After a long hiatus (which I will excuse by invoking my dissertation work- I just turned in a chapter draft - and travel), I return in a flurry of comics-reading, thanks to Jeremy's generosity and extensive library. A few first reactions:

"Seaguy" by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart

This is a Dada world, a world that takes the conventions of heroism and reveals the mythological tendency towards absurdism and non-sequitur. Our "hero" (who finds it hard to conceive of himself heroically) pursues the love of the hirsute Amazonian She-Beard by aiding those in need (including an enslaved soft-drink and a megalomaniacal moon-dwelling pharaoh). At first the accelerated narrative and the delight in incompletion are unsettling, but eventually they become strangely delightful, yielding priceless dialogue like this one between Seaguy and a cynical snack vendor:
"No Pickled Orchid. We only have the Smokey Monkey, Duck and Nut or Bowler Hat flavors today."
"“Hmm. What kind of corn chip is Bowler Hat?"
"Harsh and ashamed...."

"Seaguy" - ****


"Crumple: the Status of Knuckle" by Dave Cooper

A squelchy exploration of the extremes of misogynistic paranoia. Cooper's self-awareness of this extremity is (happily) evident in every wince on his awkward hero'’s increasingly bruised face. A hybrid between a road trip narrative and a cult mystery, "Crumple" is inventive, but uncomfortable.

Crumple - **1/2