Young Man & the Sea: 'That Salty Air'

THERE IS A CERTAIN BREED of alternative cartoonists who try too hard. Their work, while skilled and often beautiful to look at, can be bogged down with overly pretentious stories that meander around with no point and aim for those buzzwords and topics that'll draw them the accolades of the intellectual elite.

Tim Sievert's debut graphic novel, "That Salty Air," from Top Shelf Productions, doesn't have those pretensions. It is a stunning work that recalls classic literature, telling a story that has a beginning, middle and end, with a clear dynamic climax and character development. It doesn't meander, it doesn't waste ink and it doesn't aspire to be anything that it's not. And that is so incredibly refreshing that it hurts.

The book is invariably going to be compared to Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea," and this lazy journalist is no different. You can't really read a book like "That Salty Air" and not think about Santiago. The story focuses on Hugh and Maryanne, a couple who make their living fishing. Hugh is shown in his beloved element, among the waves and sea creatures, hauling in his daily catch.

The couple's world is thrown a curveball one day when two letters arrive, one written to each of them. Hugh's letter informs him of his mother's death. And to make matters worse, she drowned, killed by the same sea that was so integral to his life.

The death sends him into a downward spiral, rebelling against his liquid foe. In his frenzy, he fails to comprehend what his wife's letter said — a revelation that helps drive the story to the climax.

Sievert's artwork is cartoony and concise with bold, think blacks and stark whites. Much like Hugh's intensive love, then hatred, for the sea, with nothing in between, the artwork contains no grays. You can see influences from Craig Thompson ("Blankets," Good-Bye Chunky Rice"), though Sievert clearly has a distinct style. His storytelling skills are provide an easy vehicle for the story, but the finest achievements come from Sievert's depiction of the sea. Like a paperback aquarium, the artist captures the fluidity of the waves, the uniqueness of the sea creatures and the utter desolation that the ocean can create. And Sievert draws the most beautiful wave since Hokusai.

"That Salty Air" is a unique work in today's crowded graphic novel field. It has the feel of classic literature and Sievert actually knows how to tell a story. And that's something that so many alt-cartoonists just forget to do.