MULYSSES

A free-wheeling nautical adventure with oblique references to classic legend and literature.

Applying thin colors only to the larger panels of his sketchily drawn outline art, Torseter tracks the misadventures of a hapless narrator, an animal (judging from the title, likely a mule, though not readily identifiable as such) who, in the wake of suddenly losing apartment, belongings, and job, is hired as first mate by a collector, a human with an elephant’s nose, searching the seas for the “Biggest Eye in the World.” (“Do you have any previous experience as an explorer?” “I’ve been to Sweden.”) As soon as the going gets tough, the collector flies home via helicopter, leaving Mulysses to survive a whirlpool created by a one-eyed whale and to discover a stowaway who steals all the lemons onboard for her gin and tonics but later saves him from a giant. Most of the tale is told wordlessly, with occasional terse quips or comments for text (translated from Norwegian). Savvy readers (or those sharing the book with an adult) may pick up on references to Greek mythology, such as the cyclops Odysseus encountered. It’s a visually appealing but cryptic tale; those easily amused by surreal details and incidents may be—mildly—engaged. Human characters have skin the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

More oddity than Odyssey.