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Ojo
Annie has terrible luck with pets. She's killed hamsters and mice and lizards and birds. For a domesticated animal, getting Annie as an owner is akin to a death sentence. But when Annie finds a little beastie in a drain pipe named Ojo, will her karma really change or is she destined for more disappointment?
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Sam Kieth
409 books269 followersKieth first came to prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner's Mage, his brushwork adding fluidity and texture to the broad strokes of Wagner's early work at Comico Comics. In 1989, he drew the first five issues of writer Neil Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman, but felt his style was unsuited to the book (specifically saying that he "felt like Jimi Hendrix in The Beatles") and left, handing over to his former inker Mike Dringenberg.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 11, 2016
Annie was living with her grandpa and sister after the death of her mom when she found Ojo, a strange little tentacled creature and made it her pet. Since Ojo only drew nourishment from its mother, Annie begins feeding the mother roadkill and things. Or is Ojo just a way of coping with her mother's death...
Ojo has a lot of similarities with the Maxx. While there are monsters, it's really a story about coping with loss. Annie and her sister both refuse to talk about their mother's death. Ojo, while a tentacled eyeball thing, is Annie's coping mechanism. It's a really good story. Weird but also pretty emotional. About halfway through The Maxx, you could see that Sam wasn't writing about super heroes, he was writing about people and their baggage. This is a lot like what the Maxx would have been like if The Maxx wasn't in it.
Ojo has a lot of similarities with the Maxx. While there are monsters, it's really a story about coping with loss. Annie and her sister both refuse to talk about their mother's death. Ojo, while a tentacled eyeball thing, is Annie's coping mechanism. It's a really good story. Weird but also pretty emotional. About halfway through The Maxx, you could see that Sam wasn't writing about super heroes, he was writing about people and their baggage. This is a lot like what the Maxx would have been like if The Maxx wasn't in it.
October 18, 2009
So I read this, Four Women, and Zero Girl. Out of the three, Ojo most appeals to someone like me looking for more meaning than comic book. It's the most realistic and the least "colorful," literally and figuratively. I don't mean to say that there's no life to this book, but it's more subtle.
To all appearances, Annie is about a girl who can't keep pets, but Annie's relationships with her pets, especially the most fantastical of the set, is an extended analogy to her relationship with her dead mother. At every turn, when Annie is told to let go of her pet Ojo, she refuses, "He needs me," or rather, she needs her mother. She is as unwilling to part with her mother, taken from her in a tragic car accident, as she is the little monster.
As Annie goes on, she learns to "mother" her bizarre friend, and we learn about Annie's view of her mother's death. "Feeding mom makes the baby one better." As long as mum is doing well, baby is too. Eventually, Annie comes to an understanding with her mother's death, but the journey there is interesting, especially Annie's relationship with her older, fourteen-year-old sister, who views Annie's childish coping fantasies of their mother incarnated into a drainpipe monster as disrespectful to their mother's memory. As their mother's death remains unspoken in their home, it is not unreasonable that Annie would fashion her mother into a monster hidden yet ever looming in their lives, but her sister responds by torturing Annie in typical adolescent fashion, which, while understandable for a pubescent girl in pain, is quite cruel to Annie. That's painful to read, and it is the most visibly realistic element of the book, enough to make the reader wonder whether Kieth has had some personal experience with this. Ojo is not the only of his works to handle a mother's death, and he does mention in interviews that he grew up with "dominant women." He wouldn't be the first comic book artist to blame his insecurities on women, but in one scene, amongst others, when Annie says, "I wish you weren't so mean," and her sister replies, "Me too," it's too true to life.
At any rate, both girls are unable to communicate their grief to each other. One of her sister's tactics is to blame Annie for their mother's death, and when she can't keep an animal alive, Annie believes her. This may be where Ojo derives his meaning. Ojo in Spanish being "eye," or more popularly "the evil eye" (often blue, as depicted here) with which look someone can curse another person, Annie believes that her touch has been a blight on her mother. Given that the story begins with Annie in a long shot observering from afar as her parents watch TV, this may be literal; she may have wished her mother to give her more attention, and this may also be the source of her self-blame when her mother afterwards dies.
However, a child's reasoning is not always logical, and Annie's self-blame can as easily derive, just as her grandfather's does for his own parent's passing, from no apparent cause. Eventually, through the help of a magical trout, Annie realizes she is not to blame for her mother's death and she knows that she must let her go. This is accomplished when the family finally acknowledges the mother's death and provides some closure with a ceremony. Her mother is Mexican, so Annie suggests an All Saints' ritual. Later, she conducts her own ritual. She lets little Ojo go to his mother, and the drainpipe monster ("Mama") disappears. Whether or not Annie believed her mother had given her her due of attention in life and death, she seems content to allow her to rest when her drawings of her mother suddenly go from one-eyed monsters to what appear to be sun-like circles of light.
I very much liked the eerie, sketchy art. Sometimes realistic, sometimes comical, the panels were as shifting as I expect a child's view can be-- or perhaps Kieth was just experimenting. The art is much more varying than I've seen in his other work.
I give it 3.5 stars. I would have liked the symbolism to be less overt, i.e. had Annie not overtly named the drainpipe monster her mother. I prefer some room for interpretation. Some of the dialogue also speaks like exposition rather than lifelike speech, which I would consider fitting in a largely symbolic story if I had not seen this mistake made in his less symbolic works. He slips. Overall, however, a good, quick work on handling grief. Definitely not horror, LOL.
To all appearances, Annie is about a girl who can't keep pets, but Annie's relationships with her pets, especially the most fantastical of the set, is an extended analogy to her relationship with her dead mother. At every turn, when Annie is told to let go of her pet Ojo, she refuses, "He needs me," or rather, she needs her mother. She is as unwilling to part with her mother, taken from her in a tragic car accident, as she is the little monster.
As Annie goes on, she learns to "mother" her bizarre friend, and we learn about Annie's view of her mother's death. "Feeding mom makes the baby one better." As long as mum is doing well, baby is too. Eventually, Annie comes to an understanding with her mother's death, but the journey there is interesting, especially Annie's relationship with her older, fourteen-year-old sister, who views Annie's childish coping fantasies of their mother incarnated into a drainpipe monster as disrespectful to their mother's memory. As their mother's death remains unspoken in their home, it is not unreasonable that Annie would fashion her mother into a monster hidden yet ever looming in their lives, but her sister responds by torturing Annie in typical adolescent fashion, which, while understandable for a pubescent girl in pain, is quite cruel to Annie. That's painful to read, and it is the most visibly realistic element of the book, enough to make the reader wonder whether Kieth has had some personal experience with this. Ojo is not the only of his works to handle a mother's death, and he does mention in interviews that he grew up with "dominant women." He wouldn't be the first comic book artist to blame his insecurities on women, but in one scene, amongst others, when Annie says, "I wish you weren't so mean," and her sister replies, "Me too," it's too true to life.
At any rate, both girls are unable to communicate their grief to each other. One of her sister's tactics is to blame Annie for their mother's death, and when she can't keep an animal alive, Annie believes her. This may be where Ojo derives his meaning. Ojo in Spanish being "eye," or more popularly "the evil eye" (often blue, as depicted here) with which look someone can curse another person, Annie believes that her touch has been a blight on her mother. Given that the story begins with Annie in a long shot observering from afar as her parents watch TV, this may be literal; she may have wished her mother to give her more attention, and this may also be the source of her self-blame when her mother afterwards dies.
However, a child's reasoning is not always logical, and Annie's self-blame can as easily derive, just as her grandfather's does for his own parent's passing, from no apparent cause. Eventually, through the help of a magical trout, Annie realizes she is not to blame for her mother's death and she knows that she must let her go. This is accomplished when the family finally acknowledges the mother's death and provides some closure with a ceremony. Her mother is Mexican, so Annie suggests an All Saints' ritual. Later, she conducts her own ritual. She lets little Ojo go to his mother, and the drainpipe monster ("Mama") disappears. Whether or not Annie believed her mother had given her her due of attention in life and death, she seems content to allow her to rest when her drawings of her mother suddenly go from one-eyed monsters to what appear to be sun-like circles of light.
I very much liked the eerie, sketchy art. Sometimes realistic, sometimes comical, the panels were as shifting as I expect a child's view can be-- or perhaps Kieth was just experimenting. The art is much more varying than I've seen in his other work.
I give it 3.5 stars. I would have liked the symbolism to be less overt, i.e. had Annie not overtly named the drainpipe monster her mother. I prefer some room for interpretation. Some of the dialogue also speaks like exposition rather than lifelike speech, which I would consider fitting in a largely symbolic story if I had not seen this mistake made in his less symbolic works. He slips. Overall, however, a good, quick work on handling grief. Definitely not horror, LOL.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2008
A darling (but distraught) little girl finds a bizarre monster baby that she takes in as a pet to help her deal with the death of her mom. It's bizarre and sweet and a little scary and touching all at once.
July 26, 2016
I read this years ago but I still think of it as one of my favourite comics, and probably the reason I love Sam's work so much (actually - consciously, the REAL reason is probably Preludes & Nocturnes). I'm going to guess the date as 2008 when I read it, it may be wrong.
Edit: Re-read 2016, the timing might have been wrong for it to hit me the way it did once upon a time, but it was still good.
Edit: Re-read 2016, the timing might have been wrong for it to hit me the way it did once upon a time, but it was still good.
September 23, 2011
Annie's mum died recently, she and her sister are living with her grandfather for a while. Annie doesn't have much luck with pets (they keep dying!) until she finds Ojo, a strange creature that draws strength from its mum. It's all very weird but in a way Ojo helps Annie to let go of her mum. Really sad and touching.
September 22, 2008
fantastic "slice of life" style comic about a little girl getting over her mother's death.
April 12, 2018
Edición española.
Colección Made in Hell 7.
Colección Made in Hell 7.
February 3, 2021
Una narrazione che dovrebbe essere profonda ma viene veicolata nel modo sbagliato e talmente caotico da far perdere tutto il pathos che invece dovrebbe esserci, un tentativo carino che però non si conclude con alcun trasporto emotivo.
April 25, 2020
Great artwork, inventive creature that she cares for. Fairly good story line of a young girl going through the stages of having just lost her mother.
August 25, 2023
A hidden jem in horror comics!
July 23, 2011
A lovely little modern fairytale. This is the kind of book I would have liked when I was much younger. I still loved it, but the darkness reminded me of early Tim Burton films, and the TV show Are You Afraid of the Dark?. Ojo tells the story of a young girl and her bitchy sister. They have recently lost their mum and been left in the care of their grandfather. Annie (our protagonist) expresses herself via her dead pets, all of whom she ended up killing in some way. These pets recur as a trio of her subconscious, at first blaming her and then helping her come to terms with her mother's death. Annie later discovers a new pet. A weird squid like creature she dubs Ojo. She takes it in to care for it, but has trouble letting it go. Obviously, there are many issues dealing with parenthood and loss, but the book isn't dragged down by self-pity. It has a lot of humor, which mostly causes a chuckle. The true strength of the book is its darkness. There are some challenging moments for characters and readers alike. The artwork is beautifully shaded black and white. It feels like a comfortable Sunday afternoon rainy-day movie.
January 29, 2015
As a longtime Sam Kieth admirer, this is really tough for me to say, but Ojo reeks. While this isn't the first time he's dealt with a very young protagonist, going through emotions more complicated than they deserve, it's the only time he's lost my attention along the way. Nearly all of Kieth's earlier creator-owned work is densely layered with a twinge of sadly genuine introspection, but by comparison this just feels like a shallow retread of ground he's already covered. Annie really isn't that fascinating of a lead character, and the only other faces in the story - her bullish sister and spaced out grandfather - are one-dimensional and don't bring anything extra to the story. Usually I can fall back on Sam's artwork and shut off my brain in that kind of a situation, but even that escape is lacking, since he only provides about half of the illustrations. The remainder are contributed by a small squad of imposters and fill-ins who don't even come close to meeting expectations. I've always loved Kieth's character-driven stories, but it's time for something different already, and Ojo seems all too familiar.
January 20, 2023
.More reviews like this one on my blog Snapdragon Alcove
This is a dark and disturbing book. Before you turn away at that, the story deals with deep themes of death and moving on.
Annie is a ten-year-old girl that can’t keep any of her pets alive due to not understanding how to take care of them. It is funny in a twisted way how the pet dies.
Soon you learn that Annie’s mom recently dies. The story is about coping with death and how everyone deals with it differently. As well as trying to move on. Annie’s older sister doesn’t want to talk about their mom and the grandfather tries to bring it up.
Annie finds this weird creature that hurt. The only way it can get better is if Annie feeds the mother that lives in the drainpipe.
The drawings are in black and white. That is a choice on the author’s part. I like it is in black and white. It gives the book a gritty and surreal quality to it.
If the book was done in color it would lose it effect.
This is a good book that deals with themes of lost. For some reason I keep finding books with themes like this.
This is a dark and disturbing book. Before you turn away at that, the story deals with deep themes of death and moving on.
Annie is a ten-year-old girl that can’t keep any of her pets alive due to not understanding how to take care of them. It is funny in a twisted way how the pet dies.
Soon you learn that Annie’s mom recently dies. The story is about coping with death and how everyone deals with it differently. As well as trying to move on. Annie’s older sister doesn’t want to talk about their mom and the grandfather tries to bring it up.
Annie finds this weird creature that hurt. The only way it can get better is if Annie feeds the mother that lives in the drainpipe.
The drawings are in black and white. That is a choice on the author’s part. I like it is in black and white. It gives the book a gritty and surreal quality to it.
If the book was done in color it would lose it effect.
This is a good book that deals with themes of lost. For some reason I keep finding books with themes like this.
March 7, 2010
A cute, short, entirely black and white Sam Kieth work about a little girl dealing with her jerkface older sister, her mother's death and raising a pet without accidentally killing it. Oh yeah, the pet is a baby one eyed tentacle monster.
Cameos by a scary trout man and various taxidermied animals.
Cameos by a scary trout man and various taxidermied animals.
March 31, 2010
another trip into the twisted mind of sam keith. while sharing several thematic elements with The Maxx, it definitely stand on its own, and presents its own parade of bizarre and inexplicable characters, all wrapped up in the life of a sad little girl who is learning to deal with loss beyond her years.
December 29, 2015
This was mega creepy... I'm glad I didn't leave it too late in the day. I have time to read something cute or sweet before get ridiculous nightmares. I really thought Annie was going to do it... Bah. Once again, I'm really not sure why I ended up buying this book... Not usually my thing. It was good, but I won't be re-reading.
December 20, 2009
Sam Kieth is so beautifully weird. He perfectly captures the matter-of-fact weirdness of childhood imagination in this one, but not in an annoying Disney way. More in a freaky, wow, HA! kind of way. Come for the wonderful little girl, stay for the giant trout.
January 20, 2011
I read this book in the hospital, during a really hard time in my life. I kept me balanced in my own way. For anyone stuck in a hospital room I suggest this Sparklehorse (band, RIP Mark Linkous), and Fables The Good Prince. It helped smooth things over.
July 29, 2011
Sam knocks another one out of the park with this one. Looks like a monster book, but is actually the story about a little girl dealing with the loss of a parent. A very effectively told one as well. And there is a nice touch of monster in it...
October 11, 2009
I had some problems with the scritchy scratchy art but the writing, story, and characters were excellent.
April 24, 2012
creepy, strange, upsettting, odd
August 12, 2014
A bit out there, but of course it is written by Sam Keith. A touching, if strange, story about loss and an intimate look at how a family deals with it told through a fairy tale type setting.
November 2, 2012
I read this in English. They only had the spanish version listed
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews