The Harvey and Eisner-nominated The Eyes investigates the power of eyesight in a series of paradoxical, tension-filled scenarios. The stories reside in a universe next door where seeing is not believing, invisibility and blindness are roommates, eye injury may be a necessary step to combat evil, and we must sometimes be shielded from what may be revealed about ourselves.
Spanish artist/writer Javi De Castro is intoxicated with the notion of using visual storytelling to explore paradoxes of vision itself. He has created metafictional narratives that turn back upon themselves, challenging the reader to distinguish what they see from what they know. Even as the characters undertake an ontological escapade, the reader undergoes an adventure in understanding and enlightening confusion.
It is especially notable that Castro employs replacement animation to introduce mysterious, paradoxical effects into his comics. As his portfolio shows, he has devoted many years to perfecting this technique and exploring its potential. In The Eyes, invisibility, blindness, hallucination and demonic possession are all made tangible by panels that flash suddenly from one image to another.
Considering that this animation cannot be transferred from the internet to print medium, Castro takes pains to distinguish his work from the ephemeral blog format of most webcomics. Each story is presented as an episode with its own cover (and variants of the covers by other artists). It’s as if he’s preparing for the day when webcomics will be archived for posterity, just like other legitimate art forms.
