Filed under: Comic Reviews, Previews | Tags: ghanbari, IDW, menton, Monocyte, STEVENILES
I usually wait until the end of a review to give out my inconsistent and occasionally irrelevant scores but today I’m giving you the score for Monocyte #4 first. Then I’m going to try and back that up by talking about this comic in a way that properly justifies it. I’m almost certainly going to fail. I’m not the most eloquent of reviewers and I’ve never discussed or read a comic like this before. I’m not sure I will, ever again. At least until the next Menton/ Ghanbari series is commissioned.
Monocyte #4 gets a 10/10.
Monocyte has been an investment for me. I’m not concerned with the rising prices of variant covers, but rather what this book has given me. Read my ‘review’ of the first issue and it’s plain to see that I had no idea what to make of it. Visually stunning, certainly and with lofty plot manoeuvres I was curious about but not overly hopeful for. It became an immersive experience that filled me more with a feeling of how it might be, for a human like me, to live in the land of Monocyte.
As the series progressed I read and re-read. Gleaning more and more each time. Not just from the story, the A to B points in the narrative, but the questions it brought me to ask about myself, my world, my beliefs. Comic books don’t often do that. Novels do, music does. I really like that Menton and Kasra have made a comic book that does that.
One of the perks here at Comics Anonymous is talking to creators. After speaking with Menton and Kasra my enthusiasm for the series and desire to see it unfold increased markedly. This happened after issue 3 too and now after reading the fourth and final issue I still want more. Sure, there are feelings of resolution. Rebellion and great monumental change have occurred in #4 but there are mores stories to be told. I want to read them, to see them and listen to them.
My 10/10 score isn’t given on the whole miniseries. It’s given on issue 4 alone. I’ll talk again about the whole series when the hardcover collected edition comes out in July. I don’t want to spoil anything here.
Issue 4 of Monocyte sees huge developments in Monocyte’s quest and the status quo is pushed to breaking point and beyond. I’ve never read a book that allows such a great sense of character with such little dialogue. The ever inventive and unparalleled art and design takes things forward in such huge leaps and bounds that myself and other readers must begin to question the waste in between the panels of other books.
Menton and Kasra have kindly given us a preview of #4 for you to look at here.
This issue, like its predecessors, contains a wealth of talen over and above Kasra and Menton:
* Created/written by menton3 & Kasra Ghanbari
* Interior art by menton3
* Interior art pages 12-19 by Chris Newman [
* Interior art pages 20-21 by Ben Templesmith [Fell, 30 Days of Night, Wormwood]
* A cover – menton3
* B cover – David Stoupakis [fine artist, Korn CD cover artist]
* Incentive cover – Phil Hale [world-renowned fine artist, formerly cover artist for Marvel/DC]
* human slave prose story – Steve Niles [30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre]
* final allegorical human slave story – Barron Storey [fine artist, Sandman: Endless Nights, The Marat/Sade Journals]
I’d also recommend you check out the Monocyte FB page for lots of additional content and sneak peaks
https://www.facebook.com/MonocyteComic
Monocyte #4 is out May 23 and for you should use code: MAY120462 to preorder the hardcover out in July.
Linsay @softlyspokenlas
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
Comics Anonymous 