January 1, 2003
Comic book aficionados will appreciate master Will Eisner's latest adaptation, Moby Dick. It may not begin, "Call me Ishmael," but the story otherwise remains true to Herman Melville's classic, with Queequeg, Ahab and the great white whale all making their entrances on cue. The cartoon panels that chronicle the final showdown between the captain and the giant fish are particularly spectacular.

April 1, 2017

A wandering narrator in search of adventure finds friendship in the form of a heavily tattooed South Sea chieftain and more than he bargained for as a crewman aboard the whaling ship Pequod. The sinister captain Ahab is tormented by an all-consuming thirst for revenge against the whale that ate his leg. Herman Melville's 1851 great American novel is now a newly translated graphic novel, rendered in stark black and white by illustrator/author Chaboute (Alone). Winnowing Melville's text down to its essential passages, focusing on the trials faced by the crew of the Pequod as they chase the great white whale across the treacherous sea, Chaboute leaves much of the original work intact in the form of captions and spoken dialog. This gives readers a sense of the novel even as some of Melville's diversions and discourses on ocean life and natural history are not included. VERDICT Chaboute's skillful adaptation and exquisite artwork perfectly capture the air of doom and gloom that pervades the tale of these doomed sailors and their monomaniacal captain. For fans of Moby-Dick and newcomers alike.--TB

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018

With three words, "Call me Ishmael," Melville boldly opens his epic novel in the first person. This suits French graphic novelist Chaboute just fine: his Ishmael becomes both sympathizer and adversary to the obsessed Captain Ahab-his foil as well as his conscience. Second billing goes to tattooed harpoonist Queequeg, who agrees to join Ahab's vengeful quest to kill the white whale, despite knowing the risks to the crew. Chaboute balances their extreme behavior by portraying the day-to-day work of carpenters and blacksmiths aboard the ship Pequod. If he reinvents Ishmael a bit, depicting him as a young man craving adventure rather than as a poor farmer who signs away three years of his life-perhaps to die-to seek his fortune on the high seas, it's only to draw readers in. Each of the graphic novel's 30 chapters begins with its own title page, featuring an apt Melville passage. Only the sea captures Chaboute's imagination more than Moby-Dick itself in its overwhelming vastness and as a metaphor for the great unknown. Black-and-white frames rock and sway like the ocean deep, splashing their inky waves the way water might wet the lens of a camera. It's up close and personal-as Melville intended. VERDICT A beautiful rendition of the classic, available for the first time in English since it was first published in France in 2014. An inspiring addition to graphic novel collections.-Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 14, 2002
The great white resurfaces in this gripping, comic book–style retelling. Comic-strip veterans Schwartz and Giordano condense Melville's leviathan tale into an action-packed, 48-page adventure. Despite forgoing Melville's "Call me Ishmael" first-person narrative and sensory details, this retelling closely adheres to the original plot, including some pivotal scenes absent from Allan Drummond's spare but entertaining 1997 Moby Dick. The dense story clips along, thanks to concise but appealingly hammy storytelling and melodramatic drawings, plus multiple panels that quicken the pace. When Ishmael meets Queequeg, for instance, the author squeezes out every drop of suspense: "There in the dimly lit room looms the forbidding image of Queequeg... harpoon at the ready, poised to sink its sharp head into his shaking body!!" Giordano ratchets up the tension with a series of close-ups of Ishmael's terrified face as he awakens to the "savage" in his rented room. The brooding, dark-toned panels exude imminent danger—an ideal milieu for Captain Ahab's doomed voyage. The book also provides a brief biography of Melville, as well as facts about whaling and New Bedford, Mass., the city that commissioned this retelling in celebration of the 150th anniversary (in 2001) of Moby Dick's original publication. Ages 8-up.

September 29, 1997
Note to children: this is not Melville's Moby Dick. Drummond (The Willow Pattern Story) has transformed the tome of American Lit into a quick-reading, kid-friendly whale of a tale. His inviting approach (which emanates from his obvious love for the story) involves ruthless editing and nonthreatening visuals. He uses pen and pale washes of color (punctuated by just enough red whale gore to suggest the seriousness of the sport) in a cartoonish style and conversation bubbles with handwritten contents to cleverly convey the episodic quality of the text. Ishmael narrates the story here, too, and chapter headings for each spread aid the story's clarity and momentum. Amazingly, the plot is complete in these 32 pages and includes many of the most fascinating details of the mechanics of whaling. Although some children may have trouble with some of the more adult themes (the fact that this is a revenge mission for Ahab, Queequeg builds himself a coffin and only Ishmael survives), whale and sea lovers will learn a great deal (especially in the concluding author's note). By cagily approaching this classic with a light, non-reverential touch, Drummond may predispose a new generation of readers toward experiencing the original work (that they might otherwise only encounter only in Cliffs Notes). Ages 5-up.