My Date With Monsters #1

My Date With Monsters #1

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Paul Tobin

Illustrated by Andy MacDonald

Coloured by DJ Chavis

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

Seven years ago, an attempt to weaponize dreams resulted in holes being punched through the world we know and into the world of dreams. Nightmarish creatures now stalk the land, sprouting from (and killing) anyone unlucky enough to dream. The only way to save the world is for certain people to have their dreams come true.

Which is how Risa Harumi finds herself not only fighting monsters, but forced into finding true love. Monsters and modern dating? It feels like a nightmare either way, and the only help Risa has is a friendly-ish monster named Croak and her pre-teen daughter, Machi.

Well this is a great week for comics that’s for sure. I’ve been so surprised by so many books and this one is right up there with the best of 'em. With the title being what it is I hadn’t known what to actually expect so to see this as it is and this makes me terribly excited to see what’s happening throughout it’s run. The concept is solid and it certainly sounds like something someone would try to do and it certainly would backfire and cause all sorts of chaos so that’s pretty on point to me. It is how they deal with them that really piques my interest.

I’m totally into 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 extremely well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing the characters, the story and the world they live in is exceedingly well rendered.

I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I also like how we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how they add depth, dimension and complexity to the story. I’m also a fan of this starting “already in progress” and we’re entering an established program. This ups the interest and intrigue factors for me exponentially. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well achieved.

The interiors here are bloody phenomenal. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of work within the attention to detail is rather quite stunning. How we see the backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is extremely well handled. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows the great understanding of how colour works.

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I’m super intrigued where this is going to go and if Risa will find someone who she can have a relationship with or if she and Croak can realise that they are basically married already but just don’t realise it yet. There is a lot going on here on multiple fronts and how they all will meet up is anyone’s guess right now but in the meantime I have to say that this is an exciting and different book from anything else out there that I've had the pleasure to read. The writing here is spectacular and the characterisation is fresh and interesting while the interiors are just bloody brilliant. This is why Aftershock Comics is one of today’s premiere publishing houses, they take the risks to bring us stories no one else has.