Heyla all! Assuming the auto-updater actually works properly, this will show up while I’m freezing my extremities in Colorado while hunting Elk armed with a digital camera (because no one is going to trust me with a hunting rifle! Besides, hunting licenses cost money!); actually, I’m accompanying my father after years of his offering to take me along. Assuming everything goes well, I should be back before Halloween. And if it doesn’t… well, that’ll explain the lack of updates. Guest reviews will be up on October 14, 20, and 25.

Seeing that I’m entirely too lazy to write up reviews ahead of time, I put out a call for guest reviews. This is the third of the reviews, by Roland Hansson, and of a comic that I first encountered before I was writing reviews, and which vanished into the mists of hiatus years ago. Fortunately, unlike so many others of its kin, this superb comic has returned. And now, the guest review:

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Sea of Insanity
by L.K. Malnassy

Reviewed by Roland Hansson

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Update Schedule: Erratic, currently averages 1 per week
Format: Varies, from comic strip to whole-page format
Art: Pencils, overwhelmingly B&W, occasional guest art

The first clue Finn, shiftless college student, gets that something is amiss with his new shared apartment, is when he steps into the living room without looking, and plunges into a lake.
He finds himself living together with an ancient Greek fertility spirit named Isle, her ever-hungry giant python and, soon after that, with her unfortunate psychologist, Gil Surgen, who has acquired a tendency to turn into a fish at regular intervals.

Why, incidentally, does Finn chose to stay in this weird apartment in the first place? His own words: “In case you haven’t noticed, my life is boring as hell. Why WOULDN’T I want to live with a neurotic nymph and her giant carnivorous snake?”

* * *

Now, after this short description, you would expect this comic, “Sea of Insanity”, to be a comedy romp – and there are indeed often laughs to be had. Isle’s visitors include a ditzy oread, a mischievous muse and a horny centaur. However, at the core of this story are elements of tragedy…

Isle’s ex-boyfriend is the greek god Apollo, God of light, truth, intellect – and, apparantly, of really shitty relationships.

When he hooked up with Isle, Apollo gave her what she most wanted – Intelligence. Before, she was dim. Now, she excels at sarcastic wit. Before, she couldn’t read. Now, she makes her living writing lyrical poetry. Before, having a god for a boyfriend was pretty cool. Now, she’s aware of what happened to all of Apollo’s former girlfriends – and she wants out, before she’s turned into a tree or worse.

Apollo doesn’t take hints. He doesn’t take no for an answer. He shows up to woo Isle and harass her cohabitants. He is determined to win over Isle – NOT because he loves her, mind you, but because he needs to win a bet. Oh boy, does he need to win that bet.

Apollo is powerful. He has a temper. He gave Isle her intelligence. And what the gods give… the gods may take away.

Let me repeat that. Apollo has the ability to LOBOTOMIZE Isle with a snap of his fingers.
Isle, of course, is fully aware of this. She even has had notice from the friendly neighborhood oracle – prophecy is against her.
To conclude, things don’t look good.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

Eventually, of course, things came to a head. Apollo showed up when Isle was alone, and after heated argument, Apollo left for good, taking his gifts with him. ALL his gifts.

Our view of Isle after this event has been limited. She went through phases – locking herself into her room, immersing herself in physical relationships – only lately has she started communicating with her worried roommates.
(As an aside, portraying a character whose intelligence has changed so drastically – and still conveying the same personality – must be a real challenge to a writer. LKM does pretty well.)

So far, this is good drama. But the kicker, as I see it, is that Apollo isn’t actually too bad a guy. We’ve occasionally followed his POV, and he obviously has his own problems. We’ve seen him drinking himself to oblivion, grieving a friend. His brother Hermes, and Zeus, his father, have been missing for many years. And losing the bet will put him at the mercy of Aphrodite, who wants him dead.
After he leaves Isle that fateful night, Apollo tries to justify his actions, his treatment of women, to himself, but fails. His anguished words at the end: “Oh Father, why can’t I stop?!”

And THAT, to me, is what makes this tragic.

*** END SPOILERS ***

What lies in store for our protagonists? The comic still has a long way to go; there are a lot of prophesies to be fulfilled and many plot threads to be resolved (I have only touched a few in this review). At a guess, we’re at most a third into the actual story – I get the feeling LKM is setting the scene for the REAL story to begin.
I have no idea what will come next – “Sea of Insanity” is ever surprising – but one thing’s sure: it’s going to be entertaining, to find out…