Shark Girl’s life in the ocean goes swimmingly until she’s caught in a bottom trawl net and is suddenly dragged into troubled waters. Half human (from her powder blue shoulders up to her flowing mane of cerulean hair) and half shark, the razor-sharp and savvy creature escapes, but knows the other entangled bycatch will die and be tossed away. Seething at the senseless loss, Shark Girl seeks revenge upon the greedy fishing captain messing with the marine ecosystem.

Hatching a riotous scheme of derring-do, Shark Girl enlists the aid of a sea witch (“they live for drama”), trades her tail for legs, and with mutiny on her mind, marches on board the ship Jellyfish disguised as Little Sailor. She introduces herself as “cold-blooded,” and the dastardly Captain Barrett hires her on the spot – but it takes a bit longer for her fellow sailors to warm up to the peculiar newcomer who has a shark-like appetite and habit of sleeping with her eyes wide open. Shark Girl’s fishing prowess and affability soon earn her respect and loyalty from her crewmates, who come to support her cause even when she’s pessimistically convinced her plan is sunk.

In this Little Mermaid–esque tale turned on its fin, there is no love lost between eco-conscious Shark Girl and capitalistic Captain Barrett. Funny one-liners relay the characters’ salty personalities. When provoked, Shark Girl chomps down on the overfishing fisherman with her zigzag teeth and spits out, “It was the flavour of an old hairy arm with a wrinkled tattoo.”

Equal parts comedy and conservation lesson, this high-seas adventure is propelled forward by multiple Eisner Award–winning cartoonist Kate Beaton’s signature satiric wit. A mix of comic book panels, full-page spreads, and vignettes, the bold and bright digital artwork is packed with pithy details, like Shark Girl eating an apple while reading a copy of Human Nature, and endpapers showing “Save the Sharks!” newspaper headlines.

When the Captain is given the boot, the unionized crew introduces ethical fishing practices, vowing, under their watch, to only catch what humans will eat: “they remember that the other fish are living creatures too.” Shark Girl delivers a biting commentary on exploitation of workers and the environment.