I think Seaguy is a little less downbeat since we know Morrison plans to write more stories. It's a pretty bleak ending, but there's enough ambiguity to make me wonder. Seaguy seems to me to act like he's in on the joke, but just what joke does he think he's in on, and is it the right one? Whatever, I'm ready for more!
I'm a little surprised to see the word "blandness" to describe Brian Vaughan's writing, since I think he's one of the sharpest writers in comics. I don't know where the story's going, but I'm ready for more of it, too.
Regarding Vaughn, I don't know. Guess it's me, but his writing just doesn't push the same buttons in my head that it does in others. I bought over a dozen issues of Y, trying to see why everyone else seemed to be out of their minds over it, but just never figured it out.
And as far as Seaguy goes, there's no guarantee that there will be more; I know Morrison would like to, and intends to do them, but until I see an announcement somewhere I'll have to judge this mini as it is...and I found it imaginative, as usual with Grant, but dismaying.
I dunno about the darkness of Seaguy's ending. I keep thinking there's some significance in the fact that his and Death's positions are reversed in the final page as opposed to its mirror-image on page #1 of issue #1. And when Seaguy winks, he picks the opposite color from what he picked in the beginning! A casual nod that everything is not really repeating itself this time? Maybe...
And if nothing else, Xoo is free and wild and all the ads for him/her/it are torn down in that final scene. I see "Seaguy" as about taking necessary, painful first steps, rather than freeing the world in one gulp (to mix my metaphors beyond tolerance). Fitting for the projected first story in a series! I can't wait for more... and the Esperanto joke had me laughing out loud...
But he picked the actual color of the chess piece, rather than trying to fool death. And perhaps SG's wink could signify that he was under the impression that everything was OK.
I guess if you want to see favorable signs in Seaguy's resolution, they're there, like the fact that XOO is unavailable and so on. I hope I'm wrong about my gut-feeling reaction.
Psychic link: 3 of 5.
Lucifer is one of the most consistent titles out there. Ditto that.
Ditto HT as well. I had a little trouble telling the two brothers (cousins?) as adults apart. I thought one had killed the other. The only hiccup (well, Mary child smuggler aside) in HT is its researched topic driven. But it has mainly a rotating cast and thats part of it.
I'm somewhere between you and Steven on Seaguy. I was struck by the bleakness (Chubby haunts me) and took to the wink as well. Like a peppy episode of the Prisoner, come by next week, when I try to get out again! Given it was advertised mini of 3, it did leave me feeling pretty grim. Until the continuing issue blurb, which may still be a meta joke.
I've taken to Ex Machina more than you, but I have the samish take on Vaughn. I can never shake the feel of characters with talking points. It works better with characters in gov't though (a la West Wing), but if everyone ends up smart and sassy, I might throw a fit.
hcduvall's mention of the "to be continued" blurb just inspired a thought: Seaguy's grim cyclical adventures aren't much different from any superhero's adventures, are they? The dominant paradigm for superhero comics is antiteleological and often cyclic: Batman never gets to win, he'll just keep fighting the same battles over and over, usually against the same limited set of foes. And just like Seaguy probably doesn't realize he's run through the cycle of heroism and defeat who knows how many times, Batman doesn't know he's been battling the criminally insane of Gotham City for over sixty years and that, if anything, he's only lost ground as the city has gotten darker and edgier over the years. More to think about....
Good point, Steven. But at least Batman gets to see the Joker and so on hauled away to Arkham, even though they never seem to stay there.
And hc, I love that "peppy Prisoner episode" analogy. That may just be what Grant's shooting for.
danke danke, and here I was hoping to start verbal sparring about Vaughn, and we all latch onto Seaguy!
I don't recall mention that Morrison wanted to write more Seaguy (though I don't doubt it). But thats why I saw the blurb as a possible meta punchline. I think we'll know for sure if another Seaguy miniseries comes out, and its 3 issues of him discovering Atlantis and then conked on the head.
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