Selkie is a warmhearted and thought-provoking comic about family, friends, and fishies. Centered around the antics of an interspecies family, the comic follows not only their path through life but also the world around them as humanity comes face to face with a whole new sentient species. The end result is a charming tale that, despite the rather rough edges to the art and arguably rambling plot, is an excellent read all around.
The Good
Selkie has a fairly simple initial plot. Looking to adopt a child, Todd, an architect and former orphan himself, meets an unusually blue-hued girl named Selkie at the local orphanage whose unusual ‘deformities’ have made it hard to find a family. Seeing a lot of himself in her, the two quickly bond and before long Todd adopts her. The catch? It doesn’t take long for this newly minted single father to realize that his periwinkle-hued, web-footed, literally carnivorous daughter might not be human. Soon the father-daughter pair find themselves at the center of a tale of loss, family, and friendship as they have to learn to become part of a world on the verge of a major shift.
The initial pair of main characters are both very well written. Todd is an excellent and loving father, but he’s not immune to making mistakes or doing stupid things nor is he always entirely at ease with the increasingly strange life he’s fallen into. Selkie, on the other hand, is a rather precocious and dramatic character, one whose inability to stay out of trouble and bouts of maniacal cackling make for a genuinely hilarious character. Much like her father, Selkie is a complex character with a few flaws but also a good heart and willingness to grow as a person. The rest of the cast is very well written as well, from Selkie’s friends to Todd’s family and all the other various characters they cross paths with. There are some real standout side characters I would love to talk about, but to do them justice would require spoilers, so all I’ll say is that Warren manages the same excellent character writing even for those members of the cast who don’t get to claim center stage the way the main duo do.
The setting of the comic is also very interesting. Once again, I can’t say too much without getting into spoilers, but Warren does a good job of producing an unusual and memorable world. The setting of Selkie is very much like our world, complete with all the grief and trouble life brings with it, but there’s at least one massive difference that most of the cast and audience is unaware of for a good chunk of the story. But, once the truth is revealed, Warren is able to create a world genuinely worth exploring as he expands that deviation into something fascinating. I can’t call it the best bit of world building I’ve ever seen, as there’s definitely elements that feel more fleshed out than others, but it was a fun and interesting addition to the story.
Finally, the overall story hits a lot of thought provoking points and covers a lot of themes. There are plenty of good lessons within the comic about family and adversity. Good friends, bad friends, and growing up all take center stage on a regular basis with situations that generally anyone can relate to on some level, adopted or otherwise. The best stories touch everyone who reads them, and Selkie knows how to deal with the hard lessons of growing up and dealing with emotional pain in a manner that is both easy to connect to and heartwarming.
The Bad
As utterly charming as Selkie can be, the comic isn’t perfect. First of all the art is pretty rough, especially at the start. While this is true of a lot of webcomics I’ve read over the years, the main difference is that Selkie‘s present state (as of this review the comic is on page 1526) has yet to undergo a spectacular shift in quality. There is genuine improvement, yes, but at the end of the day Selkie remains very much a comic you read for the heart, not the art. So, while it’s not so bad that it should be much of a deterrent, this is definitely the comic’s biggest weak point.
Secondly, and this is less of a criticism and more of an observation, Selkie is a very slow moving comic in terms of any overarching plot. Without going too much into spoilers, while there are overarching plot threads that drive the overall story forward, they tend to get only the occasional screen time. Instead, most of the comic is very much a slice-of-life type tale, with relatively small issues driving small scale plot arcs. The comic also has no chapters which very much adds to this meandering sense as there are no natural boundaries to give the comic a sense of motion. It’s all one long story that slowly wends its way towards a destination that remains out of sight. Now, personally, I don’t find this approach to be a bad thing. The comic’s charms is in the stories told between the large moments and watching the cast grow and change as people, and the slowness feels right for the tale being told. But, I suspect that people who like tightly written and fast-paced tales might find the unfocused pace of Selkie to be to the comic’s weakness.
Conclusion
The best compliment I can give Selkie is that while I might not remember the plot a decade from now I’m certain there are moments from this comic that I will still recall even when the rest of it has faded away. The triumphs, heartbreaks, and other emotional peaks will still hold a place in my heart even when I can’t remember the characters’ names. The comic is not perfect, but it is an emotionally touching and humorous adventure all the same. Four stars for a fine tale with a few rough edges.
Buried Under Books and Cats 