Monsters Are My Business

 

I picked up Monsters Are My Business while perusing new stuff coming out. The cover struck me as the writers and artists have a fondness for the good old schlocky comic booky fun and I was right. It’s a comic that doesn’t take itself seriously, mixing some fun modern fantasy tropes and artwork that is giving me a sense of nostalgia for something I can’t quite pin it down. Perhaps the Comix Zone game for the Genesis, and also a smidgen of Metal Slug, I’m not sure.

This is a fast food type of comic, fast pacing, lots of action and likable characters. Not much to think about but super fun to go through. It does a very good job at establishing its characters right off the bat with minimal text, which I love. It’s the sign of a good comic book writer right there. The plot is simple and it’s piece together from well known tropes. Basically an evil cult in the best Lovecraftian tradition brings about some demonic rain that wrecks the planet and now you have all sorts of abominations walking around. The rich are all walled up somewhere but our hero, Tanner "Griz", his mute koala companion Cuddles and a necromancer named Hillary live in the Flooded Zone, helping people in need. If you ever watched the movie Cemetery Man and you like that sort of thing, this book will be a treat for you. It’s like that movie but without the eroticism and a lot more humor to it. I’m very happy to have picked this one up. It’s very refreshing in a way, which is weird because there’s nothing particularly new in this book. The art and the writing have this enthusiasm for the medium that is contagious in a way and I had more fun than I expected. Looking forward to the second issue.