Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian Is Frackin' Awesome

Cursed Pirate Girl cover by Jeremy Bastian

My latest read and most amazing discovery? Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian.

This epic graphic novel has been around for the past several years -- how could I not have known about it before?!?! It wasn't until the other weekend when I was noodling around the comic book shop that I learned about Cursed Pirate Girl. It was one of the featured books on display.

I picked it up because it looked amazing. A badass girl with an eye patch on the cover? Fierce. And then, I opened the book...

Holy shit.

The illustrations are frackin' phenomenal.

It's so very rare to see good black and white artwork in graphic novels. Usually, the balance is so far off where there's too much black or too much white that it hurts the eyes. But here, I couldn't get enough of Bastian's work. His inking and line work technique are exceptional -- creating tones of gray even in the night scenes where black is the primary color.

My eyes were overwhelmed in a good way. I wanted to see every single detail -- I still do (I'm going to re-read the book but re-read the artwork this time).

crazy,  magical illustrations & textured, frayed paper

Flipping through the pages, you feel as though you're being transported to another world -- think The NeverEnding Story / Alice in Wonderland as drawn by Sir John Tenniel / Peter Pan. The story itself is so well told. A parrot in a fish? Yeah, I believe that. Why wouldn't I? Of course! Brilliant.

And what I appreciated most? That the Cursed Pirate Girl is so fearless. She can kick your ass if she wanted to. She found out she was missing her eye (I won't reveal how) and what does she do? She just finds something to cover it. No biggie.

If I had a daughter, this would be tops for bedtime story/required reading.

I am so blown away.

Thank you, Jeremy Bastian for the inspiration and magic!