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RTÉ News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Tom Crean, Irish comic book hero: inside the new graphic novel
Author and Polar historian Michael Smith introduces Tom Crean – Irish Antarctic Hero, his new graphic novel (illustrated by David Butler) celebating the legendary Kerry-born explorer. I have a letter in a drawer which I regularly open and read, more than 20 years after it was written. It is a private letter written by a serving High Court Judge in Dublin who confessed that he was "chastened and somewhat ashamed as an Irish man" not to have known about the explorer, Tom Crean. The Judge – I will keep his identity confidential – was responding to my biography, An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean, the first full account of Crean's remarkable life. While I warmly appreciated the feedback from a pillar of Irish society who was presumably well-educated and well read, what struck me most was that the Judge spoke for Ireland. Tom Crean was unknown in his own country. Fortunately, this has changed since then and Crean's chiselled good looks, designer stubble and jaunty woolly hat are now the familiar features of a new and instantly recognisable Irish icon. An Unsung Hero sold out in a matter of days when first published in 2000 and has been reprinted countless times and now sold over 170,000 copies worldwide. The book has been translated into various languages – including German, Spanish and Chinese – and Tom Crean's story now features on the curriculum in Irish schools. An adaption for younger readers, Tom Crean – Fear San Oigherar, appears in the Irish language. I am delighted to say there is a major new addition to the literature of Tom Crean with the first-ever graphic novel devoted to the amazing exploits of the Kerry-born explorer. The new publication, Tom Crean – Irish Antarctic Hero, is a unique collaboration between me as the historic biographer, artist David Butler and Louise McSharry, the letterer. The new graphic novel, featuring David Butler's striking artwork, recalls the dramatic story of how Tom Crean, the poorly educated son of a farmer, ran away from home as a teenager and served on three historic expeditions to the Antarctic. Tom Crean's footprints in Antarctica were among the first left by any human and he spent longer in the frozen wastes than either Captain Scott or Ernest Shackleton. Tom outlived both the more famous men and retired to Kerry village of Annascaul to open the South Pole Inn, which is serving pints to this day. Crean's adventures were central to Antarctic exploration at the turn of the 20th century which included many episodes of courage, heroism and tragedy. He volunteered to venture into the unknown on Scott's first expedition in 1901 and Tom Crean was the among the last to see Scott alive a few miles from the South Pole in 1912. Months later he went back into the icy wilderness to bury Scott's frozen body. Tom Crean's heroism in saving the life of his dying comrade, Lieutenant Teddy Evans, by marching 35 miles (56k) without food or shelter to fetch rescue is the finest act of single-handed bravery in the history exploration. Or, as the Judge remarked, it made Tom Crean "one of the most courageous Irish men who ever lived". Tom Crean was as close to being indestructible as any human being and he emerged as a major figure in Shackleton's epic Endurance expedition, widely regarded as Antarctica's greatest survival story. He was an inspirational figure when the expedition ship Endurance was crushed by the ice, forcing 28 desperate men to seek refuge on the desolate Elephant Island. Leaving 22 men on the island, Crean joined Shackleton on the perilous James Caird open boat journey to South Georgia and forced march across the island's peaks and glaciers to rescue the castaways. Liberating the survivors on Elephant Island was Tom Crean's final act as an explorer. The idea of telling this astounding story through a graphic novel came from David Butler, an accomplished artist whose previous work include the James Caird voyage and a biography of Michael Collins. Our paths had crossed a few times and appropriately enough, the idea of a book about an explorer-turned publican was hatched over a pint or two. Graphic novels, to me the writer, present two major challenges. The first is brevity and writing to the book's prescribed length. My books generally run to around 100,000 words and the odd 1,000 words here or there is not vital. The big test was how to condense Crean's rich and adventurous life into 5% of my usual wordcount. Fortunately, I am a newspaper journalist by background and crisp, concise story-telling is a crucial part of the job. Most journalists believe that every story in the world can be decanted into a single paragraph – the rest is detail! The graphic novel's other challenge for a writer is to see the story in pictures. Luckily, I had some experience of writing film screenplays and recognise the importance of telling stories through the film-maker's lens. Besides, every picture tells a story! As a poorly educated farmer's son, Crean never wrote a book or kept a diary and his 27 years' service in the British navy prevented him speaking about his adventures in the year following Irish independence. Tom Crean never spoke to a soul and took his story to the grave. Piecing together his life took three years of painstaking research and writing. At the same time, dozens of publishers in Ireland and the UK turned down the book because, as they repeatedly emphasised, there was "no interest" in Tom Crean. Rescuing Tom Crean from obscurity has been a huge privilege and I believe Tom Crean – Irish Antarctic Hero will attract further new audiences to this incredible Irish hero and his incomparable adventures.
Irish Examiner
21-04-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Antarctic Hero: New graphic novel delves into incredible story of Kerry explorer Tom Crean
Just as the story of Tom Crean, a farmer's son from Co Kerry who left school early to enlist in the Royal Navy, is bound up with with two of the great explorers of the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton, so is the story of author and journalist Michael Smith with Crean. The Kerryman might have remained a largely overlooked figure were it not for Smith's tenacity and curiosity. Smith wrote the book on Crean, An Unsung Hero (2002). 'I was particularly drawn to Tom Crean because nobody had written about him,' Smith relates. 'He was very much overlooked and forgotten. And hence, the title of the book. "He was a completely unknown figure, even in Ireland. Who would have thought it! Amazing now given he is almost a national icon in the country. At the time, however, when I wrote the book, it was 'Tom who?'' There were sound reasons for this state of affairs. Having returned home to settle down in an Ireland that was in the throes of revolution against the British empire, Crean's career, extraordinary as it was, may have had him viewed with some suspicion during the height of nationalistic fervour. He was also a modest man, and as Smith observes, history is written by the great and the good. 'It's never written about the ordinary men. And when I read these books about Scott and Shackleton, this fellow Tom Crean kept cropping up all the way through the story. Not just as a bit part player, but was a central character in these remarkable stories. "And I genuinely looked around for a book, because I thought he sounds like an interesting man - I'd love to read about him. And when I looked there wasn't a book. And putting it bluntly, I thought why don't you get off your smooth, but perfectly formed backside and do it yourself, and so I did,' he says. Two pages from Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero, by Michael Smith and David Butler. Where the final chapter of Crean's life was one of obscurity, as he settled down to raise a family and live life as an innkeeper, Smith, who had a distinguished career as a journalist writing for The Guardian, covering political and economic affairs, packed it in in his 50s to pursue his passion as an author. While he has been evangelical towards his favourite subjects, Smith has been far from conservative in his approach. Having ventured into children's books - he is particularly proud that his children's adaptation Tom Crean Ice Manis on the Irish school curriculum - he now breaks new ground by venturing into the world of comics. Illustrated by acclaimed artist David Butler, whose last book was a graphic biography of Michael Collins, Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero is a vivid and engaging telling of Crean's life, bringing to life the heroic risks he took on his great adventures. Now in his 70s, Smith is surprised and delighted to add the title of graphic novelist to his list of literary achievements. 'Not in a million years would I have dreamt of doing a graphic novel about Tom Crean,' Smith says. 'For me, the biggest challenge as the writer was condensing a 100,000 words story into 6,000 words. And also to see the story of Tom Crean as a visual piece of work. "As a writer, you obviously have pages and pages in which you can describe details and adventures. With a pictorial book I had to stop doing that and think in a pictorial sense. "And David and I worked very well together. I mean you'd think we were close buddies. I hardly knew him. I'd met him a few times, but we worked brilliantly together. And like I said he's a very accomplished artist. It's been a real joy to do it. For me, it's a huge departure. And even at my advanced age I'm always up for something new.' Having illustrated a graphic novel on Shackleton, The Voyage of The James Caird, it was Butler who proposed the idea to Smith. 'He certainly knew the background,' Smith confirms. 'He had a really good grasp. He wasn't starting from scratch, and that was really important. And that's why when we began to work together we clicked immediately because we were both singing off the same hymn sheet really.' Finally, he proudly reflects: 'I thought it was interesting if you wanted to promote the graphic novel as an artform, who better to do it than Tom Crean?' Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero by Michael Smith and David Butler is out on O'Brien Press
