Broken Frontier

1728 Jamaica was a time and place for piracy and corruption.  For one orphan girl it is also where adventure begins.

Writer Jeremy Bastian has created a comic that is immersed in the past.  Everything here from art to lettering to plot is designed to evoke the style and mood of the past and transport the reader wholesale into a world long gone… as well as a world that never really existed in the first place.

Apollonia is the lonely daughter of the British Governor of a small port on the island of Jamaica.  A chance meeting with an orphaned girl who goes only by the name Cursed Pirate Girl gives Apollonia an outlet for her imagination.  When that imagination gets her in trouble, the impact ripples down to the Cursed Pirate Girl as well; setting off a chain of action that reveals there may be more going on here than meets the eye.

The first thing that hits you from this comic is how much it feels like an illustrated children’s book – although one of those children’s books that isn’t just for kids.  In his heroine of the Cursed Pirate Girl Bastian has created a character that has a dash of Alice in Wonderland and strong doses of both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  The character is charming and capable but also good natured and she becomes instantly sympathetic.  One of the interesting things Bastian does here as well is take the story on a twisty journey.  The setting is so utterly grounded in history that when meeting Cursed Pirate Girl and hearing her tall tales we automatically take them to be only that – the tales spun by a girl who has no family and no real home – tales she tells herself for entertainment and to reassure herself that she really does belong somewhere.  With an eerie and spooky suddenness, though, Bastian reveals that there may be more to the girl’s stories than we might think and dismissing them out of hand is a bad idea.  Now we are left to wonder how much may be the girl’s imagination and how much magic there may actually be in this world after all.  It is a fun and different way of leaving the readers off balance and begging to know more.

When it comes to the art, admittedly there will be those who will have problems with it.  Bastian’s style is taken from 18th and early 19th century political cartoonists as well as the work of John Tenniel (who was the original illustrator for Alice in Wonderland and was himself a political cartoonist).  This means that many figures have heads which are entirely too big for their tiny, spindly bodies.  This was done in the time period to satirize public figures and, to a large extent Bastian continues that spirit – using the caricatures to point out the fact that he is using caricatures of stock figures from pirate lore – such as the stuck-up British Governor only concerned with his own political future.  The line work for the woodblock-like printing process comes though exceptionally fine and Olympian Publishing should be commended as Bastian’s hyper-detailed images are translated crisp and clean on the page.  Bastian rounds out the period feel for the comic by even lettering the dialogue in an 18th century style.  It may take some getting used to but it is a bold decision and one that contributes beautifully to the overall package.

Cursed Pirate Girl is a fascinating comic both for its deliberate echoing of the past and for its charming characters and fascinating plot.  While some may gulp at the $4.95 price tag, they should know that the comic is much longer than a standard modern comic book and it has been printed on lovely, heavy paper.  Even the cover has a nice cardstock feel.  If nothing else, this comic is worth picking up for the art alone – lush, detailed, beautiful line work and the incorporation of historical signs and symbols.  Bastian has truly brought the age of the pirates back to life in a merry and magical way.