Seaguy, vol. 1

Grant Morrison, as I’ve said elsewhere (and as is pretty obvious just from sampling any cross-section of his oeuvre), is a big idea guy. I love this about him. Unfortunately, I often don’t find his dialogue or storytelling to be all that compelling. In some ways, that makes Seaguy the perfect niche for him. The book doesn’t need great storytelling or plausible dialogue. It’s a comedy—and in many ways an absurdist comedy.

It’s like a not-quite-as-awesome version of Mignola’s The Amazing Screw-On Head, where the important thing is that it brings the funny.

And Morrison does. Even in the midst of propelling his once-and-would-be hero through adventures that unsubtly mask any number of socio-political lessons, Seaguy bristles with a humourous sense that easily overwhelms any of the deficiencies in the story or dialogue. Or didacticism. Seaguy‘s sense of humour isn’t going to be for everyone just like Monty Python‘s isn’t. Which isn’t to say that Sea guy resembles Python in any way. More just to say that Morrison’s book will find a particular receptive audience.

I was going to say what Seaguy is about, but I’m not sure it really matters. There’s some stuff about heroes. There’s some stuff about consumerism. There’s some stuff about corpocracy. There’s some stuff about dreams vs. comfort. But really, none of that matters. It’s all rather facile and works better as fodder for amusement than it does as grist for thought.

I’m looking forward to reading the next two volumes of Seaguy. I’m not exactly racing to pick up the second volume, but it’s on my radar and I’m sure it will be an enjoyable diversion. Because sometimes comics are meant to be enjoyed more than they are meant to be considered.

 

 

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Comics by Seth T. Hahne