Monolith Vol.1 #1

Monolith Vol.1 #1

Magnetic Press 2021

Original Script by Roberto Recchioni & Mauro Uzzeo

Written by Roberto Recchioni

Designed & Illustrated by LRNZ

Sandra needs some personal space from her suffocating husband, so she takes their toddler son on an impromptu getaway. But it may be that her husband isn't who she's really trying to escape from... Taking the safest car on wheels, she heads out across the desert with no idea what adventure lies ahead...

The opening here is pretty spectacular in that it is very much an advertisement for a car, one that surpasses anything and everything that we’ve ever dreamed we could possibly own. This is the perfect setup for what we are going to see because while this car is supposed to keep your family safe, it’s primary purpose, you just know that somehow, some way this is all going to go sideways and what starts out as something wholesome and good will turn into this monstrous horror story. The second opening here is amazingly creepy as we meet David and Sandra, a married couple that are having some serious marital issues. It really brings us to a level of creepiness that I wasn’t aware was possible and how it’s done is remarkably brilliant if you ask me.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exquisitely well. The character development is utterly phenomenal thanks to how we see the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstance that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, introducing us to the characters and this world it is super easy to get caught up in the story.

I am enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge at multiple points as well as grow and strengthen with each new avenue that is explored. These layers contain the superb characterisation as well as how the moments that have a huge impact upon how we see the story. So whether these layers work with the main arc or simply swirl around it we see how they add such depth and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceptionally well.

I am loving every moment of the interiors here. This is done in such a non-traditional way so that it feels like it’s being painted and that is how the attention to detail comes about. The change in colour and how shadow work is shown through the various hues and tones is done so it feels like there is no linework. It blows me away that everything feels like it done solely through painting colours on a canvas. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels demonstrate a masters eye for storytelling. The work that we see is bloody mindbogglingly brilliant to look at and you will simply stare it trying to figure out just how all this detail work has been created.

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With some amazing writing and characterisation that will make you empathise, sympathetic and then turn on the characters regardless of who they are which is wrapped up in what should be award winning interior artwork and you’ve this mind bending adventure beginning to take shape. This is out now digitally and it won’t be out in physical copy until August 11th 2021 so there’s plenty of time to make sure your local shop orders you a copy and I cannot recommend that you do this soon enough. The rest of this series if goes anything like this introductory issue than we are in for one of the years best series, that comes out of literally nowhere.