A small fishing village is terrorised by a Lovecraftian sea monster called Leviathan. A mysterious stranger offers a young adventurer a fortune if they can bring back the Starlight Wand that controls the creature - will you accept the challenge?
Jason Shiga’s latest comic is similar to his previous one, Meanwhile…, in that Leviathan is also a choose-your-own-adventure-style comic. And, like Meanwhile…, Leviathan’s not bad.
By far the most impressive thing about the comic is that Shiga has replicated the feel of playing a point-and-click video game in comic format. The novelty is fun, flicking back and forth between pages to find the next panel/sequence as you realise your choices do affect the story, particularly the ones that rely on you figuring out a number puzzle to progress to the next panel (or you could cheat and flick through the pages until you find what looks like the right one). The technical brilliance is amazing.
The story though is slight and not that compelling. Some threads deadend to nowhere (the island part) and the ending is limited and underwhelming. At under 140 pages, it’s an all-too-brief experience and, as undeniably creative an undertaking it is, I’m more of a fan of Shiga’s traditionally linear comics rather than his game comics, and I would’ve preferred something like Demon or Empire State instead of this.
Still, if you’re a Jason Shiga fan like me, Leviathan’s worth a look and it’s pretty fun - just don’t expect anything too substantial, original or memorable. It shows you that comics have range as well even if that versatility feels like a storyboard for a game in development.
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