SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3)
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Size: pages
Price: 3.99
Right before reading this book, I was reading Irredeemable #1. At the end of that book, I read Grant Morrison’s afterword, all about how terrible it is to be typecast as a writer, how unfair it is that Mark Waid has been tagged as the guy who writes unironic retro comics and Grant Morrison has been labeled as the guy who writes confusing nonsense. And I was totally with him. Poor Grant Morrison! People come up with convenient ways to label us and then are simply incapable, on an almost biological level, of seeing anything but what they expect from those labels! Cheering on Morrison’s rejection of readers’ limited expectations of authors, I closed Irredeemable, set it aside, and picked up Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye #1…
…and predictably, had no idea what happened. I can tell you that there’s a guy named Seaguy, who doesn’t like the water? and there’s some song that people have stuck in their heads? and there’s this Mickey Eye themepark? that is expanding without people realizing it? and there’s a talking fish that a lot of people have seen but others are convincing them isn’t real? Despite my confusion, I don’t think that I didn’t like this book. There were fragments of funny ideas and interesting themes, and the art was nice, though I’ve discovered that apparently I have something of an eyeball-phobia. But if you understood what was going on in this book, then either a)your name is Grant Morrison (Hi Grant!) or b)you have access to some serious drugs. I will continue to read the remaining two issues of Seaguy, because I’m at least intrigued enough to find out if I eventually will understand it, and it’ll only require another two issues, so I might as well. But do not confused by Morrison’s Irredeemable Afterword into expecting that *this* is a book that will defy your expectations of Morrison’s storytelling clarity. To paraphrase the great Dennis Green, he is who we thought he was. At least in this book, anyway.
Art: 4 - Very Good
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
First you wrote that you "had no idea what happened." And then you wrote "I can tell you that there’s a guy named Seaguy, who doesn’t like the water? and there’s some song that people have stuck in their heads? and there’s this Mickey Eye themepark? that is expanding without people realizing it? and there’s a talking fish that a lot of people have seen but others are convincing them isn’t real?"
So, you do indeed have a pretty good idea of "what happened".
But it’s just that you found it confusing, which how it was supposed to be. You’re supposed to feel the way this comic made you feel, but you should just try to enjoy tackling and experiencing the wacky confusion Morrison creates. There’s a difference between not knowing what’s going on and finding what’s going on to be bewildering. I don’t have any huge disagrement with your review, though, and in fact I think you’re a better reader than most. But I think many readers of Morrison would get more out of what they read if they just come to terms with and accept that the stories are supposed to be confusing–that’s part of the fun of it. It doesn’t mean you should turn your brain off and just go along with the wild ride–because using your brain to process the confusion as best you can if part of the fun–but it means that you shouldn’t get perturbed or hung up on every wtf moment.
Well I was being a bit hyperbolic when I said I had no idea what happened. What I meant (and what I think we both agree upon) is that while I understood what words were being said and what actions were being portrayed, I had very little idea of what those words and actions "meant" in anything beyond a literal, immediate sense. I can tell you what is being shown on every page, but I have very little idea of who the characters are, what they’re trying to do, or why they’re trying to do it. I am definitely fine with allowing the wtf moments to happen, it’s just when it’s *all* wtf moments, it’s hard to really pinpoint anything that’s keeping me locked in. As I said in the review, I’m intrigued enough by the wackiness to see what happens next, I just can’t exactly rave about it when I’m not sure what it is.