Noteworthy - Marvel Illustrated Moby Dick

I’m surprised I haven’t heard of this before. Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention.

Melville’s classic story is actually ripe for interpretation through the comic book medium. It’s full of all manner of dark and twisty themes lying below the surface. This version comes from Marvel comics.

In the novel, Ishmael is a young seaman who enlists aboard a whaling ship called the Peqod. He makes fast friends with another seaman, Queequeg a “savage and an idol worshipper”. Ishmael and crew hope for a lucrative voyage. What they get, however is a half crazed, lame, captain who’s only purpose is to exact revenge on the white sperm whale Moby Dick.

Moby Dick is one bad mutha of a whale. Bigger, stronger, and smarter than your average, Moby wreaks havok on the lives of the Peqod’s crew.

In critiques of Melville’s novel Moby Dick is seen to represent evil or forces of nature that man tries to control but cannot.

The art in these books is great. Artist Pascal Alixe does an excellent job of bringing out the characters in the ways he draws them. You can actually see how menacing the whale is, how crazily obsessed Ahab is, how innocent and frightened Ishmael is.

Writer Roy Thomas tells the story in an engaging, easy to read way.

Marvel Illustrated Moby Dick is a mini series with only two more issues to go.

In short, buy these books.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm and is filed under weekly comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.