Bea Wolf by Zach Wienersmith
comic-book, review
5/5 stars
As the name might suggest, Bea Wolf is a comic book retelling of Beowulf, but with and for children. The warriors are rowdy (aka… you know… normal) children who built a tree house next to a fun-killing grouchy neighbour whose touch turns you into a disgusting teen or worse — boring adult.
The book is written by Zach Wienersmith, the author and illustrator behind the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomic — one of my favourite things online.
I got it last year because I loved the premise and wanted to support the author whose work I’ve been freely consuming for over a decade. And then it laid on the shelf, waiting for the right moment.
It wasn’t until several days ago when my three-year-old couldn’t decide which book to read at bedtime that my eyes glanced at Bea Wolf again. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I could read it with the kid until then! But when I mentioned it was about warrior children fighting a big scary monster, it was on.
A week later, we’ve finished it and started a re-read right away. It is fantastic!
Bea Wolf is a poem and while I’ve never read the "original" (i.e. a translation from Old English to something one can actually understand) the rhythm and word choice absolutely hint at a more ancient inspiration, beautifully alliterated:
Just look at this:
Listen to the lives of the long-ago kids, the world-fighters, The parent-unminding kids, the improper, the politeness-proof, The unbowed bully-crushers, The bedtime-breakers, the raspberry-blowers, Fighters of fun-killers, fearing nothing, fated for fame. There was Tanya, treat-taker, terror of Halloween, Her costume-cache vast, sieging kin and neighbor, Draining full candy-bins, fearing not the fate of her teeth. Ten thousand treats she took. That was a fine Tuesday.
Epic. The three-year-old was absolutely hooked and so was I. It is a glorious, action-packed struggle for freedom and survival.
The book ends with the defeat of Grindel (the names are slightly different) and hints at the upcoming encounter with his mother. I really hope there will be a follow-up.
This review was originally posted to Goodreads.
