Monster of the Week, Issue 1
Written by: Ryan Little
Art by: Mike Vasquez
Color by: Joe Hogan
A self-described “giant monster/kaiju book in the wonky tone of Adventure Time” is the most accurate description a creative team has ever put forward for a new book. This comic book doesn’t take the Pacific Rim approach of the ultra-realistic kaiju fight for humanity theme, nor does it take the newest Shin Godzilla approach of an unstoppable evolving threat that destroys skyscrapers just to stand up. What Monster of the Week is clearly setting out to do, is have a fun monster hunt between a group of elementary school friends (who have way more firepower than any fifth grader should even know about) and a monster that based on the day of the week it arrives, has some different attributes to its features and size. But again, that is the story we are promised, seeing how much of a large scale adventure this giant monster theme can produce instead of the Hollywood ultra-realistic cgi.
Seeing this book is being put on Kickstarter, I assumed this was a solo project or an individual’s labor of love. I finished reading the comic and thought that it was an amazing job by one person to completely nail three huge elements to a comic; script, illustrations and colors. I was shocked when I took a second and realized this was produced by three creative people instead of one. That is how in-tune and on the same creative wave length these three guys are. With Ryan Little’s story being so easy to pick up and understand the premise within a few page turns is amazing. Usually a new series will take till the end of the first issue or even a few books in before you grasp the concept. I was eager to see how our main character, a fifth grader mind you, got into the thick of monster hunting competing against other monster hunting gangs and even the government.
The illustrations of Monster of the Week would fit in with Adventure Time seamlessly. Mike Vasquez has done some freelance work on Adventure Time providing some crossover work with that fan favorite show and Rick & Morty. Flexing his Adventure Time muscles, the facial expressions instantly put this book in the same cartoon adventuring category, where things are not as dire and apocalyptic as they seem, but there is still an encounter with a kaiju to arm up for. This light hearted exaggeration of emotions really helps to tone down the theme and let the adventure unfold for these kids (and the reader). Rounding out the creative team with colors, Joe Hogan has a nearly identical resume to Mike, the two have even been collaborating for the past 3 years. I found it really impressive to see such an “Adventure Time” color palette applied to this comic and still see the monsters as these dangerously massive monstrosities.
The creative team set out with the first introduction on their Kickstarter page pitching this comic as a group of friends pitted against massive monsters, and that is what we got. If you love Adventure Time and you love seeing kaiju battles, then this book is for you. This first issue is like one of Vasquez and Hogan’s fan favorite crossover art pieces, set to the script of Little’s own tale of a determined monster hunter and his school mates all with the light hearted story telling theme from Adventure Time. In a word, fun.
Find Monster of the Week and help this comic become a reality on KICKSTARTER https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monsteroftheweek1/monster-of-the-week-issue-1?token=6e13cee2