Sebastian O (DC Comics Vertigo) [Paperback]

Originally publised as a three part series by DC: Vertigo in 1993, Sebastian O is an initially impressive piece, and a good demonstration of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the DC: Vertigo line.

As with the rest of the Vertigo line, Sebastian O falls somewhere between mainstream and underground comics writing. The artwork shows definite originality, being as it is the combination of conventional comic art with the linear and detailed style of the art deco period, and more directly the work of illustrator Aubery Beardsley. The occasionally sketchy outlining of charaters and architecure adds interest and is a refreshing change to the often clean, sterile line work featured in more mainstream books. The dialogoue is also a departure from the norm, written as it is, in psuedo Wilde throughout.

If you are looking for something with more depth than perhaps standard superhero fare, this book is an excellent place to start, being as it is a kind of missing link between between mainstream and underground comics writing.

If, however, you are already familiar with the work of Dan Clowes, Dame Darcy, Chris Ware and the like, the book is liable to lack the depth or coherance that you might expect from such an aparently original title. The artwork, for example, is still of a very conventional style - inspired as it is, it lacks the definition evident in the work of the artists listed above and those like them. The dialogue, too, is somewhat lacking. The writing rarely achieves an entirely authentic Victorian style, and also tends to slip into contempory Americanisms in what is supposed to be Victorian London.

The plotting and storyline are questionable, although the enigmatic nature of the story does excuse much of this. The only real disappointment in this area is the frequently short-lived confrontations between Sebastian and his various enemies, often to the extent of being anti-climactic.

Overall, though not a great book, Sebastian O is certainly a good one, providing a generation of comics readers with evidence of the potential within the medium, beyond just muscles and tights. I sincerely hope that this book, and books like it, will continue on in this vein for many years to come.

I was pleased to see DC released this early Vertigo/Wildstorm gem. It was a lovely read originally, and its appearance in trade form delights the senses.

Originally a 3 part series, this graphic novel collects the issues of gifted writer Grant Morrison, who takes his deliciously Oscar Wilde-esque character Sebastian O from Bedlam (a hospital for the mentally deficient, the unwanted, and those with the tendency to make society uncomfortable) through his quest to find revenge for the betrayal which put him there. Unlike the tragically confined Wilde, who attempted to flaunt and thwart society, Sebastian manages to pull off his rebellion with aplomb. The book bends those narrow assigned gender roles with equal skill and wit. Sebastian, Abbe, George, and Theo, the members of the Club De Paradis Artificiel will remind history buffs of the Bloomsbury group or the art circles of the Pre-Raphaelites.

This title has its weak moments, thus the 4-star rating. The humor occasionally covers flimsy points in the narrative, and the characters sometimes dip a toe into farcical archetypes of themselves. All in all, however, this book is a must buy.

"Sebastian O's name is a byword for perversity in the elite circles of London high society" (from the Chronology of Sebastian O), but how do you define perversity in Victorian Ages? After all this was a time in which most sexual practices were considered "perversities". Victorian morality can be seen as the perfect synonym for sexual repression, and even Freud suggested that modern society's neurosis was a consequence of these rigid and stern traditions.

Nonetheless, according to Michel Foucault, sex was exhaustively discussed and studied in the Victorian Age, sex was a force that needed to be disciplined. Sexual pathologies didn't exist previously... it is during this era that someone describes every sexual practice and decides that some are normal and others abnormal and thus abhorrent. Unfairly accused of depravity, many people suffered because of this, including famed writer Oscar Wilde, which is the inspiration behind the fictional character of Sebastian O, a riveting metaphor of the sublimity of art.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote once that art must lead the way to the future, it's only fitting then that Morrison's approach takes the figure of the ultimate artist and places it into an alternative reality that can have only the most unpredictable future. As a matter of fact, drawing from science fiction subgenres such as steam-punk, Morrison recreates England under the ruling of Queen Victoria but adds advanced steam machinery, and all the technology derived from alternative energies. As a result, although firmly established in the late 19th century, this reality has been privy to major scientific breakthroughs.

What is most fascinating about the author's proposal is mixing a world of futuristic technology while emphasizing Victorian idiosyncrasies. As a result, we have a rather sensible boy, Sebastian O, heir to a fortune that many would kill for, but living a life of torment and disappointment. For instance, his stepfather has one goal: "eradicating the lad's effeminate tendencies". Exiled from home at an early age because of those very tendencies, the child will have one too many adventures, until far from England he is "tutored in the ways of the Hasheesheen, a sect of all-male ecstatic killers".

Once he makes his triumphant return to London, he meets a group of seemingly immoral men, such as the teenaged homosexual poet Arnold Truro, the ambitious Lord Theo Lavender, the sexually devious novelist George Harkness and the Abbe who claims to have "devotion to underprivileged young men" when in true he indulges in pederasty. Together, they are the founders of the Club de Paradis Artificiel where this "jaded group of pomandered and frock-coated dandies imagine in Her stead a world of perfect, flawless artifice".

Why is it that the conception of art is so important for this clique? Because according to Nietzsche, Apollonian art is contrary to Dionysian art. Apollo's realm is the world of will power and representation; of individuation and therefore finitude. By becoming an elegant assassin, always concerned with his physical appearance and aesthetic pursuits, Sebastian O defines himself as an individual that has nothing in common with mundane people. Apollo's essence is the dreaming and the primordial yearning for appearance. Sebastian O is obsessed about his stylish finery, and this urgency reveals the implacable need for maintaining an appearance, an indelible façade that upholds the protagonist's spirit. Aesthetically speaking, beauty is but an appearance that covers the horror; in this case, Sebastian O's morbid desires and appalling opinions are perfectly hidden under his disguise of a civilized and graceful gentleman.

Let's remember also that Apollonian art follows certain parameters: simple lines, sobriety, clear architecture; all fundamental traits of a man of distinction. These elements have also inspired an artist like Steve Yeowell to look for simplicity, cleanliness and tidiness in his pages (Steve Yeowell had worked before with the author in their seminal series on 2000AD's Zenith: Bk. 1, a very different story about a super-powered teenager in the "real" world). Finally, art's goal would be to transform existence into beauty; Sebastian O, a dashing young man, takes the concept of the dandy to its logical outcome: elegance is not a virtue but a duty; to have a refined taste is not optional but mandatory.

When sodomy charges are presented against Sebastian O, he ends up in jail (not unlike in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde) and the Club de Paradis Artificiel is swiftly disbanded. But Sebastian O hasn't trained as a mystic assassin in vain, and after months in prison, he escapes. Now, it's his mission to seek revenge, if only to preserve his reputation. But what dishonorable tasks have his old friends been up to? What can be more scandalous than watching the Abbe still abusing children? As Sebastian O visits his old comrades, he finds transvestite allies as well as lesbian collaborators, but will that be enough to defeat the mysterious mercenaries that are ruthlessly chasing him?

Besides all this, a former member of the Club de Paradis Artificiel has been conspiring for years, and he now possesses the power to control Queen Victoria absolutely. With the entire Royal Army and Knights of the Crown against Sebastian O, what can the gifted dandy do? Perhaps, he can break down the barriers and taboos, and liberate himself and Britain through sex, or if that fails, through manslaughter.