21-04-2025
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
