Sirens of Suicide – The sirens in this comic are a rendition of how my mind oftentimes calls out to me. – Zachary
Well that was dark. This is the co-creator and artist of Nihileafs sneaking in a message because I feel it necessary to provide another perspective on this comic. While at first glance it might seem a little heavy-handed and macabre, consider the sailor traveling through uncharted waters, encountering a fascinating and lulling siren’s song… only to be pulled under and drowned by the seducing monster. These sirens here are perhaps more to the point, though it is not known if they derive any pleasure or biological need in singing their lullaby but in effect their intentions are the same as the sirens of sailor folklore and Odysseus’ journey. The Nihileafs in encountering these sirens are depicted facing away from the reader, something we do occasionally to force that engagement between the Nihileafs and whatever strange, curious and forlorn thing they chance upon. In this case it is a outcrop of rock filled with dead anthropoids and plants, vertebrae and branch alike tossing about in the churning waters. The Nihileafs are indifferent of course, even if they agree with the message of the harmonious singing of the creatures before them.
How odd it would be to encounter such an obvious ploy, yet how many corpses do you see laden before you? I think there is such a contrast between the taboo of suicide, the popular and even romanticized myths of the siren song, and the unphased Nihileafs who look upon this scene with the same interest as they would a sunrise, which is to say none at all. Maybe I have sullied the cleverness of this comic in offering my interpretation, but our long-winded author seemed to want the impact to be purely in the comic alone, which as the artist should be my goal with every comic, and yet in this one I feel as if I needed to justify myself, because there are going to be darker comics, more depraved, more vivid expressions of the meaninglessness of the universe, and equally there will be the humor and the wit of the Nihileafs to get us through, who, as seen in this comic, are constantly reminded of the impending death and the sometimes violent need to end it early and their subsequent indifference to the whole affair.
I am mainly in the background drawing the comics and figuring out how to make this website run the way we want, so consider this a rare message from the co-creator of Nihileafs, as well as my first introduction to the reader. Until next time! – Lotus Eater