Stages of Rot by Linnea Sterte // Comic Review
Stages of Rot is a monumental work about the cycles of life, spanning eras and great distances with its storytelling.
An alien desert comes to life around the body of a dying whale. Animals, insects, and ancient peoples scramble for her remains, making their homes among her bones, struggling through a millennia-long process of decay.
—Stages of Rot by Linnea Sterte, 2019 edition, Published by Peow Studio, 168 pages
Long time, no reviews! I’m back after a harrowing journey through traveling and illness. I’m glad to be returning with a review of a refreshing book that has certainly won my heart.
Stages of Rot may seem like a quiet story. Little dialogue spreads across many pages and many eras, as the decaying carcass of a whale nourishes the landscape of its grave. In reality, this world is loud, filled with the crying of bugs and fish and birds and people. It is a book that gives the impression of so much swimming beneath the surface, like peering through a glass into a lake brimming with life.
Sterte’s story is kind to its readers, providing a lens into a mysterious world that is more to be witnessed than understood. I love this book, not only because of its glimmering world, but also because of its loose narrative. In this way, it falls somewhere between Nausicaä and a nature documentary—real and unreal, physical and mythical all at once. Sterte opens up the portal into Stages of Rot, and we peer through.
What I loved
Something that shines brightest in this book is the art. I am enamored with Sterte’s use of wide, cinematic panels. Or, similarly, super vertical ones. In both cases, she gives space to these vast landscapes and skies of an alien world. Obviously the drawings within these panels are also masterfully done. Sterte’s linework is simple, sometimes shaky, sometimes rhythmic. It has a lot of life, but also a lot of accuracy, which makes for an artfully legible world. Each panel, and each stage of life throughout the story, really rewards a long look.
There are five parts to this book, each with its own color scheme providing tonal cues on the principles of the era. There is an era of war (“the barbarians”) which is dark, warm, and filled with fighting and death. Then, there is an era of overgrowth and abundance (“the lush phase”), where everything is green and periwinkle, a total departure from the previous span of time. The various palettes throughout are totally harmonious with themselves, but also play well with each other. The variety gives breadth to the timeline.
The story, as mentioned above, is about a whale whose death gives new life to the environment where its carcass decays. The whale is nourishment, as well as a place, or maybe a vessel. Inside of the whale is a pilot, someone called a “homunculus”. This character threads the loose story together, creating something that feels like an old mythology that you’ve somehow never heard before. It’s just a wonder and a delight to observe.
I’m curious about…
the way this story explores the violence and volatility of nature. It covers an immense scale, from the tiniest microbe to the largest mammal, but at every level there is an understanding that nature is chaotic and hard to understand. It’s exciting to see such a big (literally, as big as the world itself) topic be digested in the pages of a comic.
I also am intrigued by the vagueness of the story at times. I love that it does me no favors to understand it. It’s a kindness when stories do that, I think. The lack of explanation makes it feel very real—a first hand account of the events surrounding this whale carcass. Witnessing the ambivalence of nature, we watch life (and death) unfold.
On a technical note, I’m also curious about the choice to do handwritten lettering. It gives a really intimate feeling to this story that already feels like word of mouth mythology. There are also these pages throughout that are like notes in the journal of a naturalist. These epistolary touches are helpful in grounding the unreal mythological quality of the story.
Final takeaways
Stages of Rot is a monumental work about the cycles of life. Sterte spans eras and great distances with her storytelling. It’s a world that beckons you to dive in, and when it spits you out the other end, you have that strange tactile feeling you get after finishing a really thoughtful movie in theaters. An all-encompassing, sensational experience.
Recommended for…
People who use iNaturalist
Miyazaki stans
Environmental scientists
Anyone pondering the cycles of life, death, and rebirth
Pairs well with…
Films about the chaos of the natural world: Nausicaä, obviously, and Mononoke as well
Comics that observe one location over many years: Here by Richard McGuire, Homunculus by Joe Sparrow
Nature documentaries: Planet Earth
Piano music that makes you want to go outside: Wyoming (Piano Works) by Elijah Fox
More of Linnea Sterte’s work can be found at:
@turndecassette on instagram and bluesky // patreon.com/turndecassette
If you’ve read this book, or if you have any thoughts about my review, leave a comment and let me know.
Lovely intro to a super intriguing book. Thanks