Set to Sea: moving and beautiful graphic novel about a poet who becomes an involuntary sailor

Drew Weing's slender, hand-sized debut graphic novel Set to Sea is a crosshatched masterpiece. It's the story of a nameless gentle giant who dreams of being a poet, but mostly he's a bum in a seaside town. Discouraged and penniless, he thinks nothing could get worse -- until he gets shanghaiied for a cross-ocean voyage to the port of Hong Kong.

Ship life is an awful drudge, and the big lug throws his poems into the sea, losing all hope. He has nothing to live for -- until the ship is beset by pirates. The peaceful, morose giant doesn't want to fight, but after he is wounded, he flies into a rage and single-handedly beats off the pirates. He is made third mate for his bravery, and gradually, he find camaraderie and identity among the sailors.

As his love for life is rekindled, so is his dream of writing poetry. Through an artful montage, we see him grow older and wiser, see him return to his poetry, but he is more experienced now -- and it shows in his poems.

Weing draws in an elaborate, crosshatched style that's half Popeye, half Maakies, and it meshes brilliantly with the subject matter and the storytelling. Set to Sea is so lovely in places that I found myself exclaiming aloud -- it's got a naive-but-self-conscious grace that is impossible to describe and that few have ever mastered. This one is highly recommended.

Set to Sea

• [Anonymous]

  way to go drew
  -phillipe

• [Walter]

  Without having read “Set to Sea”: It reminds me an awful lot of “Isaac the Pirate”. In the latter book, a young painter sets out to sea and comes across a band of pirates. It’s really lovely, and worth reading. Check it out at the artist Christophe Blain’s homepage: http://www.nbmpub.com/comicslit/blain/blainhome.html

  • [Anonymous]

    walter, that was exactly what i had in mind ; i was reading “isaak, the pirat” a few months ago and can´t wait for the next issue.
    one of the best graphik novels i ever read…

• [Nword]

  The drawing style reminds me a bit of Pogo, too, I always liked cross hatching and stubby stuff.

• [Anonymous]

  “The peaceful, morose giant doesn’t want to fight …”

  That’s unusual. I would never have expected to find peaceful and morose qualities in the same character.

• [biggswede]

  “…he flies into a rage and single-handedly beats off the pirates.”

  Sorry, but the 14-year old in my head is chuckling heartily at that one.

• [thecheat]

  He could work twice as efficiently if he was double-fisting them.

• [Anonymous]

  the best graphic novel i have read all year.
  truly exceptional.

• [Anonymous]

  reminds me of the narrativeof arthur gordon pym of nantucket, which is available from project gutenberg.

  and of course – it’s totally different.

  .~.

• [Anonymous]

  I followed this as a online comic for a long time, so glad to see the artist is now published.

• [Anonymous]

  If you like manga and crosshatching, check out Megatokyo. Fred’s art is really something.

  http://www.megatokyo.com

• [nda]

  A couple of months ago I had the pleasure to interview the author, Drew Weing:
  http://www.nicoladagostino.net/interview-with-set-to-seas-drew-weing.html

  nda

• [marksgelter]

  “. . . single-handedly beats off the pirates.”

  “. . . we see him grow older and wiser, see him return to his poetry, but he is wiser and more experienced now . . .”

  Cory, were you TIRED when you wrote this?