Why I Read: COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA

This week’s “Why I Read” webcomic review is brought to you by John Kratky of Coffee Time Comics, in his “Read This Webcomic” blog section.  This review originally appeared on his blog here.

When I recently saw the movie Inherent Vice I walked out of the theater thinking three things:

1. I’m glad my wife was busy because if she had come she would have hated it.

2. As much as I could highly recommend the movie, I didn’t think I could recommend it at all.

3. Though I don’t know if I completely got what I just saw, I absolutely loved everything I just saw.

After finishing the first storyline of Cochlea & Eustachia, I feel very much the same way. Although with Inherent Vice I eventually found my bearings (and I suspect after a second viewing the fog will clear a bit more), I don’t believe that any amount of reading into Cochlea & Eustachia will have me understand it any greater than I do now and that’s just fine. This comic isn’t so much about getting it than sitting down and experiencing it. The quality lies within the experience you derive from looking through its pages and taking in its visuals. That nightmare (or dream) that you’ve put together within your own mind when the experience is over is probably key to your enjoyment. If you love both dreams and nightmares, then you have hit the jackpot with author and artist Hans Rickheit.

There is a quality to Hans’s work that is reminiscent of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland (which happens to be my favorite comic art of all time). Where in Nemo we visit a world unlike anything we’ve seen and is much like a friendly, colorful, sometime scary mushroom trip that you’ll eventually wake up from, C&E is a world where the drug you’ve taken has yet to be invented, you’re always one panel away from real danger, and sorry kids, but you’re never waking up from this one.

Synopsis:

The two characters at the center of this comic are of course Cochlea & Eustachia, two young girls (maybe) who wander around in dresses that are just a bit too short, wear black masks or make-up around their eyes (unless that’s just how their eyes look), they’re always sought after by some malevolent force, and always play out their curiosity no matter the hindrance. The two might be twins, but within the first storyline they run into a doppelgänger character that looks exactly like them, so they may well be doppelgänger of each other that have latched onto one another in a friendship. As stated, they are propelled by curiosity, and that curiosity usually leads to mischief, which leads to the chaos of their world, which leads me to wonder if that chaos exists as a product of their existence or are they just a product of the chaos in their environment. Whatever the answer might be, what I do know is that thinking about this comic leads me to write run-on sentences.

The best I can describe their world within the first storyline is a large mansion of endless rooms that don’t make sense. Growing out of the walls and floors is grotesque organic material. Everywhere you look you see strange decorations (quite often an animal with an object stuffed in its face or ass), the kind of folk art you would find tucked away in an eccentric old man’s attic after his death. There are also a lot of scientific-like machines and tools used for tasks that we don’t understand the purpose of. The rest of the characters that inhabit this world are horrific concoctions of animals, birds, and anything that goes. They fit perfectly within their environment and help make the chaos make sense in a non-sensical way…if that makes any sense.

The atmosphere of this comic is towards the dark and disturbing. You always feel as though you’re looking around the corner at something you’ve never seen before, and for me that is what makes it such a joy to read. While we follow the two girls (maybe) on their adventure of mischief, they are actually following the previously mentioned doppelgänger on her own adventure of mischief. This assures us there will be a freakish surprise coming with every click of the “Next” button. Thankfully, Hans Rickheit’s pen is skillful enough to capture the wild ideas that come out of his subconscious, and that is so important for a comic like this. Even without making much sense, the world feels fully realized, and as much as you do question what you see, you don’t, because it just feels like it belongs. Every page of this comic is a beauty.

Why I Like It:

This is another aspect of C&E that reminds me of Winsor McCay’s work, it sustains itself completely on imagery alone. That’s really the crux of this comic, it eschews plot for a dream-like stream of conscious state where what comes next only matter so much as what came before if you can even remember what came before. And that’s not to say you won’t remember what came before, it’s just that this comic is very much about what is happening on the current page and panel your eyes are currently positioned on. That’s what helps propel the momentum and pacing of the comic. You really want to see exactly where it will be going next. So while I always wanted to keep moving forward, I just as much wanted to turn back in time to get another glance at what I had seen before, not only because I had found the work that beautifully rendered, but I needed to remember what rabbit hole lead me to the current scene. I have a feeling that the readers this comic will attract most will get the same obsessive impulses.

This comic, like Stupid Snake which I reviewed last, is the type that I feel could only come from one person. While Stupid Snake certainly contained more plotting in the writing department, it’s hard for me to guess how this comic is created. I’d love to know Hans Rickheit’s process for this specific comic, whether there was much character sketching beforehand, a list of ideas and places to go, or maybe if he roughed the comic out in sections before tackling them. My suspicion is that this comic is created on a page-by page basis with some ideas in mind, letting the pen write at a sub-conscious (I know I keep using this word, but it’s just that type of comic) level. Whatever the path to the final work, what we get as readers is completely mesmerizing.

The first storyline of Cochlea & Eustachia is in black and white and offers minimal dialogue and sound effects. In fact we might read more sounds than back-and-forths between the characters. This first story could have been fully silent, but reading the second storyline where there is much more dialogue, I feel these two girls should have voices. The dialogue can be funny, but in the first story it comes out a little more wooden being so sparsely placed throughout. When the dialogue lasts for a few pages, it really works. The characters are very matter-of-fact when they speak and I like that. In the new story they seem much more self-aware of their environment and make references to some of the comics absurdities. The new storyline is also in color, and while I love the black and white of the first, the colors are fantastic and I feel will lend a lot to the world. I do hope to see more black and white adventures in the future, but the comic can go either way and still be extremely enjoyable.

Things I Think Could Be Better:

The only real critique of the comic I can give pertains to the website. I would love to see links added to each comic page that propels us forward to the next. I know a lot of webcomic readers like this rather than scrolling to the “Next” button. This is of course solely a matter of convenience. I read webcomics on my Kindle and love the ability to just tap the current comic page to get to the next one.

Final Thoughts:

While I stated at the beginning of this article that this is a comic I could highly recommend and not recommend at all, that’s only because i know it isn’t for everybody. Of course that goes for many comics, but some have an even more niche audience than others. If you’re an adventurous reader, please go after this comic with vigor. It is well worth your time and a feast for the eyes. Take a chance with it. Sometimes you have to get weird. Sometimes you have to get uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s okay to not get it. And sometimes it’s even okay to try to understand, but if you don’t, seriously, it doesn’t really matter.

As for myself, I will keep reading and digging into Hans’s past work and looking forward to what he has in store. Writing this review helped me discover that Hans has another webcomic called ectopiary which I had no clue about. He also has a few books published by Fantagraphics Books you can pick up (and I will, eventually). You can also buy original art from his comics which is an awesome option for readers of his work. As another option if you enjoy his work and understand the struggle that goes into creating comics and working a day job, please support him at his Patreon. It’s important for readers to take charge and help the creation of art with their donations. As I always like to state, this isn’t just a hobby for all of us. The opportunity to create full-time would be a dream. So please, even if only a dollar a month, support your favorite artists and writers that still work for the man. It really helps.