Image credit: Jason Brown, midlifegamergeek.com
At this point, Mark Spears’ Monster series has virtually formed an entire comic book industry on its own. This first issue has been printed an astonishing number of times, with approximately 70 different covers for the first issue of the comic alone. It caused quite a stir among comic book fans and collectors, to say the least.
Is this first question good? Let’s find out!
A wall of text provides a backdrop to the world created by Mark Spears, with details of a mysterious safe and hidden keys revealed at the beginning. Then there are murders, mysterious visitors, vampires, murderers, and serious warnings about what’s going on.
It’s a bit of a strange beast. Relying on realistic, digitally created, and often brightly colored artwork, it feels like it’s more about style than substance. Thanks to a collection of so many scenes where almost nothing happens, the various threads all seem unconnected at this point, which somehow makes this production feel both too insubstantial and too busy at the same time.
Even the art itself, which this series is known for, feels overly stiff and lifeless despite attempts at a realistic look. Spears clearly used 3D modeling and painting software to achieve its unique (and in my opinion often ugly) look, but it also takes a suspiciously AI-like approach, especially given the disjointed and disjointed narrative.
The final scene also feels like it’s lifted almost entirely from the classic ’80s comedy-horror Monster Squad.
After reading this debut issue, it’s very hard to understand what all the fuss is about. If ever there was a comic that became popular solely on the strength of its cover and its myriad variety, it’s Mark Spears Monsters.
Will things improve as the series progresses? Your guess is as good as mine. I resisted for this long trying to figure out what all the fuss is about, and honestly, I don’t think I’m going to keep up any longer.
I was lucky enough to find one of the 4th printings of this issue at Southampton Comics for a reasonable price, so I’m not going to bother trying to catch up unless I can find the next issue cheaper. That’s so awful, and that’s coming from someone who is a huge fan of classic monsters, to which this series is supposed to be a love letter!
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