Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page by Matt Kish is as fat and heavy as a phonebook (when phonebooks used to exist). Its heft makes it hard to read but once I found a way to hold it comfortably the reading was always interesting.
I thought because it was all pictures I’d just breeze right through it but it took a good many hours over several days. Each picture is accompanied by the portion of the text that inspired it. The art is sometimes simple and sometimes complicated, sometimes abstract and sometimes representative.
Almost all of the pictures were done on “found” paper, paper that oftentimes came from a technical manual but sometimes from books on the ocean or from Moby Dick itself. What’s already printed on the paper shows through the picture and also in the areas the drawing doesn’t cover. It tends to add an otherworldly visual element to the already otherworldly story.
The book is the author/artist’s personal interpretation of Moby Dick and sometimes I didn’t quite “get” the picture, but this in no way hampered my overall appreciation of the work. When someone loves a novel so much that he feels compelled to draw a picture for every page, then you’ve found someone with a real passion and that passion comes through.
I’ve read Melville’s Moby Dick twice, once in high school and once just for fun a number of years ago. It’s a great book, though I admit to rooting for the white whale because the whole whaling thing is so horrifying to me. That meant I blocked out just how gruesome and bloody the book is but was visually reminded of the violence once the first whale came into sight in Kish’s book. There are some things I just don’t need to see even if they are rather stylized and sometimes abstract. But I looked at every picture in spite of the dead whale gore.
Moby-Dick in Pictures was first a blog and you can still see the original posts along with other things he is doing at Kish’s blog Spudd 64. If you are a Moby Dick fan or appreciate graphic art, then do give Moby-Dick in Pictures a go.
And if you are still curious, check out this book trailer from Tin House, the book’s publisher:
It’s amazing how this book is so popular still today… graphic novel, and even a musical. The book trailer is fascinating. I’ll watch for it definitely in our local library.
I WANT THIS BOOK!! Thanks for the inspiration Stefanie. Another book for my list…. I checked out Amazon & a there was a hardback copy of it for $999.99 REALLY! I will definitely check to see if my local library has it.
I admit I have never read Moby Dick, and ahem, probably won’t be starting any time soon. I’m sure it’s wonderful, really! Just there are other books in the queue. But the only graphic novel I own is a version of Proust’s Swann’s Way that the students gave me once, and it was fascinating to see a book I knew so well transformed in that way. It gave me a whole new angle.
Arti, there’s a Moby Dick musical? I hadn’t heard about that! There is something about Ahab singing that strikes me as humorous though. It’s a good book trailer. I hope your library has it!
Helen, I didn’t know you were a Moby Dick fan! That’s way too much to pay for the book. I’m sure there are cheaper copies and if not, the library is always good
Litlove, *gasp* I don’t know if I can allow you to comment on this blog ever again! Just kidding!
There are tons of books I haven’t read yet either. One must pick and choose unfortunately. Since the book is such a personal artisit representation it is fascinating to “see” it through someone else’s eyes because of course it very often doesn’t match what I saw when I read Melville.
Hello Stefanie (and everyone else), thank you for the kind words. Even though the illustrations ended up in a book, this really did begin as nothing more than an intensely personal exploration of the novel, for myself alone. I posted them online, on the blog, simply so my friends and family out of state could see them. I never ever would have imagined that a book was in my future, or even possible, so that whole part of it has been surreal. It’s even strange to see my name or this project of mine mentioned again and again on blogs like this, so many months after I finished the last piece. Strange, yes, but a good strange, and people have in general been extremely kind to me.
As for that $999.99 hardback, well, that’s just crazy. I am almost certain that my publisher Tin House books has hardcovers available at around cover price on their web site.
Stefanie, I loved seeing the trailer. How delightful! and I will request my library to buy this book (I can almost guarantee they don’t have it in our small island library. And if it really is $999 they never will! I think that’s their budget for the year.) And to Matt Kish, your work is lovely. I’ll pass along the suggestion that the library contact Tin House books directly. Congratulations.
Tin House has such awesome books. Even though I’ve never seriously considered reading MD, I agree, someone else’s passion for a particular book can go a looooong way; this might turn out to be just the nudge that I need.
Wow, this looks really amazing. I may have to search it out. And maybe I should put Moby Dick… on my new Kindle!! I think I read portions of it many many years ago but it could be time to read it again.
Wow, is that ever neat. I have such a real nice edition of an illustrated Moby on my shelves here — I picked it up dirt-cheap at a used book sale and have always wondered when I will ever get to it for the first time!
But I’m like you — I actually loathe the idea of whaling, in general.
I looked at the book just a couple of nights ago, such a coincidence, and had a hankering to move it forward on my “To Read” agenda. Perhaps your blog about it here is a….. sign!
I just bought a copy of the paperback edition for my nephew-in-law’s birthday. He’s a stay at home dad but a former artist. I keep encouraging him to stay with the art and I’m hoping this book will be an inspiration.
Some of these web booksellers’ prices are ridiculous. I wanted a copy of a book of limited local interest for my niece. The book is an out of print paperback with an original price of about $20.00, but the cheapest one I could find on the Internet was $ 145.00! I called the seller and asked why so expensive and he said he just priced it a little lower than others listed for sale. I just have to scratch my head and wonder. Do they really want to sell these books?
Hmmm … maybe if I tried this it would finally get me over my bias against Moby Dick. I doubt it, though.
Matt, hello and thanks for you wonderful comment! I think it is really great that what began as a personal exploration turned into something so much more.
Grad, isn’t the trailer great? I hope your library gets a copy and I hope you enjoy the book!
BuriedinPrint, Tin House is a wonderful independent publisher, I agree. Moby Dick is a fascinating book but even if you haven’t read it you will still get much enjoyment from Kish’s book. And who knows, you may then be inspired to read Melville
Daphne, oh, with your art background I think you would like Moby Dick in Pictures quite a lot!
Cipriano, yes, I think it is a sign and the book gods are trying to tell you something. Ignore them at your own risk!
Joan, oh I hope your nephew-in-law finds the book inspiring for his own art. And maybe he will lend it to you too
I don’t know what some booksellers are thinking when they price books so ridiculously high especially when they can be got new so easily.
Emily, biased against Moby Dick? The book has some fantastic characters in it. Well worth the read and all the gross whale slaughtering parts cane pretty much be skipped over. Should you ever feel so inclined.
That’s really cool–I wonder if my library has it and will check it out. I’ve never read Moby Dick and not sure if I ever will (though, never say never right). This might be fun in lieu of it–I like the visuals and reinterpretation of it, though!
Or maybe reading this, you will be inspired to read Melville