Monkeyman & O’Brien #1 (of 3)

I was first introduced to the duo of Monkeyman and O’Brien in the wonderful treasury Art Adams Creature Feature. I thought the series pitting an fiery haired Amazon with an intelligent primate from outer space was fantastic. Adams crafted the series as an homage to the giant ape films of the golden age of Hollywood, such as King Kong and Mighty Joe Young. I have a feeling Adams wanted to do a King Kong book, but somehow couldn’t get the rights to the property, so he came up with Monkeyman. If this is the case, I am thrilled because I really enjoy the character of Axwell, AKA Monkeyman.
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This series takes place after at least one appearance in a Hellboy miniseries and some appearances in Dark Horse Presents, Volume 1. (And you know I’ll be adding those books to my wish list as soon as I finish the review.) Here, Monkeyman is stuck in our dimension and trying to make his way back home after an experiment conducted by Ann O’Brien when ka-blooey! O’Brien has also begun to gain in height and muscle mass as the experiment seems to have captured some radiation from the pocket universe.

It’s that radiation that has also piqued the interest of a third party- the Shrewmanoid and his band of mutated under-dwellers. If this sounds a lot like Mole Man from Fantastic Four, give yourself a cookie. But unlike Mole Man, this character isn’t so much a knock off as a parody, as the Shrewmanoid clearly has the hots for Ann and thinks way more highly of himself than he should.

I wasn’t so keen on the beginning of the book. It went through an origin recap that goes by so fast, I had to read it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. But once the antagonist of the book, Shrewmanoid, rears his ugly misshapen head, I was hooked and reconnected to the magic and humor of the characters than made me fall in love with this concept in the first place.

Worth Consuming.

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.