Saturday, January 11, 2014

Monsters! & Other Stories


Monsters! & Other Stories
Gustavo Duarte
4.5/5

Will be Published Jan. 28th 2014

No First Sentence
"This is a wordless comic."
Publisher's Description:

Newcomer Gustavo Duarte spins wordless tales brimming with humor, charm, and delightfully twisted horror! In Monsters!, oversized beasts wreak havoc on cities in the tradition of Godzilla and King Kong. In Có!, an alien abduction disarms a gentle farmer, and in Birds, two business partners run from fate only to find themselves hopelessly unable to change the future. Beautifully illustrated and wonderfully evocative storytelling fills every page of Duarte's unforgettable collection, Monsters! & Other Stories.

Dear Reader,

NetGalley and Dark Horse Comics gave me this wonderful opportunity to view and rate this unique comic. Can you even call it a comic? I think it should be in a genre of it's own, combine comics with silent film and you might get something closer to what you'll find in Monsters! Gustavo Duarte has split this into three miniature stories that are told without words. Each story is unique and quirky, with a little humor mixed in with a few grotesque but playful images. I find this reminds me very much of those "Spy vs. Spy" comics I used to read growing up. "Spy vs. Spy" was created by Cuban artist, Antonio Prohias. Gustavo Duarte is Brazilian, so maybe it's a cultural stylistic thing? All I know is that I wish we had more!

Each page is clean, crisp and full of detail. Details such as the picture frame or penguin that shows up in the background throughout each story. Although the stories are separate, you almost feel that maybe these characters might be related somehow. I didn't ponder too much into this but I appreciate when an Author/Artist adds those little things that make it special. I'm torn between the first story and the last one as to which I would pick as a favorite. I fell in love with the pig loving aliens but I'm also a sucker for cartoon monsters. The second story was interesting but didn't really make me laugh as much as the other two.

All in all, this is an artist to watch! I'm excited Dark Horse is taking this on, I'm loving the change in the comic world that has more graphic novels and indie art related comics coming to focus. The demand is there and I implore you all to pick up a few unusual ones, especially if you never thought of yourself as a comic person, this one would be a perfect one to start with.

Happy Reading,
AmberBug
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