Avast, me hearties! Pull up a barrel and I'll spin ye a tale of freebooters, sea-soaked adventure and more blarney than ye can swing a sabre at! Aye, I be talking pirate comics, ye scurvy sea dogs!
There are many, no doubt, who will be surprised to find out that there ever were pirate comics. But "Treasure Island," the novel that is credited with creating the popular notion of the buccaneer, came out in the early 1880s. That was close enough to the arrival of new, 20th century mass media like movies and comic books for the popularity of the pirate to carry over.
In fact, the same year Errol Flynn swashed buckles in "Captain Blood" (1935), DC Comics was serializing "Dewey and the Pirates" in "New Fun Comics." Dewey was joined the next year by reprints of the popular comic strip "Terry and the Pirates" in Dell's aptly named "Popular Comics," and from then on hardly a year went by without the odd privateer rearing his scurvy head somewhere in comics.
Pirates have never been as popular as other genres, of course. Jungle comics, teen humor, romance -- almost every genre has more to brag about than pirates.
But you did see some serious efforts now and then, like EC's gorgeously rendered "Piracy" title (1954-55). The entire series was inspired by Howard Pyle's famous pirate paintings -- as are virtually all pirate projects -- especially the cover of the second issue, which was a Reed Crandall homage to Pyle's famous painting, "Who Shall Be Captain?" But more on that later.
Meanwhile, here's an interesting buccaneer bit: In Alan Moore's legendary "Watchmen," the author reasoned that superheroes wouldn't be the dominant concept in comic books in his world, since the genre was no longer fantasy (there were real-life people dressing up and fighting crime). The genre that replaced superheroes in "Watchmen"? That's right: pirates. Arrr, matey, 'tis a fact!
So you have to give the venerable pirate genre its due, for longevity if nothing else. And that brings me to "Pirates," a new collection of comics assembled by comics archaeologist Craig Yoe (Ho Ho) and Ed Catto. As the cover announces, it's "a treasure of comics to plunder, arrr!"
This book is a gem, all right. "'Tis on the morrow their trial'll be held aboard th' brig ship," says Captain Hawk on the first page, from a story originally in 1947 "Jumbo Comics." "'Twill be my pleasure to testify ag'in th' barnacles!"
I have no idea what that means! Except that, of course, I have no option but to read the story. And all the rest of these rum-besotted tales, too, by some of the most famous artists to work in comics.
Cursed with curiosity, I had no recourse but to parlay -- uhh, I mean, talk to -- Yoe and Catto about their book. And the first question I had was the obvious one: Why pirates?
"I've always loved pirates stories," said Catto, "in prose, movies and especially comics. But it really clicked for me when I moderated the pirates panel at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. I was, quite frankly, astounded at how large (and boisterous) the crowd was. There was an intense interest in real pirates as well as fictional pirates!"
Yoe chimed in as well: "Pirates are discriminated against just because they are all about pillaging and plundering 24/7," he said. "Sure, superheroes stand for truth and justice, and those aren't bad things, but we wanted to give the bad boy pirates of comics their due, too. Besides, pirates have cooler costumes than the wear-your-underpants-outside-your-tights 'super' crowd!"
That was so hard to argue with, I didn't try. Instead, I asked what the pair's criteria was for the stories they selected.
"We tried to provide a broad sampling of pirate stories, and to be sure to showcase our favorite artists," Catto said. "So many top artists have dabbled in the genre, including Frank Frazetta, Will Eisner, Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Carl Burgos -- who you can thrill to in the book. The list goes on and on."
Yoe's turn: "It's little known, but my middle name is 'Entertainment,' so I am constantly reminded every time I fill out a form to make our book collections of vintage comics as fun and engaging as possible. Pirate comics are so inherently entertaining that this was easier than walking a plank!"
Yoe wasn't just whistling "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" about his vintage-comics collections. Yoe, both solo and with collaborators, has through his "Yoe Books" resurrected hundreds of old comics stories, focusing mostly on early 1950s horror comics and "weird" romance stories. (And believe me, he finds some dandies.)
The pirate genre is a new booty for the old campaigner. And it led me to wonder if pirate comics were a thing of the past, or if, hopefully, they were just moribund, ready to rise from Davy Jones' locker and strike without warning on the stands.
"There was always a truism amongst comic publishers 'that pirate comics don't sell'," Catto said. "But then you see this interest bubbling up. 'Shanghai Red' was a great pirate comic last year by Christopher Sebela and Joshua Hixson, and Stephanie Phillips just announced a new pirate comic, with a female pirate as the protagonist, called 'A Man Among Ye.' And since we've announced this book, I've had several folks tell me about their pirate comics in the works!"
Yoe continued: "The pirates genre be moribund?! Ye couldn't hit water if ye fell out of a boat, ye feckless, pitiful codpiece! Enough with yer bilge, ya lily-livered scabby sea bass! Stop wit' yer feckless drivel and just ye tout our tome � available now wherever fine books are sold _ or I'll gut ye bow to stern, and swab the poop deck with your beard, ye toothless scurvy rat! ... YARRR!"
Obviously, it's in my best interest to mention that "Pirates" ($12.99, Clover Press) arrives March 18 in comic shops, and on March 25 in bookstores. And if you need more information, here's a link to the video trailer on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time _ continue=7&v=26N6dhgGc3E&feature=emb _ logo
And I promised a little more on cover homage that was the cover to EC's "Piracy" #2, so here it is: In an inspired act of artistic jiujitsu, "Pirates" will offer a variant cover, one with the EC Comics trade dress, but the original Pyle painting in place of the Crandall homage.
That should be booty enough for anyone. Savvy?
