This anthology comic is a tie-in with the animated sci-fi comedy, Isla Monstro, which I also just reviewed. The film wasn’t really my thing. The comic, however, has managed to capture my attention.

I’m not sure how much of the comic you’ll actually get if you haven’t seen the movie. The basic premise is stated at the beginning: A top secret U.S. army base from the 1980s, where subjects were experimented on and turned into human-fish hybrids, has now, 40 years later, been turned into a luxury island resort—staffed by the aforementioned fish people. As far as the characters go, though, it just throws you right into the middle of things and even includes a few references to things that happened in the movie. Still, if you just roll with it, you should probably be able to follow along with at least most of it.

Within the 30 or so pages of this comic, there are half a dozen different stories of varying lengths, by all different writers and artists. There’s one where a bizarre creature with a giant eyeball finds life and seeks love amid a torrent of violence, chaos, and death. There’s another where Moon, the Jazzercise Jellyfish, tries to find love despite her tendency to kill everything she touches. There’s one where Dr. Oculus deals with a bout of pink eye. Plus several others, with a variety of different styles and tones.

Unlike the film, the stories in this comic don’t rely nearly so heavily on graphic language, violence, and sex. They’re still not exactly for kids, but the overall focus is more on telling interesting stories within the established framework of this world, rather than on being vulgar for its own sake, or for shock value. As such, I enjoyed this comic rather more than I did the film. There were some pretty cool stories that explored the world, both visually and thematically, in some pretty interesting ways.

As I say, if you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t know how much of the comic you’ll be able to follow. You might not always know who certain characters are or why they’re doing what they’re doing. But the basic gist is generally evident from context. And if you’re a fan of bizarre, sci-fi comedy, then this one is at least worth checking out.

Creative Team: Steven Shea (writer, artist, colors, letters, layout, editing, and created by); Matthew Zunich, Jaanelle Yee, Naomi Brett Rourke, Terry Cronin, Gavin Hignight (writers); Logan Van Der Wolf, Chickenz, Zia Izzy, Elly Karipides, Alan Villaflor (artists); Luis Figueiredo (cover)
Publisher: Abyssmal
Click here to purchase.