London, Jack. The Sea Wolf(Michel Dufranne, Jean-Christophe Camus, Damir Zitko )
1 April 2014, Papercutz
Copy received from publisher
When the intellectual book reviewer Humphrey gets washed overboard, he ends up on the seal hunting vessel, Ghost, captained by Wolf Larsen. Life is extremely brutal, and Larsen refuses to let Humphrey off the boat, so he does the best he can to survive. After Humphrey's life is even more imperiled after a mutiny gone wrong, and when female reporter Maude Brewster also ends up on the boat, Humphrey knows that the two of them must escape in order to have any chance of survival. Once they do, however, they face even more harrowing odds than they did on the boat.
Strengths: This graphic novel version follows Jack London's novel very closely. The mood of the original is also well captured, with grimly dark, well done illustrations. Wolf Larsen is portrayed as someone to steer clear of! This might be a good way to get students interested in classic novels; Papercutz has a whole series of the Classics Illustrated books.
Weaknesses: This is almost too gruesome a tale for middle school. Lots of murder and mayhem.
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