558 SEAGUY
Th is shift toward more adult audiences is often located in two major works, Frank
Miller’s Th e Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Moore’s Watchmen (1986–87). Both
of these deal with science fi ction tropes. In Dark Knight, Frank Miller creates an
older version of Bruce Wayne, retired for 10 years at the start of the story, who feels
compelled to resume the mantle of Batman. Set in the near future, Gotham City is a
media- saturated, violent nightmare version of a decaying urban landscape, and Miller
off ers the reader an uncompromising version of an iconic character. In Wa t c h m e n, Alan
Moore and artist Dave Gibbons set their story of superheroes within a distinctive
alternative Earth of 1985, where Richard Nixon remains president and where atomic
science has created the ultimate superhuman. Essentially a murder mystery, this struc-
tural tour de force shows the potential of the medium while also making use of science
fi ction concepts familiar in other source materials, such as Charlton superhero comics
and an episode of the science fi ction TV series Th e Outer Limits.
In 1996, DC Comics launched Helix, an imprint devoted to science fi ction; it
featured work by noted creators including Michael Moorcock, Chaykin, and Garth
Ennis. Th e imprint was short-lived, lasting until 1998, and its only major success was
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson, which switched to publica-
tion under DC’s Vertigo imprint with issue #13. Th e series follows the experiences of
Spider Jerusalem, a journalist of the future inspired by Hunter S. Th ompson’s style of
gonzo journalism (as featured in the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other
works). Jerusalem is a drug-taking, chain-smoking, hard-drinking, foul-mouthed
crusading journalist of the future, who operates in an unnamed city (although clues
point to it being New York). Th e series, which uses its dystopian setting to comment
satirically on a variety of issues, ran for 60 issues, and is collected in a series of 10 trade
paperbacks. Ellis has produced other sf and sf-infl uenced titles as well, and remains
one of the writers most productive in the fi eld.
Andrew Edwards
SEAGUY. Seaguy, created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart, is
a three-volume series of comic books, with each volume containing three issues. It is
published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. Two volumes have appeared at the time of
this writing, Seaguy (2004) and Seaguy: Th e Slaves of Mickey Eye (2009), with the fi nal
volume entitled Seaguy Eternal being still being planned for the future. Th e series uses
a colorful, whimsical sense of visual design, which is tempered by a darker mood as it
progresses.
Th e delay of fi ve years between volumes one and two seems to have been the result of
poor sales for the fi rst series. It has been alleged that publication of the second volume
was fi nally agreed to by DC as a result of a deal struck with them by Morrison, in which
he off ered his services to join other writers on DC’s weekly series 52 in exchange for
being allowed to continue with Seaguy. Despite these problems the series has become
a critical success, with some critics declaring volume two to be some of Morrison’s best
work.
