in terms of historical cartoon/ illustration devices.

Literary devices:

Use of onomatopoeia: tok, whuf, oooaaa,urk,whok, krak, urrgh, zzz

Use of rhyme:

“If I even survive the trip

I set to sea on a clipper ship

But work and woe is what I found

A thousand leagues till I touch ground

I survive this –something- trip / endless? trackless?”

“All hands on deck’ and ‘mainsail-haul’

The timbers groan, the sailors curse

The only fate that would be worse…”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grades 8-12 (Warning: The poet graphically gets his eye shot out and encounters with pirates include violence, retaliation, and lots of black and white blood. This makes the recommended age group understandable.)

Reviews and Awards

Booklist starred review

“With hints of The Odyssey, Moby Dick, Popeye and Treasure Island, Weing has created a modern classic in the pirate genre.” (School Library Journal )

“Set to Sea's one-panel-per-page layout lets Weing's visual storytelling shine, but only if you resist the urge to tear through the pages quickly. Go too fast, and you'll miss the touching, wordless way Weing communicates the death of a supporting character. Or, worse, you'll skim over a gorgeous arctic sunset clearly inspired by the Gustave Dore engravings for Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Glen Weldon, NPR