Tag: indie novella

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard adapted by Sarah Airriess

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“The Worst Journey in the World” tells the story of the Terra Nova expedition, Robert Falcon Scott’s final attempt to reach the South Pole. The memoir of expedition survivor Apsley Cherry-Garrard, it has been a source of fascination for many, including artist Sarah Airriess, who has now given us a lovingly drawn and carefully researched graphic novel adaptation. I cannot tell you how pleased I was to discover that the final third of book was panel by panel annotations of historical, research and craft notes, particularly since, as Airriess notes in her introduction, there is some abysmally shoddy research that exists regarding the expedition. 

A spread of two pages of panel by panel annotations for the prologue of "The Worst Journey in the World" graphic novel. The Snapchat caption reads, "End notes galore for every panel!"

Volume 1, “Making Our Easting Down” takes us from leaving England to sighting the Antarctic continent on New Years. A journey that includes everything from the serious to the silly to the ‘that sounds made up.’ They contend with towering waves and storms that flood the ship but also spend their time getting menaced by crabs in the pursuit of science, making the most of the insanity that is the line crossing ceremony, and playing a game that involves running around and trying to tear each others clothes off. 

Half a page. Cherry is sent up aloft to furl the sails during rain. He is visibly nervous about it, particularly since it is his first time aloft. The Snapchat caption reads, "Mood, Cherry, mood."
A full page. Edward Nelson is singled out to be the first to go through the line crossing ceremony, where is is stripped to his skivvies, fed a "pill," roughly shaved with a gray concoction that is definitely not shaving cream and then dumped into a pool where men dressed as bears are waiting. The Snapchat caption reads, "Love a good line crossing" followed by a rolling on the floor cry laughing emoji.
Lieutenant Teddy Evans is presiding over the men after dinner. In a polite, genteel manner he says, "Gentlemen..." which immediately followed by the enthusiastic order of "Furl topgallant sails!" which kicks of a game in which all the men run around trying to tear each others clothes off. The Snapchat caption reads, "Real frathouse hours"

In addition to laying the groundwork for the time spent in Antarctica proper, what volume one does a superb job of doing is introducing us to the men of the expedition. Cherry, of course, introduces us to everyone in his book, but adding a visual element changes things. There is quite the cast of characters to keep track of, but between an illustrated glossary of our leads in the front and gorgeously stylized character art, it’s refreshingly easy to orient yourself as to who’s who. I believe I only had to cross reference the list in the front once. 

Two panels. In the first Lieutenant Henry Pennel, Cherry and Dr. Bill Wilson are setting down various specimens and tools. Wilson says, "Right, let's depot this stuff here so it doesn't get —" the second panel is all three men getting completely obliterated by a giant wave. The Snapchat caption reads, "You were saying" followed by three cry laughing emojis.

Airriess also makes it very easy to fall in love with everyone. Having been somewhat familiar with the expedition going in, I’d already begun to develop favorites and was shocked by how easy it was the become invested in people who I previously hadn’t really thought about one way or another. I feel like this also makes apparent just how much love and respect Airriess has for the source material and the men it concerns. 

A series of panels. In the first three, we see the whole of the Terra Nova's deck laid out between the three panels, each one shows the small figure of Cherry as he moves forward in an enthusiastic run across the deck to the front of the ship. Below, we get a small panel of Cherry hands outstretched and backed by wind lines before cutting to a panel of his view of the clear blue ocean ahead of them. The Snapchat caption reads, "Sarah Airriess is really a master of depicting motion in 2D"

All in all, the “Worst Journey” graphic novel makes a fantastic introduction to Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, both as a story in its own right and as a jumping off point to learn more. In addition to the comprehensive annotations, the back matter also includes a “further reading” section. Lastly, it’s a fun read that can be tackled in a variety of different ways. I opted to do my first read by bouncing back and forth between the graphic novel itself and the annotations so I could get all the details as I went, but that’s hardly the only way and may not be what’s right for you. 

Last I heard, the first print run of “Worst Journey” had sold out, but there should be more copies on the way. I ordered mine through the publisher, Indie Novella, but you can also order from The Children’s Bookshop and Ink@84 Books, and if you happen to be in Cambridge, the gift shop of The Polar Museum also has copies. To follow Sarah Airriess on the journey of working on Volume 2, you can join her on Patreon. 

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