Graphic Classics Volume 13: Rafael Sabatini

Graphic Classics #13

by Rafael Sabatini, Antonella Caputo, Rod Lott

Graphic Classics: Rafael Sabatini features the origin of Sabatini's famed gentleman pirate "Captain Blood," adapted by Rod Lott and Carlo Vergara. Also, a great selection of mysteries and adventure tales illustrated by Stanley W. Shaw, Rich Tommaso, Roger Langridge, Jackie Smith, Milton Knight, Gerry Alanguilan and Hunt Emerson. With a comics bio of Sabatini by Mort Castle and cover depiction of Captain Blood by Joel F. Naprstek.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2006

About the author

Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950) was an Italian/British writer of novels of romance and adventure. At a young age, Rafael was exposed to many languages. By the time he was seventeen, he was the master of five languages. He quickly added a sixth language - English - to his linguistic collection. After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. Sabatini was a prolific writer; he produced a new book approximately every year. He consciously chose to write in his adopted language, because, he said, "all the best stories are written in English. " In all, he produced thirty one novels, eight short story collections, six nonfiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and a play. He is best known for his world-wide bestsellers: The Sea Hawk (1915), Scaramouche (1921), Captain Blood (1922) and Bellarion the Fortunate (1926). Other famous works by Sabatini are The Lion's Skin (1911), The Strolling Saint (1913) and The Snare (1917).

Reviews

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Sabatini before I started reading this series and noted his name on the list of titles. Since then I've read one story in another collection in this series but do not think I've come across him anywhere before. Since I didn't know the author I started by reading the brief bio always included at the end of these books. That he was most well-known for his sea-faring, buccaneering stories interested me as did that he was a writer of the 20s and 30s, as I like literature from that time period. This was a very entertaining book for me and a great introduction to a new-to-me author. I now realise that I've seen the old Erroll Flynn type movie remakes of his novels but the first story here, an adaptation of the swashbuckler Captain Blood was my least favourite. What follows is then a varied collection of short stories which would be classified as of the macabre, ghost stories, mysteries, perhaps horror. I enjoyed all of them and now would most certainly read any shorts I came across by this somewhat elusive author. There is also included a short graphic biography of Sabatini's life as well, which I enjoyed. Another book in this series did that also and I was impressed when it was done then. This graphic-bio. introduction to the author would make a great regular feature for the author-themed titles in this series. The art is of the usual quality that one expects from the earlier books in this series. Black and white with varying degrees of styles that all appealed to me in one way or another. A fine book in the collection and a great way to sample a new author.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of comics adaptations from Sabatini's stories. There is one brief biography of Sabatini in comics. I like this series, and plan to read more of these anthologies. Who knows, I think this has interested me in Sabatini.
Recommended, for all ages.