Have you ever had a beer and you didn't know quite what to think of it? I mean, you liked it fine at the time, but really didn't have any strong feelings about it one way or another. This usually means you'll not order it again, but if someone has it in their fridge and offers it to you, you wouldn't decline.

That's kinda how I feel about The Deep, the comic based on the Netflix series.

The concept is pretty simple. Family of underwater explorers in a super advanced submarine. It's "Lost in Space" meets "Sea Quest." Father is adventurous one, mother is the scientific one, teenage daughter takes after the mother, pre-teen son takes after father. There are typical sibling fights, typical spousal disagreements, and it all takes place underwater.

The story is even simpler than the concept. Reports of missing boats and fish congregation. It has to be a dragon right? I mean, the dad has old maps and everything. Better go check it out and send your youngest child out to investigate a blue whale corpse that had it's head bit off. Whoops... there's a sea monster. 

When I read this comic the first time, it seemed rather delightful if not a bit banal. Now, after every subsequent reading, I can only hear the canned audience laughter for every family foible and a John Williams soundtrack from 40 years ago. It's not that these things are innately bad... I just don't care for it right now. Tom Taylor is just working with the source material which isn't the most compelling to begin with and maybe I should be so harsh.

The art is, in my opinion, the redeeming quality. James Brouwer's art resembles that of a Don Bluth film and that always fills me with nostalgic joy. Sure it's a bit stereotypical and a overtly cartoonish, but it works.

So, in the end, I'll not buy the next comic in this series... but if you have it on your coffee table I may just read it. 

Rating: 6/10 Bad Fish Jokes