A book title is often a question and your response is either: in or out. It’s usually a micro-decision that takes you to the book cover. These things happen so fast that we are often not aware of the path we’re on. Title to cover the premise to opening the book. When’s the last time you actually thought about that? Probably not often, you just do it.
Chances are you’re reading this because the title of the book caught your eye: BEAR PIRATE VIKING QUEEN. It’s a cool title and the pages that follow are somehow even cooler. That’s the mark of a great book. One that has a title that interests you and then expands upon it with the premise and the first issue expands even further and hopefully hooks you to keep reading.
BEAR PIRATE VIKING QUEEN #1 is simple yet contains multitudes, like its title suggests. Written by Sean Lewis and illustrated by Jonathan Marks Barravecchia, BPVQ #1 is an epic told in gorgeous watercolor paintings that demands to be seen.
I’m a big fan of Lewis as you may or may not know and while this book is equally him and Barravecchia, I’m choosing to focus on the latter because it’s comics! Art is king, even though often we forget.
This is Barravecchia’s Image Comics debut and the work he’s doing deserves to be poured over and discussed for years to come. But the ugly truth is that it’ll probably go overlooked like Mike Huddleston’s work in DECORUM (also from Image Comics, penned by Jonathan Hickman). I’m telling you right now that the art alone is worth the price of admission. You have to see this. From the opening salvo of the deep sea double page spread featuring a shark and so many fish to the enchanting journey of Captain Reddish. It’s Art.
BPVQ is haunting, not in a horror sense, but one that will linger. I feel like I went somewhere and the experience lives on in the corners of my mind. This is what art can do. Real art. This is handcrafted by two men who are bleeding on every page and I can feel it. And I just really want people to show up for this book because art like this should be enjoyed and CELEBRATED.
In an industry built on the backs of art and artists, I don’t think we celebrate art enough.
BEAR PIRATE VIKING QUEEN – 72 pages $4.99
May 1st 2024
PREORDER NOW – Final Order Cutoff: April 8th
