Jeremy BastianReseñas

Beautiful illustrations. I enjoyed reading this.

This was really fun and creative and completely transported me to a different world. I loved the wild main character, and how beautiful and strange this book is. I will definitely read the next one!

This was cute. Definitely for a younger audience. I think if I had come across it when I was about eight or so I would have loved it. I do really enjoy the artwork though. Bastian did an awesome job there for sure. And I love the binding and cover being a leather-bound book with the art and font etched into it. It's actually what drew me to this one to begin with.

This book is stunningly beautiful. The incredibly detailed and delicate black and white illustrations bring the ancient art of scrimshaw to mind, and the ragged paper edges of the hardbound copy of this book give it the feel of an historical tome.

The admirably brave and independent Cursed Pirate Girl leaves her tiny beachfront cave for the treacherous Omerta Sea on a quest to find the father who was forced to abandon her years ago. Aided by a wise parrot and two foolish water knights, the Cursed Pirate Girl laughs in the face of danger, inspires subversive action against bad and dangerous pirate captains and curries the favor of the elemental winds. But will she find her father?

Very Alice in Wonderland-ish, the artwork is exceptional but overly busy for me

Absolutely gorgeous, to-die-for artwork -- along with a fabulous story and swashbuckling delights? That's a recipe for success, friends. Jeremy Bastian is new favorite for certain.

This is an art book which has such exquisite drawings! It challenges Gustave Dore and the imagination of the author shines throughout. Also published in French.

Not my normal type of art, but it is GORGEOUS. So intricate.

Cursed Pirate Girl is stunning. There is no artist today in comic books who can draw like Jeremy Bastian. When the first issue of this collection came out years ago, it immediately caught my eye. The detailed black & white line drawings are irresistible. The main character and the story line are at once unique and familiar. Cursed Pirate Girl has an aura about it, that of always having been trapped inside our heads, and Bastian has managed to conjure it like Michelangelo freed his sculptures from marble. I would roughly describe it as a more elaborate, weirder Alice in Wonderland on the high seas.



The plot: Cursed Pirate Girl is stranded on an island after having been abandoned by her father, but she does not remember him or know why he left her there. She befriends the daughter of the pompous, aristocratic governor the island and institutes a rebellious streak in the daughter that results in a humiliating interaction (for the governor) with a visiting dignitary. The governor sends an old pirate to kill the Cursed Pirate Girl, but instead, she escapes with her faithful parrot sidekick and heads off in search of her father whom she asserts is one of the greatest pirate captains sailing the Omerta Seas—mystical oceans teeming with bizarre creatures. Apparently, she has some mystical powers herself thanks to being the daughter of a true pirate captain, including the ability to breathe underwater and fearlessness. Adventure ensues.


Thematically, the story is straightforward. There is a sense of Robin Hood. A sense of the underdog as the hero, the rich and powerful as the victimizers. Pirates aren't necessarily good, but they are the counterbalance to the arrogance of the merchants and aristocrats. Pirates are not strictly idealized, although the heroine certainly is. Cursed Pirate Girl encounters sleazy, ugly, vicious pirates and noble ones as well. I also note a comfort with the strange. Strangeness as normal.



Cursed Pirate Girl is just so damn fun, so damn creative, and so damn beautiful that I urge you to pick it up. The hardback collected edition is wonderful to hold. The quality of the paper is impeccable with tactile deckled edges. There's even a few extra snippets of story and a four-page fold-out "Wanted Poster" of the Cursed Pirate Girl. When I met Jeremy at two different comic book conventions, I snapped up some limited edition prints he was offering. He's a laid back and very pleasant person. I suspect he's going to be a sought after fine artist for the rest of his life, but I hope he'll have time to continue this comic.


If you have any interest in graphic storytelling, if you have any interest in illustrative art, if you have any interest in black & white ink drawings, if you have any interest in adventure stories, if you have any interest in young female protagonists of heroic stature, if you have any interest in oddity and the surreal, if you like Alice in Wonderland, if you have any interest in any of these, then I urge you to get this book! You will not be disappointed.

Cursed Pirate Girl is a girl-oriented action adventure graphic novel about a girl who dreamed about becoming a real pirate and meeting with her dad, an Omerta Seas’s Pirate Captain. The book is divided by several individual issues of the Cursed Pirate Girl series. Unfortunately, the graphic novel is quite brief and its sort of disappointing since I do expect collections to consist of a greater number of issues. More. I want. More.

One of the amazing appeal of the graphic novel was the actual graphic and style. When I saw the first couple of pages from the book, I remembered Junji Ito’s chaotic etchings and Mashima Hiro’s humor and his attention to detail. It’s really surprising that you can actually see the intensity in a work. It does help with the comedic in the story which reminded me of Kumakura Yuichi in King of Bandits Jing. I do enjoy staring at each pages more than a couple of minutes like it’s a hidden object game and I get to have some goodies.

The storyline is intriguing too. The stories do consist of several POVs and somehow unreliable narrator. The characterization is unique and quite original to unconventional readers expecting something new. Some scenes reminded me of Miyazaki Hayao’s ethereal dreaminess in his movies while maintain absolute consistencies with the thematic plots.

The graphic novel was targeted for (Everyone) general audience but I do see the appeal of it in younger readers especially girls who love Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean and older readers who appreciate the swashbuckling storylines. Unfortunately, I would say more about the book if I had read the entire series to come up with a decent review but it’s definitely a comic series to look forward too.

Cursed Pirate Girl is an ARC supplied by Archaia via Netgalley. It will be published on 20th November 2012. For those who already enjoyed the individual issues, it a good collector book especially with the freebies at the end of the book which I enjoyed and I do know that original fans of the series would always look forward to.

Cursed Pirate Girl is a girl-oriented action adventure graphic novel about a girl who dreamed about becoming a real pirate and meeting with her dad, an Omerta Seas’s Pirate Captain. The book is divided by several individual issues of the Cursed Pirate Girl series. Unfortunately, the graphic novel is quite brief and its sort of disappointing since I do expect collections to consist of a greater number of issues. More. I want. More.

One of the amazing appeal of the graphic novel was the actual graphic and style. When I saw the first couple of pages from the book, I remembered Junji Ito’s chaotic etchings and Mashima Hiro’s humor and his attention to detail. It’s really surprising that you can actually see the intensity in a work. It does help with the comedic in the story which reminded me of Kumakura Yuichi in King of Bandits Jing. I do enjoy staring at each pages more than a couple of minutes like it’s a hidden object game and I get to have some goodies.

The storyline is intriguing too. The stories do consist of several POVs and somehow unreliable narrator. The characterization is unique and quite original to unconventional readers expecting something new. Some scenes reminded me of Miyazaki Hayao’s ethereal dreaminess in his movies while maintain absolute consistencies with the thematic plots.

The graphic novel was targeted for (Everyone) general audience but I do see the appeal of it in younger readers especially girls who love Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean and older readers who appreciate the swashbuckling storylines. Unfortunately, I would say more about the book if I had read the entire series to come up with a decent review but it’s definitely a comic series to look forward too.

Cursed Pirate Girl is an ARC supplied by Archaia via Netgalley. It will be published on 20th November 2012. For those who already enjoyed the individual issues, it a good collector book especially with the freebies at the end of the book which I enjoyed and I do know that original fans of the series would always look forward to.

A gorgeous hardcover graphic novel telling the story of the Cursed Pirate Girl and her search for her father - one of the five pirate captains that sail the Omerta sea. The only problem is, she doesn't know how to get there, or which pirate is her father.

Beautiful, elaborate, and imaginative black-and-white drawings here, but not much in the way of plot. Even for the first of a series, there is absolutely no resolution. There are several pages throughout and at the back with random illustrations and alternate cover drawings, but I could have done without those in exchange for more story.½

Opening Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl is like falling through the rabbit hole: he’s created a fantastical world of grotesque pirates and menacing sea creatures drawn in beautiful, spidery pen-and-ink. Our guide on this bizarre journey is the delightfully scrappy Cursed Pirate Girl, whose search for her pirate-captain father takes her from Port Elizabeth, Jamaica to the mysterious, dangerous Omerta Seas. It’s a treat for the eyes as much as for the imagination.

*non-staff-review* I loved the art, and the spirit of this book. And I also appreciate that Bastian was able to make a harrowing adventure story kid-friendly without declawing it altogether. But the writing, and the pacing in particular, were difficult to slog through. Most adults will enjoy it for the pictures alone, I'd assume.

This hardcover edition collects the first half of the Cursed Pirate Girl comic, which is the brainchild and artistic expression of Bastian, who draws all of the scenes at actual size and does all of the lettering himself. Anyone who has seen the book will instantly recognize what an insane amount of work it is. Half of the joy here is simply peering at the super-detailed ink drawings and trying to figure out what figures are dancing in that tiny bit of decor at the back (trust me, they are there).

The other part of the work is, of course, the story -- and potential readers should be warned that only half of it is here, since Bastian is still creating issues of the comic. This isn't technically a graphic novel, so you should expect that cliffhanger at the end. Even so, the story of the young girl off to magical seas in search of her pirate-captain father is intriguing, as long as you like your comics with a healthy dose of the surreal and the absurd. Bastian's images and plot points don't always make sense -- his people feature absurdly proportioned heads or monstrous features, his dead don't always stay dead, his animals are sometimes animals and sometimes not, his main character is the most unlikely of bloodthirsty pirates but she is surrounded by even more unlikely friends, enemies, and events -- but both will keep you turning pages.

This is an elaborate comic fantasy that deserves more attention. In addition, the book itself is a thing of beauty, with true deckled edge pages and an embossed cover, which makes one want to hold it and open it again and again. If you aren't familiar with how remarkable independent comics can be, you really should be. Start here.

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. I was drawn to the artwork on the cover of the book and after reading the synopsis was even more intrigued. The illustrations throughout echo times past and are incredibly and amazingly detailed. The story is fun, quirky, and engaging.

The story features Cursed Pirate Girl. She is trying to hunt down her father who is an Omerta Seas Pirate. Along the way she encounters a number of other pirates and makes many great escapes.

This was a pretty darn fantastic read. It is a graphic novel done in very old school style; the artwork is incredibly detailed and absolutely breathtaking. I just cannot emphasis enough how amazing this illustration is. You can look at these pictures forever and constantly pick out new details that you missed at first glance.

Cursed Pirate Girl is a wonderful character, she fears nothing and laughs in the face of many fierce pirates. The story is filled with lots of humor, tons of adventure, and a plucky fearless heroine.

The narration is a bit broken up and scattered. We sometimes hear from different characters that don’t seem to have much impact on the story. Still for me this only added to the fun quirkiness of the story.

This book contains the first three issues of Curse Pirate Girl. At the end of this book there is still much of the story to be resolved. Hopefully the story will be continued in future installments.

There is a lot of action and fighting and sometimes Cursed Pirate Girl finds herself in sticky situations. Even given all of this this is a book that’s appropriate for all ages.

Overall I am so happy I found this graphic novel. The illustration style that this novel is done in is very old school, incredibly detailed, and just absolutely stunning. Cursed Pirate Girl is a witty, fearless, and just awesome heroine. I can see her becoming admired by many young girls and boys alike for her bravery and gumption. Highly recommended to fans of fantasy/adventure graphic novels. Appropriate for all ages, everyone should at least pick this book up just to get a glimpse of the amazing artwork!

Where to begin?

For starters, this graphic novel has some of the most beautiful, intricate artwork in it that I have ever seen! It took me twice as long as normal to read this book because I kept getting lost in the visual details. The main character, the Cursed Pirate Girl, is adorable, yet powerful (reminiscent of Hit Girl from Kick Ass, though in no way a rip off). It’s easy to empathize with her as she quests to find her father. The story is a magical adventure filled with parrots and treasure and all things pirate. It has a whimsical charm to it that almost feels like the entire thing is happening inside the Cursed Pirate Girl’s mind. This book is pretty much everything you would want out of a pirate story and more, and I can’t wait to read the next installment.

This first volume of a series of Mouse Guard stories by alternate creators (besides series originator David Petersen) is good but not great, although it scores some commendable points simply for expanding on the fascinating Mouse Guard universe. While the individual stories are no great shakes, the level of artwork is surprisingly high throughout, making for an enjoyable distraction until David Petersen adds his own new contributions to his excellent saga.½