Seaguy, written by Grant Morrison and published by Vertigo Comics (A Darker and Edgier imprint of DC Comics), is a character whose story has been chronicled over two three-issue limited series with a third and final series planned. The first appeared in 2004, the second in 2009. They follow the eponymous Seaguy and his intelligent, flying, cigar-chomping sidekick-fish, Chubby Da Choona.
Umpteen years after the defeat of Anti-Dad, whose death-descent shattered Australia into the thousand islands of Lostralia, and the Heroic Sacrifice of Teknostrich, Seaguy is depressed as he has never had a real adventure, and can never prove himself enough to be a man as to woo his love interest, She-Beard. In an attempt to cheer him up, and to distract Seaguy from the mysterious lumps of rock with hieroglyphics on them that keep on falling from the sky, Chubby suggests they go to the Mickey Eye theme park, which they do. This leads into them finding out about a sinister conspiracy involving a mysterious being called Xoo, Mickey Eye and even the Moon itself!
The storyline is confusing, as with any Morrison work.
This work contains examples of:
- Best Her to Bed Her: She-Beard, who will only wed the man who defeats her in single combat. At the end of the second volume, Seaguy fights her to a standstill, and his words convince her to drop her sword and kiss him.
- Bookends: Volume 1 both opens and ends with Seaguy playing a chess game with Death.
- Brainwashed: A considerable number of people are brainwashed to serve Mickey Eye.
- Broken Pedestal: Seaguy doesn't take it well after learning that his idol Seadog was behind the conspiracy brainwashing everyone.
- Captain Colorbeard: An extremely rare female example with She-Beard, the warrior woman who's vowed to only marry the man who can defeat her in combat!
- Catchphrase: Chubby is fond of saying "Da fug?"
- Chekhov's Gunman: Seadog first starts out as an unassuming acquaintance of Seaguy's, but turns out to be behind the scheme of brainwashing the populace.
- Chess with Death: Seaguy regularly meets and plays chess against Death, who is a skeleton wearing a gondolier's costume with a pair of bright blue eyeballs in his sockets.
- Cigar Chomper: Chubby is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth, until after he dies.
- Close on Title: Every issue waits until the last page to reveal the story's title.
- The Conspiracy: There is a cabal secretly controlling everyone through subliminal messages.
- Crapsaccharine World: The world is a seeming paradise united under one rule, where even death holds no power, and there is no need for heroes now that the cosmic being Anti-Dad has been defeated. But the population is being brainwashed and controlled by sinister forces beyond their knowledge, who are planning to remove free will itself.
- Dead Sidekick: Chubby is Seaguy's sidekick and dies by the end of the first volume.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: When Chubby dies of dehydration and exposure, Seaguy cradles the body in his arms.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Seaguy's idol Seadog turns out to be the antagonist.
- Downer Ending: Vol 1 ends with Seaguy subjected to brainwashing after the loss of his sidekick Chubby.
- Dystopia: The world's setting is one where a clandestine autocracy runs everything.
- Father Neptune: Seadog is an elderly sea captain.
- Flying Seafood Special: Chubby is a fish who can fly.
- Funetik Aksent: Chubby da Choona, true to his name, speaks with the exaggerated accent of a 1930s NYC cab driver.
- Future Food Is Artificial: Taken to its logical extreme with xoo, the ubiquitous food product of the future! It's xoo! It's new! It's also sentient!
- Girls with Moustaches: She-Beard is a woman with a beard.
- Living Statue: Moais who can talk and even smoke.
- Mind Screw: See "Grant Morrison" above.
- Mocky Mouse: Mickey Eye, the ubiquitous media character that's on every channel and whom everybody loves.
- Mummy: An immortal mummy is found to live on the moon, in fact being a pharaoh who ordered the moon's construction because he wasn't satisfied with pyramids.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Chubby is Seaguy's sidekick and an anthropomorphic fish.
- Replacement Scrappy: An in-universe retcon in which Chubby is replaced by Lucky el Loro, a parrot with low self-esteem. Even Seaguy doesn't like him. For good reason; Lucky has been spying on Seaguy for I-Pol the whole time.
- Scenery Censor: In the second volume, Seaguy strips naked to show the bull that he doesn't intend to harm him. When viewed from the front, the bull's head, a man's hand and some dust obscure his dong.
- Seadog Beard: Seadog, fittingly enough, has facial hair fitting for an old man who's had experience with the sea.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: In volume 2, Seaguy dramatically interrupts the wedding of Seadog and She-Beard by objecting that the bride is his girlfriend.
- Toros y Flamenco: In volume 2, Seaguy briefly goes into hiding in the town of Los Huevos as "El Macho," a matador. However, instead of being a bullfighter, he's a bulldresser; the object of the sport is to dodge the bull and dress him up in fetching eveningwear.
- Weird Moon: As it turns out, the moon was built 5000 years ago by a pharaoh who wasn't satisfied with just a pyramid. It was blasted into the sky after several hundred tons of Chinese fireworks were detonated under it.
- World Gone Mad: The work's setting is very dangerous and bizarre.