Ceej Says… Tyranny of the Muse #2 review

October 15, 2014

2–3 minutes

Writer: Eddie Wright
Artist: Jesse Balmer
Release Date: 8th October 2014 (Comixology)

Inspiration is a fickle mistress. Whether it be as a part of our studies, our jobs, or during more creative pursuits, there’s nothing more frustrating than the sledgehammer of writer’s block slamming into your face at a hundred miles an hour. But imagine for a moment that, rather than waiting for inspiration to manifest itself naturally, you could instead inject it directly into your brain like a drug? How quickly do you think it would take you to become addicted? A month? A week? A day? And what kind of relationship would you find yourself forming with the person supplying you with this drug? A person who, at the end of the day, may have their own motivations for keeping you locked into this cycle of addiction?

What we have here is the basic premise of Tyranny of the Muse, an almost suffocatingly bleak look at the life of Frank Fisher, a tortured writer who has become completely and utterly addicted to the ‘inspiration’ provided to him by his mysterious muse Bonnie. The complicated and subtle relationship between Frank and Bonnie provides the anchor to the series, albeit one which is shrouded in mystery and intrigue – at least for the time being. In this issue for instance, Bonnie seems to flit back and forth between genuine compassion for Frank and casual aloofness, throwing up more questions than answers about her true motivations in the process. Frank comes across as a desperately tragic protagonist, and his crippling despair as the ideas gradually bleed from his brain makes for truly compelling reading.

While the first issue was based around an (admittedly intriguing) sit-down conversation between Frank and Bonnie, this issue takes a more creative approach as we first see the wide-eyed elation of Frank during an ‘inspiration high’ as his brain shifts into overdrive and the ideas start flooding out, before watching him spiral into all-consuming despair as the drug gradually wears off. Featuring some truly mesmerising, utterly surreal imagery from artist Jesse Balmer, the visual side of the comic mirrors the change in Frank’s mood perfectly. Balmer’s artwork remains one of the main selling points of this book, for me at least, although I fully acknowledge that his claustrophobic panels and grotesquely exaggerated characters won’t necessarily be to everyone’s taste.

Tyranny of the Muse isn’t an easy read by any means, but there’s definitely something here that keeps me coming back for more. Eddie Wright’s jaggedly erratic narrative style and Jesse Balmer’s nausea-inducing visuals shouldn’t really work together, but it’s a true testament to the strength of the story at the heart of this comic that things come together as well as they do. This one is most certainly an acquired taste, but as a dizzyingly surreal look at the fickle nature of inspiration, Tyranny of the Muse is unlike anything else I’ve ever read, and in this case, that’s most definitely a good thing.

PREVIEW ARTWORK

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