The Starlight Calliope

Whistles #1

by Andrew Hussie

Whistles, a clown in the Starlight Calliope circus, was beloved by all. One day an accident nearly cost him his life, and he became exposed to the corrupt underworld of the circus, rife with murder and cannibalism. Forced to flee, he experiences the hardships of the world such as homesickness and prostitution. But his spirit remains bright and optimistic.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Comic Book

120 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2007

About the author

Andrew Hussie is the creator of MS Paint Adventures, a collection of webcomics that includes Homestuck, as well as of several other webcomics, books, and videos.

Reviews

[Alexander Seiler]

At its core The Starlight Calliope is a story about the injustice brought about by systemic inequalities, themes that Hussie frequently will revisit in later works such as Homestuck and Psycholonials.
The game is rigged against you and even a successful deposing of the oppressive ruler just brings about a change of flavor. As long as the circus stands the show will go on and the meat will flow. The only way for even a chance on freedom is to burn it all down to ground. It's a shame the author never could finish this work. I highly recommend a read.

[James Sheaves]

This is signature Hussie; Andrew just thinks of the worst possible things that could happen to his protagonists and throws them headfirst into those things. He gives a uniquely warped morality to his stories, where his pure-of-heart hero can also be a mass murderer and a cannibal. The incompleteness of the story isn't such an issue for those who've already read Homestuck, since many of the ideas in Whistles were picked up on and continued there. Whistles is just another delightful dip into Andrew's dark, colourful imagination.

[mire w]

I read this when I was about 14 cause I was really into homestuck at the time and didn’t like it very much at the time but as an adult I think I realized it influenced me a lot more than I gave it credit for. Maybe even more than homestuck did. As homestuck became more of an amalgamation of its readers and you could kind of pick and choose what to take from it starlight calliope was uniquely bleak. Ever since this book I’ve been horribly fascinated with the trope of a pure hearted slave being unshakably loyal to an evil force. There’s just something so sad and sick about someone whose entire existence is to be a nourishing punchline. I think about characters like whistles a lot and how from an outside perspective there’s some sort of occult power of innocence that powers them and it awes and impresses everyone but truly it’s a very simple and sad existence.

[Meri Elena]

Super creepy and weird, which I like. It's definitely not for everyone, though. I wanted to find out what happens next, but I don't think the story was ever continued.

[lamb glass]

I understand why they gave up on this one.

[Saria Brightshell]

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

"Dad, there's a clown nose in my loaf."
"They're an aquired taste, son. Bitter, but full of flavor."

"I'm sure you know clownhood has its boons along with its curses."

A beloved circus is built on the cannibalizing of its own uwitting performers. One cherished disciple refuses to acknowledge the roots of that harm in his undying love for its perpetrator, even as it drags him and his co-stars ever further from the light of freedom. In the dwindling unfinished final stretch of the comic, the circus continues to perpetuate itself, albiet in steadily more unsustainable forms. So long as the powerful wish to feast on the innocent for their own amusement and are left unabated, the show will go on, eventually even to the detriment of the forces reponsible.

The art and much of the comedic timing in this one very much remind me of the work of Jhonen Vazquez, so that's neat.

[Page 815]

Wonderfully weird, absurd, funny and fucked up in all the right amounts and ratios. The whole thing reads like a drunk dream. The world shown is fascinating and unique and characters feel very alive and concrete. It is all too bad then that the second book never came out and some plots are left unfinished. But what is made is pretty damn good.

[Hazel Fabrizio Fabrizio]

Really fun, cute, but morbid.
Very interesting concept it is so sad this won't get finished.
I don't know what it is about clowns but between the Post-Scratch Earth with Insane clown posse dual presidency in homestuck, the clown aspects of alternian culture, and psycholonials, the spirit of the clown brings out great writing and characters in The Huss.
Please Hussie finish this some day.

[Gryotharian]

man i wish this got finished

[Bernard Booth]

Disturbing, to say the least.

[Thomas]

Ahahaha, I forgot how funny this is.

It's very hard to review this properly, because it's just so short. The emphasis was on telling dark jokes, and it does that well.