Broken Frontier

It’s rare, but every once in a while, a comic comes along that’s so extraordinary and utterly beautiful that it renews my faith in the comics medium. Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian is one such comic. No great success has befallen this title, but precisely because of this fact, it’s had to endure the same types of struggles as most indie comics, which, to me, proves the faultiness of the industry’s current system. You see, a comic this good can’t be wrong.

Unless of course we’re also to believe that Mike Mignola (Hellboy), David Petersen (Mouse Guard) and Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy), who’ve all praised Cursed Pirate Girl, don’t know how to pick out a good comic.

As much as small publishers have come to accept struggle as the norm, the problems that Cursed Pirate Girl and Olympian Publishing ran into with Diamond Comics went above and beyond what would be expected. After selling out of their first print run of issue #1, Olympian quickly provided a second and even third printing to fill demand. However, it was with #2 that they ran into a problem.

Olympian Publishing’s Thomas Negovan informed me that Diamond somehow lost most of the copies of the second issue that they sent them, and where unable to fill the retailer’s orders. This is the type of thing that will keep stores from ordering the third issue, no matter whose fault it actually was.

So what are small publishers to do when these not-nearly-unusual enough difficulties arrive? Well, if they want to survive, they find a way to branch out and reach an audience outside the direct market. For many publishers, this means going digital. Jeremy Bastian and Olympian Publishing decided on something even more unique; making a cast recording for Cursed Pirate Girl.

They brought together an impressive list of voice-actors, celebrities, and even comic creators to read the various parts of the comic. Taking the leading role of the “Cursed Pirate Girl” will be Stephanie Leonidas, star of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s film for the Jim Henson Company, MirrorMask and the BBC’s award-winning production of Dracula.

The role of the vicious henchman “Sharky” will be played by UFC legend Randy Couture, and the two characters known as “The Swordfish Brothers” will be played by none other than comic book legends Grant Morrison and Dave McKean.

Filling out the rest of the cast will be voice-actors Jim Rose (of the Jim Rose Circus), Robert Boulter, and Jackson Publick of The Venture Brothers fame.

Once the recording is complete, it will be sent out this fall to libraries, book stores, and other locations willing to host an event where they’ll be able to play the recording while allowing interested children and adults to read along from copies of the comic books or the collected volume which contains the full 3 issues plus an additional prologue and two epilogues.

“This really is the first time something like this has been done,” says Olympian Publishing’s Thomas Negovan.  “Cursed Pirate Girl is a rare book that appeals equally to children and adults, and we’re thrilled that this cast recording will be an opportunity for long-time comic readers to experience a book alongside newer ones, and help to get a new generation excited about comics!”

I asked Jeremy what he thought of the cast recording:

“I love it! I think it's an awesome idea.  I listen to a lot of audio books and I've heard a bunch of old time radio dramas, and I really like the idea of turning CPG into something similar.  The book itself wants to belong to a different era so this fits perfectly with that idea.” 

Of course I also wanted to know what was next for Cursed Pirate Girl. Jeremy told me that he has the second volume already written and that it will contain his version of Davey Jones and “a lot of sword fighting.”

That’s estimated to be coming out around Fall 2012. In the meantime, Jeremy has a 7-page story in full color that will appear in the new Mouse Guard series, Legends of the Guard. He also has an art book coming out next year as well as a smaller illustrated book that takes place within the Cursed Pirate Girl universe.

If you really want to see a cool piece Jeremy just did of Guy Davis’s character, The Marquis, you can see that on the Marquis Blog. I also did a piece for that blog that’s not nearly as good as Jeremy’s.

For more information on the cast recording, please contact Thomas Negovan at media@centuryguild.net.

The entire three-issue story arc of Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl is still available online at http://www.olympianpublishing.com. Or ask your local retailer to contact Haven Distribution at http://www.havendistro.com.

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Tyler Chin-Tanner started his own publishing company, A Wave Blue World, and writes and draws layouts for Adrenaline, its flagship series.
© 2008 Tyler Chin-Tanner.  All rights reserved.

Email: tyler@awaveblueworld.com

www.awaveblueworld.com