seamonster

"Seamonster is Castle’s most ambitious work. The continuing graphic novel follows the story of a young man named David whose life doesn’t seem to live up to his dreams and expectations. His failure to accurately communicate his thoughts and his inability to extend himself socially stand in the way of any meaningful relationship he may want to establish. David’s existential dreams and flights of fancy oppose the other more prosaic events of his life. Castle makes use of some interesting narrative effects here, carefully setting up his theme of separation and alienation. A recurring use of the panel-after-panel depiction of David brushing his teeth, each repetition receding further into the distance, reflects both the passage of time and the addiction of routine. Seamonster promises to be quite an involving narrative ... Castle has depicted a life plagued by boredom and the mundane, punctuated by strained or failing relationships and dark bits of fantasy..." - The Webcomics Examiner

"...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..." - Webcomicgeek

"There is this natural impression in Castle’s writing that suggests he’s telling these stories as anecdotes very late into a party when most people have gone home and everyone has come down off their social high to enjoy conversation and gossip passed off in scholarly tones. I never feel like I’m reading his stuff so much as being told while I listen, beguiled." - FLEEN

"...a lot of fun, if you like your fun to be the darkly brooding kind of fun..." - Joey Manley, TalkAboutComics.com