Nappaland's BookBlog Review

EL CAZADOR

by Chuck Dixon and Steve Epting

(Hyperion)

Reader Appeal: Teens to Adults

Genre: Graphic Novel / Pirate Adventure

Avast, ye swabs! Hoist the mizzen sail and haul for port! It be a wild pirate adventure awash with rum, seawater, and blood. It be El Cazador, the six-issue, never-completed saga of one Captain Sin (a rare female lead) and her hunt for vengeance, all bound together in one fine (if disappointingly incomplete) book.

Yes, it’s true. El Cazador never got beyond its sixth issue, thanks to a bout of bankruptcy. This reprint of all six in one volume comes thanks to Disney, with its renewed interest in pirates (thank you, Pirates of the Caribbean, whose second and third chapters are easily outdone by this little book, unfinished as it is).

The story centers around Donessa Cinzia, a young Spanish woman whose brother is killed and whose mother and younger brother are taken captive by Blackjack Tom, a fierce pirate lord. Quite a spunky young lady, Cinzia (Captain Sin), manages to pull together her own pirate crew and sets out to rescue her family and exact her vengeance. Along the way she puts down mutinies, captures ships, fends off attackers, and encounters the privateer captain Redhand Harry, first as a foe, then as an ally. Where it’s all going, we can easily guess, but we’re left with just the first part completed, so guesses are al we have.

Despite the abbreviated length, this is a pretty good story. Reading it is a lot like watching Pirates of the Caribbean (one) or Cutthroat Island or some other exciting pirate tale. Don’t be fooled by the Disney label on the reprint, though, this isn’t a tame, fun, little ditty about humorous captains and bumbling villains. Pirates were (and are) bad people inhabiting a complex and vicious world. Not that it’s too dark; there’s nothing in here worse than what you might see in one of those movies, the atmosphere just isn’t as lighthearted. I thought a few of the plot twists were a little predictable (they were very clearly set up beforehand), but the plot overall is pretty sound. We don’t get the chance to get too deep into the characters, but they’re interesting and enjoyable, and the world they inhabit is rich and full of life.

The art is something I have to mention, since it’s really quite wonderful. The drawings, the colors, the shading; everything is great. I especially loved the variety in color and atmosphere throughout the book. Each drawing, especially the bigger ones, are like beautiful paintings, and do a great job setting the scene. The full spread on the first two pages of a ship sinking upside-down into the sea was all it took to get my attention.

It’s a good thing the art is so strong right from the beginning, too, since that’s probably the weakest and most confusing part of the story. Once things get going, the plot hums along a little easier. I also sometimes find it hard to embrace pirates as heroes since, as the prologue points out, pirates aren’t fun or nice or heroic. They’re just a bunch of creeps making their living by ruining the lives of ordinary people, and their thoughts and motivations scarcely run deep enough to make them interesting long-term. Fortunately, our primary heroes are a woman who’s hunting pirates and a privateer (a fine distinction), which helps to mollify things a bit. The villains are nice and bad (if simple) at least, so that helps, too.

The morality of the pirate world is tangled enough to make steering a straight and comprehensible course through it a bit difficult. None of the characters are particularly upstanding characters. Even the best of them have some major blind spots. Pirates don’t make for good morality tales. Drama, adventure, and tragedy, maybe, but not morality. Probably there’s some redemption and heroism ahead, but we don’t quite get to that point in the story before it ends. If there is any lesson to be learned here, it’s that one shouldn’t become a pirate (or trust a pirate, or tolerate pirates, or underestimate a pirate…)

All in all, this was a very exciting and really beautifully realized book. I just wish there were more; it’s hard to get involved in something that doesn’t have an end. But what there is is good. If you’re a fan of pirates, this is a great book and you’ll enjoy it. If you enjoy action, atmosphere and great art, you’ll enjoy it. But if you don’t have a taste for the subject matter, you might not want to invest in it.

BOOKBLOG RATING: B+

AFTER THE STORY

If your family members are interested in this book, then encourage discussion about it afterward. You can use these questions to get started:

• What moral difference is there between Cynzia and the pirates? The pirates and the privateers? The privateers, pirates, and the ordinary, slave-holding French and English?

• Compare Cinzia’s story with Abraham’s rescue of Lot in Genesis 14. How are their actions similar or different? What can we learn (or should we?) from these unusual stories?

--MV

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.