Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
First off, we need more one-shot horror comics like this!
Created by Ryan X. Messcher (story) and Gabriel Fassina (art), the horror comic ‘The Muse’ is set in the not-so-distant future in the fictional Terranova City. The year 2084, to be exact.
The story opens with a vandalized billboard advertising some sort of artificial formula for newborns, cleverly establishing the central idea of this world: even a mother’s milk isn’t necessarily real anymore. Meanwhile, a television announcement casually reveals that ‘synthoids’ now play professional sports too. Basically, artificial life has seeped into just about everything.
The plot follows struggling artist Solomon Boone, who is behind on his bills and unable to paint anything worth selling. Then, out of nowhere, a beautiful humanoid robot barges into his apartment and declares that she is the inspiration he has been searching for. And sure enough, Boone suddenly finds himself producing paintings that turn his next showing into a hit. But, of course, his robotic muse offers inspiration at a very heavy price.
So ‘The Muse’ essentially plays with the classic ‘devil’s bargain’, you know, Doctor Faustus style, but gives it a cyber-horror twist. Except this cybernetic muse isn’t merely an evil wish-granting genie or Satan’s spawn watching from the sidelines as ‘the artist’ descends into madness amid rising fame and wealth. Their relationship is far more codependent, messy and grotesque: she becomes his live-in partner, and the more Boone relies on her, the more visually repulsive their relationship becomes.
Divided into four acts, the comic also delves into Boone’s doomed relationship with his ex-wife and the toll that loss has taken on him. There’s a sense that his cybernetic muse is, at least partly, a replacement for the human connection he has lost.
Given that ‘The Muse’ runs just over 30 pages, there’s obviously little room to explore the existential questions already creeping into our own world: can a genuine, lasting romantic bond exist between humans and AI, especially when the AI comes packaged in a human-shaped box?
Instead, ‘The Muse’ is serves as frenziedly paced cautionary horror tale about what happens when we become too dependent on technology: we risk losing ourselves to it. And the final few pages are disturbing, unhinged and especially wacky. Horror fans who come looking for gore and guts should leave satisfied.
The short length is also ‘The Muse’s’ biggest limitation. Boone’s descent happens so quickly that his growing dependence on his cybernetic companion isn’t as psychologically disturbing as it could have. And from the little we know of Boone as a person, there isn’t much to sympathize with him. If anything, he comes across as an entitled jerk even before things go horribly wrong. There are fascinating ideas here but the comic races through most of them on its way to the grisly payoff. Maybe a few more pages might have made both Boone and his eventual fate considerably more compelling.
More interestingly, the artwork quietly tracks his deterioration across the pages. When we first meet Boone, he may be lonely, broke and creatively frustrated, but there’s still a youthful energy to him. By the second half, he looks noticeably more ragged and aged, as though his increasingly distorted relationship with the cyborg woman is draining him physically, mentally and perhaps even spiritually. The horror isn’t just happening around Boone; you can gradually see it consuming him.
For a comic so obsessed with art and artistic creation, the black-and-white illustrations are somewhat scrappy and unpolished, with the creators favoring heavy shadows, scratchy linework and visual chaos over intricate detail. But that roughness sort of complements the increasingly unstable horror of Boone’s life.
That said, endings can be tricky for short horror comics, and I’ve complained one too many times about first issues – think ‘Night of the Ghoul’ or the more recent ‘Black Ghost’ – that barely establish their plot goals before calling it a day. ‘The Muse’ doesn’t have that problem. It goes full wacky-horror mode while somehow getting metaphorically philosophical too, circling all the way back to its opening pages and ending on a disturbing image that might just give some readers a sleepless night.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Note: An ARC of this comic was provided to me for review. The Kickstarter campaign for ‘The Muse’ is live, you can check it out here.
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