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 | Seaguy Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart Vertigo Books, 104pp  When it comes to these comic book reviews I'm aware that editor Andrew P Street is going to take whichever books interest him and offer me anything else. Therefore, I'm never entirely sure what I'm going to get, and this pretty much explains 'Seaguy'.Possibly set in the future, the eponymous Seaguy is the last superhero still operating. Unfortunately, the world he lives in is far too safe and sanitized to need his efforts, so he spends his time in New Venice playing board games with Death (that's right, the skinny guy) and visiting the theme park of cartoon character Mickey Eye, a walking eye who speaks like a Teletubbie. Seaguy's best pal is Chubby the Choona, a floating, cigar-smoking, talking fish. Seaguy is desperate to find a suitable quest to impress heroine She-Beard (so-called for obvious reasons) and live up to the example of the great hero Teknostrich - isn't that just the coolest name? - who died fighting something called Anti-Dad. The opportunity comes when a pink blob creature crawls out of Seaguy's soda can and leads the duo on a chase from the authorities. Also, the sky is raining meteors that appear to be made of bricks covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs. I can't reveal any more of the plot: not because it will spoil things but because I don't understand it. I've read 'Seaguy' a couple of times already, and while some things make sense, I'm a little lost on some of the fine detail, such as one character's love affair with a talking butterfly. Despite this difficulty, the writing can be very amusing (a pair of gun-toting guards talking about contagious insanity) and even moving. The overall tone, though, is one of menace, especially in the final pages. This is in nice contrast to the artwork, which is colourful and slightly cartoonish. Travelling as it does from New Venice to Atlantis to the moon, the story gives artist Cameron Stewart the opportunity to go to town on the design, which he does with gusto. Despite the fact that almost all the environments seem alien and kind of unpleasant, they're so interesting that you almost wish you were there too. Almost. I'm told that a lot of writer Grant Morrison's work is pretty much as weird as this is, so if you're a fan you're probably used to this sort of thing. As for me, I felt that there was an interesting Orwellian plot here, obscured by some very bizarre twists and dialogue. So if you like two heaped spoons of weird in your comic coffee, go right ahead, but this is not a book for everyone.  | |
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