Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic: A Graphic Novel

This action-packed if didactic graphic novel recasts Rediker’s 2004 history of piracy’s early 18th-century “Golden Age” as a fable of political liberation. Rediker declares in his introduction that the true story of piracy is “more profound than the Hollywood myth,” and the pages that follow strive to live up to that high standard. Lester (Prophet Against Slavery) compresses the original narrative into a concise, sharp tale of a multiethnic crew of disgruntled sailors who mutiny against miserable conditions and transform their ship into a kind of floating socialist republic with elected officers and equal shares of plunder. The script can seem outlandish at times, but centering the action on real people—pirate captain John Gwin, who’d formerly been enslaved; cross-dressing ex-soldier Mary Reed; and their nemesis, the dread pirate hunter Captain William Snelgrave—keeps things grounded. The drawing style is loose, almost slapdash, and is lurid in violent scenes. The escapades of the pirates’ ship, The Night Rambler, are brief but dramatic, particularly a daring raid on a slave traders’ fort, ending in tragedy, as is typical enough of quasi-utopian experiments. While the aims of this volume are laudatory, its frequently declamatory dialogue undermines much of the potential impact. It’s wild, often inspiring material, if a bit shallow in its attempts at mythmaking. (Feb.)