He was never more sinister than when he was most polite

Our Book Illustration assignment is to reinterpret a well-known character in five different ways. I chose Captain Hook, for a couple of reasons: one, he's a complex and interesting character who was treated appallingly in the Disney adaption, and two...well, pirate.

The essence of Captain Hook is that he is a grown-up, and the ticking crocodile of time is chasing constantly after him, and he can't delay his end forever. This is why he hates Peter Pan, the epitome of youth and cockiness and childish joy. A gentleman though a scoundrel, he is classically educated, a snappy dresser, and obsessed with "good form."

"...he staggered about the deck striking up at them impotently, his mind was no longer with them; it was slouching in the playing fields of long ago, or being sent up for good, or watching the wall-game from a famous wall. And his shoes were right, and his waistcoat was right, and his tie was right, and his socks were right.

James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure, farewell."

If you only know Captain Hook as the buffoon from the Disney adaption, take my advice: pick up the book.

Here are my sketches:

"Captain Hooker." Clearly my first idea, since the second place my brain goes, right behind "pirate," is "prostitute." She's an aging stripper who is jealous of the young, pretty, girlish dancer who is winning the hearts of all the patrons. Not afraid to fight dirty. Also she has a hook for a hand because of an unfortunate incident with a pair of handcuffs.

"James Hook," Creative Writing professor. His own works have failed, leaving him very much embittered. He takes it out on his students, verbally destroying any student who happens to show promise. Then one day he receives a laid-back, mouthy lad, who, despite being a classic slacker, also happens to be a brilliant writer. Hook's normal tactics of failing grades and biting criticism fail to affect the boy, leading to a heated rivalry between the two.

"DOCTOR HOOK," evil supervillain extreme. So basically Captain Hook but a cyborg whose arch-nemesis is WONDER LAD, superpowered wunderkind and savior of the city! A very easy jump to make, really, but I had a lot of fun with his costume design.

"The Hook," bassist in a wildly successful rock band. Somehow manages to play bass with a hook for a hand. An alcoholic and addicted to drugs (his "ticking crocodile"), and is frequently visited by an apparition of himself as a child, who expresses disapproval at his life choices. This youthful entity drives him crazy and he desperately wants to get rid of it. Clearly he has some issues.

"James Hook," very serious fisherman. Not much to say but HE WILL GET THAT DANG FISH IF IT'S THE LAST THING HE DOES. Hint: the fish is Peter Pan. Hint #2: the fish bit off his hand.

Now have a bit of comics silliness. We were assigned to make individual panels based on prompts like "something that happened at lunch" "the beginning of the world" "the end of the world" "something that has nothing to do with any of the other panels" and "something that happened right after that." Then we had to rearrange them to make four-panel comics.

Mine don't really make sense.