Tags
Men at Sea by Riff Reb’s (Illustrations)
120 pages
5/5 stars
Synopsis: Men of the Sea is an opus of eight spectacularly drawn dark poetic stories adapted by Riff Reb’s. This collection offers: “A Smile of Fortune” from Joseph Conrad; “The Sea Horses” and “The Shamraken Homeward Bound” from William Hope Hodgson; “The Galley Slaves” and “The Far South” from Pierre Mac Orlan; “A Descent into the Maelstrom” from Edgar Allan Poe; “The Three Customs Officers” from Marcel Schwob; “The Shipwreck” from Robert Louis Stevenson.These eight tales themselves interspersed by seven double-page spreads dedicated to extracts from illustrated classics deliver a rich poetic and masterfully crafted work.
Men at Sea is a spectacularly illustrated graphic novel that features eight short stories and samples seven more. They are as dark and turbulent as the sea that binds them all together. The illustrations are heavy and dark, which gives off an ominous tone that takes the forefront of the collection. The short stories are made even more pronounced by the single color tones used to highlight each tale. Excerpts of other stories are done in single cell black and white, which are laid out between each of the short stories.
While I understand this is a precise and condensed collection of stories meant to show the remarkable illustrations, I really would love to see more! The stories and images work well with each other and are executed masterfully. If it were possible to give the works of Poe and all the other authors an even more macabre, Gothic, and haunting tone, Men at Sea has done it and has done it very well.