Deep....

Deep is described as "a collaborative experiment in surrealism". Surrealism is described as "works featuring the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur". Now, non sequitur is Latin for "it does not follow." A non sequitur can denote an abrupt, illogical, unexpected or absurd turn of plot or dialogue not normally associated with or appropriate to that preceding it. Review time.

Illogical is the name of everything here. The art is sometimes on the mainstream side of things and then veers wildly to drug-induced dreamworld. That's where the rotating artist concept comes into play, and works quite well. What's more surprising or unexpected than seeing what each new artist comes up with from comic to comic? There are a wide variety of styles to see here, and it's really interesting to witness the different takes on the material. Having the character of Elly plopped down into the minds of each different artist is surreal on it's own. Interesting stuff.

The bits of story that I could follow had something to do with a missing girl named Elly being followed around by a crazy mime who is either protecting her from an owl or keeping her from the truth in some way. I honestly couldn't follow the "story". But isn't that sort of the point of surrealism? I can't tell if there is a statement being made here or if it's all just nonsense. I must not have the brainpower to decipher it all. Either this is genius or at the other end of the spectrum.

I honestly don't know what to make of Deep. Surrealism isn't something I'm usually subjected to, and I've never gone out of my way to find it. I can't recommend or reject it. I'll leave it at this. If you're looking for something totally different, give it a try. If you're looking for a more traditional comic, look elsewhere. I'm going to go sit in my Lazy-boy and think about what just happened....

I give this comic...