From the celebrated creator behind Starman comes this new monster-filled mystery noir. Monsters, mobsters, and mystery…all in one city!
It’s a city like any other, filled with citizens living and working side-by-side, except…everyone here is a monster! Welcome to LOS MONSTRUOS, a place unlike any other.
The city of Los Monstrous, located on the West Coast of America in the 1950s, is populated solely by monsters of all the kinds you’d find in classic black and white horror movies. They’re all just getting on with their lives, working, doing jobs, nothing bad, nothing evil. Well apart from the crooks and gangsters in Los Monstruos’s underworld, but every city has those, right?
All cities have private detectives too, and werewolf P.I. Perry Cutter has a simple case that’s quickly turning into a king-size headache. Initially hired to find an old man’s lost love from among the city’s vampire community, Perry quickly finds things spiraling out of control as both vampire and Egyptian mummy criminal gangs get involved. So as Perry looks for answers, he runs a gauntlet of danger, while also uncovering dark secrets about his own past as a cop for the Los Monstruos Police Department.
Can Perry solve the case, put his own history to rest, stay alive, and still make that date he has with the cute vampire waitress he’s been courting? It sure going to take all his skill as a detective and his abilities as a werewolf to do it.
The city of Los Monstruos! Come for the sun, stay for the monsters and mystery.
The noir detective framework blended with a world full of classic monsters makes for a genuinely fun and stylish concept. It’s a mashup that could easily feel gimmicky, but here it works thanks to strong atmosphere and a clear commitment to the tone.
The hardboiled narration and cynical detective voice carry the story nicely. There’s a great pulpy energy throughout, and the monster-infused setting adds a layer of novelty that keeps things feeling fresh.
Jesús Merino’s art is a major strength. Moody lighting, strong shadows, and expressive character work perfectly reinforce the noir mood while giving the creatures real presence and personality.
While the plot leans more into genre familiarity than big surprises, the execution is confident and consistently entertaining. A cool premise delivered with style.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A detective noir story in which the detective is a werewolf and the dame is a vampire and well, the population of the city is all monsters. A fantastic read and I highly recommend.
I got this 50% cause it's got werewolves and 50% cause it's by James Robinson, creator of one of my favorite comics, Jack Knight's Starman.
tl;dr It's detective noir crossed with movie monsters.
The plot is basic noir fare. The detective is an ex-cop hired for what starts as a simple case to locate a woman, but spirals into mob connections, getting curb stomped by goons, uncovering buried secrets and generally being a pain in the ass to innocents and guilty alike.
And the detective is a werewolf in a city of monsters pulled from old black and white films. So there's werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein monsters, Black Lagoon creatures, mummies and dudes with the heads of flies. But no hockey mask wearing serial killers, greasy haired girls popping out of TVs or Things from Another World).
And it's pretty good. The plot and story hold up, and Jesus Merino's art is excellent. If you like a good noir story, you'll find this a good tale.
What Robinson excels at is creating worlds and foreshadowing. Here it's a 40's pulp detective city for for universal monster types. I loved and hated where the story led but in the end I was left upside down and wanting more. You'll never really guess the ending.