Poor Sailor

by Sammy Harkham

With his Kramers Ergot series cartoonist, editor and publisher Sammy Harkham has created a comics anthology that outdoes all others - in size, style and content. Poor Sailor is his own pen and ink on bristol contribution to Kramers Ergot 4, reproduced in mini format. It is based on Guy de Maupassant's short story, At Sea, the message of which is the tragedy that occurs when property protection prevails over human suffering and loss. Poor Sailor uses few words to tell the similar tale of a woodsman who trades a simple but contented life for adventure at sea, and the high price he must pay for it. Harkham's quiet tone is eerie, emotional, honest and moving - all of the things this gifted cartoonist believes a comic should be. Poor Sailor is a must have for comics enthusiasts of all dispositions.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, Fiction, Comics Manga, Art

120 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2005

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is based on the short story at sea by guy de maupassant. i was reminded of this earlier today when i came across maupassant elsewhere (oh, hello maupassant! lovely day, isn't it??), and i am writing this review more or less just to remind myself that i really want to read that story.

if it is anything like this teeny graphic novel, it is going to be devastating.

this little gem of sequential art features single-panel illustrations that tell the story of a man who catches the seafaring bug from his brother, and leaves his idyllic life and loving wife for an adventure on the high seas.

and of what a bad bad idea that was.

idyllic life:



adventure on the high seas:



and that's not even the worst part.
poor sailor.

i love graphic novels where the artwork is enough. there are barely any words at all in this thing, but it is still so damn poignant.



this is a heartbreaker of a book, and a great kick in the pants for me to finally read maupassant.

see, educators? comic books are totally a pathway to works of Literature.


oh!! i found it for free!! online! i have now read it!

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnL...

come to my blog!

[Mir]

According to the table of contents of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004, this story is included there. I'm not sure I believe a 100+ page graphic novel is included in a 400+ anthology... If anybody reads BANR04 let me know, please.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is early Harkham based on a short story, "The Sea," (which is a much better title than Poor Sailor!) by Guy de Maupassant, and is spare and in many places wordless and very very sad. So it's unique for Harkham in that it is based on someone else's traditional literary story and seems in many ways conventional, revealing his considerable comics skills and subtlety. Later, Harkham gets known for his more experimental work, via Kramers Ergot, but this is sweet and spare and sad… exempt those pirates, that have this crazy Nobrow feel, which seems inconsistent with the rest of the tone. But overall it is terrific, in my opinion, and teachers: could be used well in conjunction with the story.

[Ray Nessly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful graphic novel, inspired by the classic story "At Sea" by Guy De Maupassant. A few reviewers said they read this in under a half-hour. While that's technically possible, I suppose, I found these images too beautiful and poignant to rush. It's rather like a silent movie, told almost entirely in images, with only about 150 words. Especially moving were the couple working together, building their house, silently. The couple spooning in bed, then back-to-back, the tensions building from the decision the man has to make. In one panel, it's a POV shot, as in film, the back of the man's head to the left as he scans the horizon which tempts him into deciding to go to sea. In other scenes, the "camera" pulls back for an omniscient view. Adventures at sea follow. He loses a limb. The ship goes down after a fight with pirates. He returns home, a very sad, though foreseen and inevitable, ending. Suitability for reading while walking: perfect. Small, light book, very few words. Glance at the images, two pages at a time, mull over them for a while, repeat.

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Connor made me read this - not for people who share my phobia of missing limbs!

[Alexander Lisovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Небольшой совсем комикс про остепенившегося было моряка, которого брат уговаривает ненадолго бросить жену и недостроенный дом, чтобы отправиться в плавание, как в старые добрые времена. У комикса немного карикатурная стилистика, но бьёт под дых он в полную силу.

По прочтению вспоминается "Реквием" Стивенсона:
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

Вот есть пара переводов на русский. А вот небольшое превью комикса.

[Társis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um HQ linda. Uma aula de narrativa gráfica, com edição no capricho. Uma pérola.

[Anshuman Swain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving graphic piece about a poor man who leaves his home and goes to the sea. Short and crisp.

[Duds Saldanha · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

esse pequeno e bem desenhado livro é exatamente aquilo que propõe a coleção da qual ele faz parte: uma história sobre perdas e sobre como cada pessoa lida com elas de maneiras diferentes.

essa pequena historinha fala sobre como a gente acha que é difícil arriscar quando na verdade o difícil mesmo é lidar com as consequências.

E. QUE. TRAÇO. FOFO.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, elegant, and devastatingly tragic.

This book consists of a series of single-panel pages that, as illustrations, really stand on their own. Together, they form a narrative that's impossible to forget.

A real gem.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous. very very beautiful two color interpretation of a story by maupassant. not for the broken hearted. don't read if you don't feel like crying.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book really moved me. the lack of words and beautiful simplistic pictures adds a sense of universality to the story.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Poor Sailor last December. Although I have not read it since then, the imagery and storyline still burns in my mind. It's both beautiful and heartbreaking.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact graphic story made of single-frame pages.
I don't think it needed pirates, and boys are dumb, but the art is very pretty.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A melancholic tale of a man who is dissatisfied with his life of tending to his land with his wife decides to take his chances earning a fortune as a sailor. Things don't quite go his way though, and the man comes to terms with the ultimately disappointing experience of dreams unlived. While not completely wordless, Poor Sailor is spare in its prose and revels in the simplicity of the artwork. If there's any testament to Sammy Harkham's talent as a cartoonist, look no further than this work. This edition is the one panel per page approach, but it was originally presented in Kramer's Ergot Four as four panels/page and later reprinted in the same format in Everything Together: Collected Stories. Whichever way you can get your hands on Poor Sailor is worth it - it's a seminal work in the medium.

[Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Sailor by Sammy Harkham is a comic that knows exactly what it wants to do, and does it perfectly. It's short, with about 120 pages, each consisting of a single 11×11cm panel. It's simple, in terms of both plot and art style. It's quiet and slow-paced, with little dialogue and even less action, mostly focusing on fairly mundane scenes. It's one of the most powerful, emotionally devastating comics I've read.

[Marcus Gasques · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adaptação em quadrinhos (um por página) do comovente conto "No Mar", de Guy de Maupassant. Obra do norte-americano Sammy Harkham. A tradução está creditada à Balão Editorial, responsável pela publicação.

[Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

an illustration of human stubbornness

[白い世界 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little graphic novel was no longer than a 5 to 10 minute read but here I am several days later still thinking about the weight of the message. There was a lot that happened in such a short amount of time and it leaves you thinking about it. I really enjoyed this.

[Jon Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This graphic novel is at the core a timeless tale of tragedy. A sort of archetypal story of a man tempted by adventure/wanderlust/glory/whathaveyou to leave his simple domestic life behind. Let's just say that he pays a dear price for it. Yet, though it would have been easier to end at the main character's moment of "defeat," Harkham goes further and, in a way, transforms the story at the last minute into something much more. Rather than dwell on this tragedy in a sadsack romantic kind of way, Harkham reminds us that life goes on even in the face of such devastation. The book transcends it's own story in a way by becoming elliptical (which, in my opinion, is perhaps the most realistic and ultimately effective approach to storytelling since life can never truly be self contained no matter how we might try to make it seem so). The book becomes more of a testament to human endurance (but again, not in a glorified romantic kind of way). In fact, I might go so far as to say that this book is in a way a morality tale that shows us that striving for an "ideal" romantic life (especially when one goes about it by putting one's needs/desires before another's) cannot be achieved without being balanced out by an equally dark side. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Like the story itself, the artwork is simple but graceful. It is imbued with subtlety that should not go overlooked. There are large portions with little or no text but it would be a mistake to simply gloss over these pages. It is a quick read even as far as graphic novels go but if taken to heart it will stay etched into your mind much longer than you might expect. In a word; haunting.

[Kathy Ferrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first exposure to anything related to Kramer's Ergot. Now I understand why I've been hearing such good things. A really amazing little story. Minimal text, mostly getting the story across through images. Some of those images are quite graphic. Not gory, but truly horrific and tragic. The story has a definite moral, too. We should be happy with what we have. "A bird in the hand", I guess. This story is very sad, very moving, and well-worth reading. I'll probably buy it.

[Amanda Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been teaching this for years as a part of my unit on The Odyssey, although Harkham cites a Guy de Maupassant story as its inspiration. A colleague once told me it was the saddest thing he had ever read, but our students always seem to love it. Since my original copy was from a Best Non-Required Reading, I love having this stand-alone version. The frames are big, and it is much easier to appreciate the subtle detail that informs these simple, beautiful drawings.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short graphic novel, told almost entirely in wordless single-page illustrations. It tells the poignant story of a man called to the sea, and what befalls him. I liked the art style -- it reminded me a bit of Craig Thompson's work on Goodbye, Chunky Rice, but overall the book was a little too spare for my tastes.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really weird and funny and sad. The lines and drawings are really simple but effective. Harkham uses one page panels to tell his tale, and it really works. There is a sort of deadpan humor here that is reminiscent of Kevin Huizenga in his more simpler stories. I look forward to more works from this up and coming comics artist!

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any frame of this book (even the blank ones) could adorn the wall of a fine gallery. And it's spine should adorn your bookshelf. Mine sits next to Knut Hamsun. A coincidence, of course, but parts of Poor Sailor do remind me of Growth of the Soil.

[Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

sammy harkam's spare, single panel pages remind me of the heyday of Highwater Books and evoke the same sort of sadness that Brian Ralph's "Cave In" did ....seafaring as blue collar work, amputation and long distance relationships

[Whatsupchuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half whimsical, half tragic. Perhaps more like 40:60. This is a good little read, and would be ideal to sneak to someone who is skeptical of comics being worth anything due to it reading more like an illustrated book than comic.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtle. Tragic. Beautiful.
It made me cry.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was it supposed to be a joke?