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Seamonster by Nathan Castle is just weird. This surreal snapshot of modern life and dating in a seaside town is just plain strange. The main character, Dave, is hollow, washed out, clinging to some heavy baggage and prone to very odd hallucinations. It certainly offers a bleak image of the mutually destructive nature of modern relationships. The clubs that the characters attend in a vain effort to find love or at least lust blend into a bland melange, the art all too easily capturing the desperate feel of a nightclub after the lights come up. The artwork simply serves to highlight the emptiness of the characters. The fact that this strip is full colour by no means takes away from the atmosphere and in fact adds to the feel of pasty, fish belly white skin, under fluorescent tubes and over forced smiles. It is not unremittingly bleak, there are moments of surreal humour particularly when Dave’s friend Monger is involved. Add into this moments of plain weirdness and you’ve got an oddly compelling comic. Still the baby and the fish thing with the teeth freaked me out. This is certainly something I wouldn’t normally read but I’m now a fan.