Comic book series : Set to sea

Recipient of the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize Honor Award (see video of the juror discussion and Drew Weing's acceptance talk)

An ALA 2011 Top 10 Great Graphic Novel for Teens

One of Booklist's Top 10 Youth Graphic Novels for 2010

Ranked #5 on New York Magazine's Top Ten Comics of 2010

Named one of "The Most Memorable Comics & Graphic Novels of 2010" by NPR's Glen Weldon

Named to other "Best of 2010" lists including Comic Book Resources, Robot 6, The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log, Rob Clough's Top 50 Books of 2010 at High-Low, Four Colours and the Truth, and Robot 6's creators' survey

Selected by Robot 6 as one of The 50 Best Covers of 2010

The central character is a big lug and an aspiring poet who runs up tabs at the local bars by day and haunts the docks by night, writing paeans to the seafaring life. When he gets shanghaied aboard a clipper bound for Hong Kong, he finds the sailor’s life a bit rougher than his romantic nautical fantasies. He helps rebuff a pirate assault, survives a gunshot to the eye, and learns to live — and love — a Conradian life on the sea, all the while writing poetry about pirates, bad food, unceremonial funerals, foreign ports, and unexpected epiphanies. By the end of his life, he’s found satisfaction in living a life of adventure and finding a receptive and appreciative readership. What more could one ask for?

This is Drew Weing’s debut graphic novel, after honing his craft with numerous, lovingly produced self-published comic stories. Drawn in an elaborate crosshatched style that falls somewhere between Gustave Doré engravings and E. C. Segar’s Popeye, Set to Sea is part rollicking adventure, part maritime ballad told in visual rhyme. Every page is a single panel, every panel is a stunning illustration, every illustration a part of a larger whole that tells a story in the deft language of cartooning.