Monocyte: In the Land of the Blind the One Eyed Is King

Monocyte #1-4

by Menton3, Kasra Ghanbari

Two warring immortal races rule a scarred world where time has no meaning. Death (Azrael) sits impotent, quietly planning his restoration. He summons Monocyte, a forgotten immortal necromancer who long ago chose sleep in his failed quest to die. With a fatal pact sealed, Monoctye strikes out as Azrael's vicious proxy. The MONOCYTE collected edition is a 224-page oversized 9x13.5" hardcover that includes the series prequel previously only available digitally, all four issues, all eight side stories, and all 12 covers. This includes art by Ashley Wood, Bill Sienkiewicz, George Pratt, Phil Hale, Barron Storey, Ben Templesmith, Riley Rossmo, Christopher Mitten, David Stoupakis, and Chris Newman. The over 60 pages of new content will be filled in part with art contributions by internationally-known comic book and fine artists/sculptors such as Scott Radke, Matthew Bone, Guillermo Rigattieri, Richard A. Kirk, Alberto Ruiz, Tim Roosen, Richard Friend, Toby Cypress, and many more

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Horror, Fantasy

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Menton J. Matthews III (born January 3, 1976 in Mississippi) is an American artist, currently living in Chicago. He is known mostly as Menton3, but also Sunday Munich, Avis, and Saltillo. He is a painter, illustrator, comic book artist and multi-instrumentalist who can play a number of diverse instruments like: cello, viola, violin, guitar, drums, piano, and bass, as well as a slew of electronics.

Reviews

[Gaze Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sumptuous feast for the senses! The physical book itself is an oversized album, which really shows off the fantastic art inside. It is very much a narrative artbook rather than a graphic novel. The art by Menton3 is dark yet refined, very reminiscent of H.R. Giger, along with hints of Modagliani. There is a sense of movement and wetness, especially with the brush strokes sometimes being thick and viable. Each page of the story is also a painting. Other guest artists also contribute to the story throughout, making for an interesting breaks in art style, while still remaining cohesive. And the story was very much made with the intention of being a multi-sensory experience. I first encountered the story through its sister album "Monocyte," a music album by Saltillo, that is the alias of Menton3, the visual artist of the story. The music album is a dark and brooding trip-hop experience with lots of Shakespearian quotes thrown in as samples throughout. And listening along to it as you read the story... It fits the visual aesthetics quite nicely. The story of the graphic novel is brief but dense. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humankind has been reduced to chattle, used as a type of energetic currency by the two fighting factions of immortals. These are the Olignostics, a cabal of the superwealthy that achieved immortality through technological prowess; and the Antideluvians, an ancient race of immortals that have come out of hiding and are implied to be a race of psychic vampires. Civilisation as we know it has long ago crumbled to make way for the two immortal races. And the Immortals have been fighting a stalemate war since then. And then along comes the Monocyte, a proxy for Azreal, who is implied to be the personification of death. And Monocyte is out to destroy the whole thing, and not taking any sides. This is, of course, a very simplified version of the story, and despite unfolding over only 4 chapters, it requires more than one reading to really understand the story. The story is told very obliquely, with a lot of the plot implied over references, especially in the name of the characters and places. A knowledge of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish mysticism and the occult will greatly aid in piecing together and understanding the story. So be warned, despite being a graphic novel, it is not an easy read. My take is that it is the story of uncreation, how existence as a whole will finally end. There are many mirrors to the creation myth, as well as references to the Qlippoth, the Tree of Death from Jewish Mysticism. There are also Gnostic Christian principles at play with in the story and how the characters relate to each other and (un)creation. For those who are willing to spend the time, there is a lot to uncover here. I for one appreciate the idea of a Graphic Novel as a valid medium to explore more conceptual and complicated narrative ideas.

[Cecil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come once I give the album this ties in with a re-listen.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: The art looked compelling and while the summary was vague it piqued my paranormal interests. I enjoy stories which feature Death personified.

This comic is very, very strange. It really bares multiple readings to understand completely, something I would be up to if I owned the physical hardcopy; I read an ecopy provided by the publisher. Let's start with the good. The great actually. The graphics are absolutely stunning. If you are a fan of dark Gothic art, surreal scenarios, macabre and sensual creatures, you will be in awe. Since the book is printed in an oversized format, the art is going to be staggering (remember I am only seeing it in a digital format.)

The story itself is quite confounding and I'll just come out and admit it, way over my head, especially for a single reading. There are many Biblical allusions, quotes from scripture only slightly altered, direct references to Christ, allegory and the message that ultimately the way to everlasting life is through death. In all honesty, I'm not quite sure if the author's intentions are to mock or evangelize Christianity. There is one horrific scene, the killing of a baby, which I immediately related to abortion in our world. As a Christian myself, perhaps my worldview interpreted things the way they mean to me. Perhaps your reading experience, based on your worldview may be more occult, paranormal or fantasy. I'll sum it up again with one word. Strange!

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ummmm... what the hell was this? To start, the art was phenomenal, for sure... but was there a story? It seemed like a bunch of pseudo-artsy wannabe deep bullshit that didn't really make any sense whatsoever. I slogged through because the art was engaging, but if the art was only average this would be a gigantic piece of garbage that no one would want to read (except for faux-intellectual art-school kids).

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could I read this on my Nook Color? No. Could I read this on my 19" computer monitor? No, not unless I enlarged the picture almost 200% and scrolled and scrolled and scrolled. Sigh. Were the pictures beautiful (but weird)? Very much yes. Do I wanna work that hard to read a graphic novel? No. Sorry. And $50 for the physical product....mmmm, probably not.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular on so many levels. Rich history and myth woven into humanity, plays on memes and the characterization is extremely well done. The artwork is visceral and dark - very suited to the subject. Its apocryphal and menacing; the story really gets in your head (there would be no way without the art work).

[Matt Piechocinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous ... shades of Giger, but the story, which I think may be an allegory for Creation, is a little wanting. It could have used an editor, as there's an ABUNDANCE of 10 cent words, that are misused and out of place.

[Paul Elessar Caceres · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one reminds me of Tsutomu Nihei's "Blame!" where there's fantastic artwork, but story-wise you don't really know what's happening. I'd rate it 3.5 but I'm just going to round that up and give it a four because I really bought it for the artwork (which did not disappoint!)

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like I like my stories - incredible sense of visual design, portentous, flowery dialogue, and an utterly incomprehensible plot. Don't try too hard and I'm sure you'll have a good time too.