ISLAND OF MEMORY: Beautiful Twisting Dream
The road is so much longer in the winter...
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ISLAND OF MEMORY, the first volume in the historical graphic novel WILD MAN – The Natural History of Georg Wilhelm Steller, by T Edward Bak, opens with a line that is revisited near the end of the book: “There is nothing dead in nature.” Circles, moons, smoke rings, and the weaving of the past into the present carry this weighty statement through the book, acting as a subtle reminder of infinite patterns of death and rebirth. The story follows the return trip of German Naturalist Georg Steller’s epic journey from St. Petersburg to North America, wherein he and his remaining expedition crew are stranded without ships on Bering Island. Despite the death all around him, Steller has an unending hunger for survival, for discovery, and for life, much like my insatiable desire for the next volume of WILD MAN to come out.
Things Wikipedia told me that I will now pass on to you:
1. Our protagonist, Georg Steller, is the namesake for the Steller’s Jay. Steller also discovered and named 5 other species of mammals and birds on this trip, two of which went extinct, three of which are endangered, and all of which contain Steller in their names. This was not likely egotistical, rather Steller probably learned his this-is-MINE-and-I-name-it-ME techniques from his exploration’s head honcho, Commander Vitus Bering.
2. You may have heard of Bering before, from great natural wonders such as the Bering Sea, Bering Island, or Bering Scurvy, which I’m sure Bering would have named the disease had he survived it.
With that background information and some quick context, which Bak politely includes within the book’s cover fold, you are prepared to read ISLAND OF MEMORY. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this historically grounded story of exploration and discovery reads more like a beautiful, twisting dream, dipping in and out of the present to return to more intimate, comfortable times in Steller’s previous life in St. Petersburg.
Bak pits black and white panels of Steller marooned on a bitter cold island against the warm blues and reds of his final days with wife Brigitta. At times, Steller himself loses track of what is dream and what is the tangible world around him, a heartbreaking realization made more painful by the stark change from soft, bright watercolors to greyscale. Bak juxtaposes the sharp geometric shapes of mountains, humans, and furniture with the curving, free lines of freezing winds, sloping snowy landscapes, and billows of smoke, creating incredible depth and movement.
Between the shadows, the snow, the winds, and the crowd of comrades Steller is constantly surrounded by, the expedition scenes have an amazing cluttered and hectic feel to them, one that builds anxiety and tension throughout the book, eventually dumping you in the quiet serenity of the final pages.
The worst part about volumes is that it takes many to make up the full story. I want the full story of WILD MAN, not told by Wikipedia, but in the dreamlike manner of which Bak tells it, and for that I know I’ll have to wait. Waiting is hard. After reading this first volume, I have many questions, particularly in regards to the last few pages, to which I say, “Damn you, Bak.”
ISLAND OF MEMORY dismounts with a final leap in time, and a memory that, in my opinion, is totally worth waiting for the next volume to explain. Nay, I don’t know that I even want it explained. Rather, I want more of Bak’s beautiful images, symbols, and text to pull from in putting the pieces together myself. Bak has created an incredibly complex depiction of a historical journey that goes beyond being just about a man who misses his wife and into a realm of philosophical discussion; a human’s place in nature.
He has also drawn incredibly cute otters. Like the cutest I’ve ever seen.
Treat yourself and pick up a copy of T Edward Bak’s ISLAND OF MEMORY from Floating World Comics. Then we can all agonizingly wait for Volume II together.
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Read the NAILED interview of the author of ISLAND OF MEMORY, T Edward Bak, here.
All images © 2013 T Edward Bak