Page 45 Review by Stephen
"What business does one so small have afloat those dark waves?"
"You may think me a spring shower, sir. But I've a hurricane in this heart that'd sink the Royal Fleet. So if your old bones would be so kind there's a pirate here that needs to be squeezed through yer pretty door."
What a thunderous, exuberant and intoxicating read! Jeremy A. Bastian, as if giddy on grog, liberates himself from all constraints to deliver a fantastical romp both above and below the Caribbean high seas.
It is so rich in detail that you'll be scanning its nautical nooks and pirate-cabin crannies for hours. The lines are ridiculously fine yet as smooth as silk, as shrimp-strewn seaweed swirls to frame the pages or when the Pirate Girl is lowered down the hull of a galleon in a cage which is fashioned in the form of one enormous, ornate teapot. It's not just ornate, this is bursting with inspiration and imagination, the pages populated by James Gillray grotesques and Sir John Tenniel hybrid creatures. And yes, while I'm think about it, there is more than a little of Lewis Carroll's fantastical mischief here combined with the anarchy of Tony Millionaire (SOCK MONKEY, MAAKIES), whilst the cluttered galleys and captain's quarters o'erbrimming with jewel-encrusted treasures are delineated with lines as classy and intricate as Bernie Wrightson's or Franklin Booth's.
Charles Vess, Mike Mignola, David Petersen and Gerard Way line up to praise the book's originality as the Cursed Pirate Girl and parrot Pepper Dice take a deep breath and dive underwater past squabbling swordfish siblings to rise in search of the girl's missing father, one of five Captains sailing under the Jolly Roger flag in the Omerta Seas. Each ship they board presents a different challenge with new friends or foes, but the Cursed Pirate girl has boundless energy, a quick wit and at least one keen eye, while by the end of this first foray 'x' will mark the spot of the other.
There's an extensive gallery of previous covers, maps and head-dressed skulls, additional fantasies like the Lands of the Lions whose crowned Kings Castle rises above the forest tree tops and a moat patrolled by gunships like the grandest Indian temple never constructed. Guest artists galore include David Peterson, Katie Cook, Stephano Gaudiano, Mike Mignola and Moritat, they're portraits coming complete with in-character commentary.
It's almost as if Archaia doesn't want to stop giving you stuff but, alas, they have when it comes to the paper stock which was previously deckled - crisply crinkled as if pressed from older pulp slurry - but is now a smooth, silky cream. French flaps, though!
Continued in CURSED PIRATE GIRL 2015 ANNUAL.
