A trio of mermaids — Pearl, Tooth and Eez — discover alcohol and develop a taste for it. And lucky for them, Eez had just learned a spell that allows them to walk on land as the humans do so that they can procure more. Unfortunately for them, Eez never learned how to undo the spell and she doesn't have her magic as a human. The three mermaid-turned-humans finds themselves crashing with a bartender named Vivi and they have to learn how to adapt on land until they can sort this little situation out.
Thirsty Mermaids is a graphic novel written by Kat Leyh (part-time author of Lumberjanes and lone-author of Snapdragon) and published by Gallery 13 in 2021.
This comic provides examples of:
- Albinos Are Freaks: Eez is all white with red eyes and she's seen as freakish and unwanted by other merfolk for being a Sea Witch.
- Aliens Love Human Food: The pod are motivated to go on land when they discover alcohol, going on multiple drinking benders throughout the story.
- Blessed with Suck: Being a sea witch, Eez has more magic than the average mermaid and can cast spells all on her own, being able to accomplish great things with training from the Aunties. Unfortunately for her, sea witches are distrusted and seen as freaks by merfolk society as a whole, made doubly so by her affiliation with the Aunties. When she turns human, she loses her magic and suffers from massive body dysmorphia from just how different her human body is.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Aunties cause a sudden tsunami that would have destroyed the human town in order to bring back Eez, seeing the rest of her pod (and the rest of the collateral damage) as inconsequential. Though it's implied that they knew it would all work out in the end.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Aunties are seen as "sisters" of Mother Ocean and are just as abstract and unknowable as the Ocean itself. When they take in Eez, their attempts at taking on a physical form come across as very eldritch indeed.
- Family of Choice: Pearl, Tooth and Eez were mermaids who had no pod of there own — Pearl and Tooth for not having any magic, Eez for being a Sea Witch — and made their own pod with each other. Vivi winds up becoming a member by the end.
- Fantastic Racism: Sea Witches like Eez are considered to be unlucky by other merfolk. Eez has it even worse for being marked by the Aunties.
- Humanity Ensues: The crux of the plot is that Eez uses a spell to turn Pearl, Tooth and herself into humans so that they could go drinking. The rest of the plot is them trying to find a way to turn back, all the while trying to adapt to human society along the way.
- I Choose to Stay: While the comic ends with Pearl, Tooth and Eez turning back into mermaids, they now know how to break the spell — by filling their lungs with sea-water — and they can go back on land any time they want. They consider Vivi a part of their pod and can turn her into a mermaid whenever she wants. It's also implied that they reveal their mermaid selves to the other friends they've made along the way.
- Mark of the Supernatural: Eez has black tattoos along her breast and left arm that were given to her by the Aunties as a sign of her affiliation with them.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: For one thing, merfolk aren't all just female. All merfolk (barring certain exceptions) have at least a little magic in them and can perform impressive spells in a large enough group, forming large family units called "pods". They consider the Ocean their "mother" and tend to distrust the Aunties and those marked by them.
- Take That!: When Vivi explains to the pod what Capitalism is, they're all visibly repulsed by it. Pearl even tries convincing one of the local businesses about going back to the barter system.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: Pearl is genuinely surprised when she learns that a lot of the human junk she finds in the ocean are not only valuable, but that the humans want them back. Pearl manages to pay for her rent and then some by bringing home a jar full of gold dabloons.
