A rowdy group of young ‘mallow-munchers’, ‘bully-crushers’ and ‘bedtime-breakers’ must face a funny foe who wants to end their untamed revelry in Bea Wolf, a new graphic novel by cartoonist and writer Zach Weinersmith, with illustrations by French cartoonist Boulet. It is a 21st century reinvention of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, but unlike most previous translations aimed at adults, this one targets children (although adults should love it too).
Ars readers are probably already familiar with Weinersmith’s work, especially the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, which is still going strong after 20 years, as well as The New York Times bestseller Shortly, a popular science book he co-authored with his wife Kelly Weinersmith. Although known for his science nerd credentials, Weinersmith (like me) earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature. There he started drawing what is now known as ‘Classic SMBC’. The strip soon morphed into the one-panel version we know and love today, as Weinersmith went back to college to study physics.
While studying literature, Weinersmith fell in love with Beowulfas well as the medieval knightly romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. When he became a father, he told some of those timeless stories to his daughter Ada. In 2015, he crowdfunded a children’s retelling of Mr Gawain called Augie and the Green Knight, saying it was because he wanted to give his daughter a book “about little girls who are smart and scientific and who take risks”. Boulet did the illustrations for that book, so it was only natural that Weinersmith asked him to also illustrate Bea Wolf.
The original epic poem Beowulf is set in Scandinavia and tells of the adventures of its titular hero. The mead hall of the Danish King Hrothgar is attacked by a monster named Grendel. Beowulf obligingly kills the beast, incurring the wrath of Grendel’s equally monstrous mother. He also kills her and eventually becomes the king of his people, the Geats. Some 50 years after those adventures, Beowulf slays a dragon, though it is killed in the process. Scholars believe that many of the characters are based on historical figures in sixth century Scandinavia.
Bea Wolf is set in an unnamed suburb, where a group of kids build their own retreat from the adult world, called Treeheart. They consume mountains of candy and soda and engage in all kinds of raucous play – much to the chagrin of their adult neighbor, Grindle. Grindle leads a joyless existence and longs for peace and quiet. He also has a secret weapon: he can instantly turn kids into pimply adolescents and boring, responsible adults. As their ranks dwindle, the remaining kids enlist a warrior champion to help defeat Grindle: the titular Bea Wolf.
Weinersmith successfully captures the spirit of this timeless tale, interweaving generous amounts of alliteration and his version of Old English kennings, a compound figure of speech that replaces a noun with two or more words to create a more figurative than literal meaning. description. For example in the original Beowulf“sea” is described as “sailing way” (seġl-rad), while in Bea Wolf, King Carl, founder of Treeheart, is described as “oak-strong and owl-wise.” There’s even an appendix where Weinersmith gives a kid-friendly introduction to the history of Beowulfits unique language and the various attempts to translate it for modern readers.
Ars spoke to Weinersmith for more information.
