Jim Curious: A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea by Matthias Picard (review)

Here’s a masterful triple threat—wordless book, comics-style book, 3-D book—that successfully parries all charges of gimmickry. Titular Jim, garbed in a bulky, helmeted diving suit, lumbers out of his seaside cottage and lowers himself down the seawall ladder onto a shallow shelf littered with debris. A few steps later he’s tumbling lower and lower into the depths, and his adventure begins. In oversized panels and fractured frames we share his explorations as he delights in the shifting forms of marine life, is stalked by a shark, comes upon a sunken fighter plane and a glowing treasure chest in a pirate ship, sights the ruins of Atlantis, survives the effluence of deep sea vents, and finally lands on the ocean floor, where a wooden hatch tests the limits of courage and curiosity. He opens the hatch, and … sorry, no spoilers allowed, but it’s an awesome twist and a mind-boggling conclusion. The cardboard 3-D glasses (two sets provided, the extra as a spare or to share) enable viewers to accompany Jim viscerally on his freefall, and the comic-book-styled layout tacitly directs attention around the undersea wonderland while orchestrating well-timed moments of surprise along the way. Artwork is intricate and playful and satisfyingly creepy, and the Everyman dot eyes, hook nose, and mouth slash of Jim’s face through his mask allow the audience to project themselves right into his diving gear. If the oversized format and heist-ability of the 3-D glasses argue against adding this to a library collection, this should nonetheless top the list of recommendations for gift books for both art and adventure lovers.