The Third Eye

by Mike Rogers

The Third Eye is a work of fiction about the contemporary art world, written and extensively illustrated by Los Angeles artist Mike Rogers. The Third Eye uses elements of picaresque novels, magical realism, graphic novels, and children's books to tell the story of a washed-up artist who tries to resuscitate his career with the help of a talking coffee cup with special powers. Hand written in English with extensive color illustrations, on the border between an illustrated novel and a graphic novel, The Third Eye is the first work of fiction by Rogers, who began his career as a newspaper and magazine reporter before turning to art. He works primarily in film and video. Hardcover.

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Carles · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even though the concept of the book was interesting, the way the plot is developed makes it hard to keep the original empathy that I had with the protagonist at the start. Eventually this empathy transforms. First to apathy and then to a considerable dislike.

Now a bit of a spoilerish part seasoned with a tiny amount of my inner bastard:
Jeremmy, the protagonist, at the end of the story is a bitter person, or at least it seems to me. He's someone who has lost everything (his art, his friends, his wife...) to his foolishness. But he is "happy" because his way of life, which destroyed everything he cared for, is alive and kicking. He can, and he does, continue destroying the careers of other artists because his way of "creating art" is making other artists unable to do art ... I say its BULLSHIT!

What kind of story ends like this!? Where is the ****ing message!? What kind of human being feels so little (even with the Third Eye general apathy)!?

Basically all the words in the spoiler section are about the ending. I think if it had been different I may have liked the book (not extremely because I had other issues).

Endings are important but having the right ending is the best.