Listen to “Young Bride” by Midlake [download]

Today I went to Skylight Books and picked up Sammy Harkham’s 2005 comic book Poor Sailor. It’s a beautiful story of a man who abandons the simple domesticity of his land-locked life for the perils and adventures of the uncharted sea. With sparse dialogue, minimalist style, and no unnecessary frills, the images alone evoke an overwhelming amount of emotion. Each page is adorned by a single square frame, almost like storyboards for a screenplay.

Obviously, given the nautical connotation of this website’s title, I’m enchanted by tales of the sea. However, I find it frustratingly difficult to track down good sea stories– or at least relatable ones. Maybe I’ve developed literary diabetes from too much exposure to contemporary narratives, but I just find the prose of Robert Louis Stevenson, Herman Melville, and even Jack London too alien to wholeheartedly submerge myself in. So I absolutely appreciate the unassuming, relaxed approach towards a sea tale that Harkham takes in Poor Sailor.

Harkham is also the editor of Kramer’s Ergot, a collection of comics that comes out every year or two. He also has a hand in running the amazing store Family on Fairfax Ave.

+ A quite thorough review of Poor Sailor.