Review: _Bea Wolf_

[jducoeur]

Remember that "Best Graphic Novels of 2023" that put me on to Shubeik Lubeik? It also introduced me to Bea Wolf. (I'm now really wishing I'd kept the URL, because I probably should look up more books from it.)

tl;dr -- it's... let's say a full-length filk of Beowulf, about kids, candy, and the monster forcing them to grow up. It is glorious.

I mean, let's put it this way: when the pull quotes on the cover of a kids' book are from Lemony Snicket and Neil Gaiman, you know you've done something right. Let's talk about it.

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If this was just a parody of Beowulf, it might be cute but nothing more. But this is way, way more ambitious.

This tells the story of Treeheart, mighty treehouse guided by a line of kid-kings, doling delicious treats to their followers in party, during the dark times when this high castle is besieged by Grindle, a grown-up whose touch confers age, turning kids into teenagers or (shudder) accountants. All seems lost until the arrival of the sea-warrior Bea Wolf and her band of fierce followers.

To give a sense of the book, here's a completely random page from Fitt 3, the moment when Mister Grindle slams through the door:

He shot his black shoe, shattering the door!
Sorrow came in tube socks, swan-white, knee-high!

Kids raised battle-gear, red balloons, ripe with water,
readying war shields, swamp-wet spitballs, acorns winter-hard.

It's all that great. Not only is it following the plot of Beowulf, beat by beat, it sounds like Beowulf. It's impossible to read the book without at least declaiming it softly under your breath, and it feels so good to do so. (I may have to bring it to Storytellers' Guild practice for a reading or two -- it's not period, but it feels period in a way that few SCA compositions achieve.)

Moreover, it's not just text. It's a big hardcover, not quite a comic book per se, but with each page richly illustrated by legendary French cartoonist Boulet, and the pictures capture the darkness, drama, and sheer wonderful silliness of the story, all at once.

(It's abridged, just going through the defeat of Grindle -- it alludes to Mother Grindle, but sensibly stops before going there.)

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Really, it's not worth belaboring the point beyond saying: get a copy. If you are an SCA parent of small children, you must get a copy -- if I was the sort to have had kids, this is the book that I would want to be reading to and with them. It's fun, dramatic, and ever-so-relatable. (And even includes an afterword by the author, written largely for the kids, explaining what Beowulf is and the ways in which this text is and isn't faithful to the style of the original.)

Highest recommendation: while it's nowhere near as serious and real-world-related as the stuff I tend to favor, it's absolutely one of the best books I've read in the past few years, and I think it's going to shove a slightly-lesser work or two off of The Shelf.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Could it be https://www.powells.com/post/best-books/best-books-of-2023-graphic-novels ?

[jducoeur]

It wasn't -- but now that you bring this list my attention, I'll have to give it a serious look. (Given that it starts with two truly great books, which I in fact did order from Powell's.) Thanks!

[hudebnik]

I think shalmestere brought home a pre-release ARC of this from a trade show, and we both loved it. As you say, it really needs to be declaimed aloud.

[squirrelitude]

It really is great.

[cvirtue]

The pages available at the Bea Wolf link are intriguing...