Those Tiny Vamp Scamps Are So Darn Cute in Little Monsters

The meek shall inherit the earth. And by meek, we apparently mean kiddie vampires in Little Monsters #1, written by Jeff Lemire, drawn by Dustin Nguyen, lettered by Steve Wands and published by Image.

Netflix needed something to adapt, so we’ve got King of Spies #1, written by Mark Millar at Netflix, drawn by Matteo Scalera, colored by Giovanna Niro, lettered by Clem Robins and theoretically published by Image.

There’s a guy? With a restaurant? And maybe some drugs? It’s all quite loud in Chicken Devil #1, written by Brian Buccellato, drawn by Hayden Sherman, lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and published by AfterShock.

Will Nevin: One new book and two with enough fuzz for us to collect penicillin. Ian, we’re home after our dreadful look at three fresh books last time. *shudder*

Ian Gregory: My family was just in town visiting, and my fridge is literally piled high with leftovers. So many leftovers that the last time I opened the fridge door a pizza box literally fell out. I am glad to see that this week we have a bounty of leftover comics, as well.

Will: Sell me on the tastiest thing you’ve got in there now.

Ian: I’ve got some cancha in there from this Peruvian restaurant, and I’d never had it before, and American corn just looks so mid in comparison. Try harder, corn.

Will: Corn, I love you for who you are.

Little Monsters #1: Kid Vampires Say The Eternally Damnedest Things

Will: Depending on your tolerance for this sort of thing, I get the sense that this is the first in a little run of vampire books for us with Slumber and Blood Stained Teeth coming out soon from Image — but we’ll deal with the bloodsuckers at hand first. Little Monsters is the story of the kiddie vampires who have seemingly inherited the earth, a crumbling, lonely place more than a hundred years after the fall of non-undead civilization. While it’s always hard for me to get a feel for individual characters as they’re introduced in an ensemble, I liked this book — kids are certainly a spin on most vampire tropes, and I loved the fact that children too are not immune from the natural boredom that eternal life might bring.

Ian: Yeah, this is a really exceptional premise. I like that, despite being vampires, they’re still just kids, running around trying to have a good time and fill the days with anything interesting. I wonder if they possess “vampire instincts” toward humans — and how those might clash with their childlike innocence. The cast is a little large, but their designs are distinct enough it’s not too hard to keep everyone straight, even when they basically just get roll-called at you. This is a great first issue, very breezy but intriguing enough that I want to see where it goes.

Will: I was also a big fan of the art here — black and white with spot color is a gimmick that will always get me. That and painted comics. I’m such a mark.

Ian: I’ve basically been singing the praises of black-and-white comics since I started writing for this site, so I’m thrilled to see some here. I love the splashes of red, especially the ominous blood moon that hangs over the city. Nguyen really makes this issue feel lonely, with lots of pulled-back shots showing just how tiny the kids are in their ruined city. I hate to say it, but this book has a vibe.

King of Spies #1: Will Liked It Even Though It’s Gross

Will: Fans of the comic arts, avert your eyes, because this is as crass as it fucking gets when it comes to the business of making comics and media in 2021 (when this book first dropped). Not only is the book credited to “Mark Millar of Netflix,” but Netflix — one of the largest entertainment empires on the planet — owns the copyright. If that wasn’t enough, Google already returns suggested searches of “King of Spies trailer” and “King of Spies Pierce Brosnan” without any news from Netflix on either. I can’t read this without thinking about how gross the whole endeavor seems.

That being said, it was a fun read? I hated the intro — nothing more than a dumb action scene lifted from a ’90s movie without the charm — but the flash forward and what followed got me. I love a good lion-in-winter story, and I’m an even bigger sucker for a revenge story, so this has me on two of my weak spots. I certainly won’t defend this as high art, but this scratched an itch for me.

Ian: We all know that indie comics is a content farm for production companies, but they usually don’t say the quiet part out loud. It’s one thing to know that any given indie series is looking to get picked up with a juicy Netflix option to keep the wheels turning on the series, but it’s another to start with the option, then get to the series. Oh well.

I definitely agree about the intro, which I strongly disliked. It felt wildly comic and unreal, as if the main character were imagining how cool he looked while doing war crimes. The jump forward was nice, his infirmity a good contrast to the superhuman feats of the intro, but it was a wild change of tone. I’m not exactly sold on the premise, either. It feels very Red or Kingsman (Did you know that Millar isn’t allowed to write more Kingsman comics, despite owning the rights to them, due to his Netflix deal? Bizarre), and not particularly gripping. I like the idea of a government spook realizing they’ve dedicated their life to making the world a worse place, but it feels more like a shallow realization, brought about by personal revulsion, than any real philosophical or moral revelation.

Will: The art here was nothing special — especially in the action scenes, which seemed a bit too unrealistic and overly graphic. What was your take there? (Also, that is super weird. Making #content is confusing.)

Ian: It’s fine? To be honest, it felt very mid-2000s, which I suppose is fitting for Millar. The ridiculous blood spatter and dismemberment just feels silly to me. I don’t dislike it, it just makes me tired.

Will: But, seriously, Brosnan would kill this, wouldn’t he?

Ian: Sorry, Will. I’m too young to know who Pierce Brosnan is. [Grote’s note: He was dad suitor #3 in Mamma Mia! Does that help?]

Will: Thanks, Ian. I think I’ll die now.

Chicken Devil #1: This Is All Too Much, All the Time

Will: Whelp, this is our oldest book from all the way back in October, and having read it, I kinda wish we had left it on the pile to continue to collect mold. “Hate” is a strong word, but so is “exhausting” and “frustrating” and “I did not enjoy reading this book.” Everything in this book is too much — the lettering is tiring and tries too hard, the layouts are needlessly overdone and the tone is all over the fucking place. Ian, I did not like this.

Ian: Every week, we say, “Let’s do Chicken Devil!” and every week something comes up where we slot in another book, or there’s a new series, or we’re just doing Newburn again or whatever. We’re finally doing Chicken Devil, and I am bummed out. I am aware that I read this comic, but I had to work very hard just for comprehension. Everything you’ve said is correct, but the colors are just blinding. This is a hard book to read, in a literal sense.

Will: I guess the overall story is not bad? A goofy restaurateur gets sucked into the drug trade by a dumb partner, and then his whole family gets blowed up on a big damn boat? I think those are the important plot points from the first issue. Again, it was a really tiring read. Or maybe that’s just the salmonella setting in.

Ian: The perspective jumps around quite a bit, and the characters are all equally grotesque and indistinguishable, which makes it a little hard to tell what’s going on from scene to scene. The plot feels like it was ripped from Grand Theft Auto, with lots of drugs and money and gratuitous violence. I’m mostly just bewildered, and completely numb to the stakes of this issue.

Does This Smell OK?

Newburn is an American book with British spellings, and King of Spies is a British book with American spellings. (“Defense” should be “defence” for the latter.) I can’t get a break — but at least King of Spies credits a “colourist.”
There appears to be a commitment to a they/them child in Little Monsters — if so, good on the creative team.
We had a real continuum of colors this week, from the mostly black-and-white Little Monsters to the color cornucopia of Chicken Devil.
Chicken getting the better of you? Check out the CDC’s explainer on chicken and food poisoning.
This week’s leftover tip comes from Mildred Westervelt of Tick Turd, West Virginia. Mildred writes, “When you’ve eaten all the Sunday pork roast you can stand, shred the rest of it. Add a little barbecue sauce, and you’ve got sandwiches for the week.” Thanks, Mildred! [Grote’s note: Seriously, thanks, Mildred. I just roasted a pork shoulder last night, and now I’ve got pulled pork for lunch!]