Carthago Kane is a graphic novel from Humanoids about a man/ triton hybrid (a merman I guess) who escapes from a research facility and tries to survive as he finds his way to freedom. His story dovetails with that of an immense megalodon who has been roused from its life in the deep oceans and is now terrorizaing coastal Australia and adjacent areas. Is there a connection between Kane and the great megalodon? It probably won't surprise to know that... there is! Or could be. Kindred spirits, of a sort.
Carthago is a long running series by Christophe Bec detailing the despoiling of the ocean and the horrors unleashed when man delves too deep. I've been reading this series on and off for years and so when I saw this (with the distinctive cover) I had to jump in. The story itself is fine, nothing earth shattering, but it continues the story of Donovan, who is a cryptid hunter employed by a billionaire collector, as he struggles to find Kane, our merman. The book is 112 pages and has some nice artwork, a somewhat meandering story, and of course plenty of megalodon carnage.
It's a little on the nose with the marine biology stuff but honestly concern for the oceans and our natural resources- and the cost of extracting them ruthlessly- I mean, it can never be said enough, right? I'm not sure how much it advances the overall story- Donovan is kind of in the same place at the end as he is in the beginning, arguably, but that just allows for further stories, I suppose. Kane is not developed a lot but his story is compelling. The love interest was introduced about halfway through but didn't really impact the story until about 2/3 of the way, and I would have liked more of her. She may have been the most interesting character. And the "love" part of the love interest happened way too soon and needed more buildup. Still... those are minor concerns I guess. I was just looking for a bit more.
The other thing is this book assumes you know what is going on. The hybrids were introduced late (if I remember correctly) in the main Carthago series and donovan is re- introduced with little to no background- there is no recap. So it's familiar to long time readers but newcomers might be a little lost. Of course you can just enjoy it for what it is- a fun, lavishly illustrated megalodon story with a dash of climate/ natural resource awareness.
