The Annotated Mantooth
By Matt Fraction, Andy Kuhn and Tim Fisher
Published by AiT-Planet Lar
What is it about simians that makes them so goddamned funny?
In the case of The Annotated Mantooth, it's the razor-sharp wit of writer Matt Fraction, and though this is the first work of his that I've read, it's an impressive and very funny work. Rex Mantooth (like Fraction, I've always found Randolph Mantooth's name hilarious as well) is a dapper super spy. a "talking millionaire monkey" in the words of AiT-Planet Lar publisher Larry Young.
There's a definite debt owed here to Mike Mignola's Hellboy, both in tone and visualization, but Mantooth sets itself apart with a sharper, meaner and more ironic point of view. Imagine Hellboy ghost-written by a drunken Mark Millar, and you'll be somewhere in the neighbourhood.
Kuhn and Fisher's artwork is highly stylized in the manner of a Mignola or Oeming, and works particularly well in this black and white format -- Fisher's tones add a welcome depth to the images. Additionally, they have a superb aptitude for depicting monkeys, especially millionaire superspy ones.
The "Annotated" in the title is a nod to the fact that Fraction's script -- and some notes as funny as the comic itself -- accompany the work. Each comic page on the right side is mirrored on the left by its script page and Fraction's informative and outrageous annotations.
Warren Ellis, Greg Rucka and others all contribute introductions to the volume, and Ellis's alone is a worth the price of admission. He uses his page to tout Mantooth as a clear indicator that his vision of what comics can be is coming to pass. In this particular case, I can't argue. Mantooth is the real deal, and I'd love to see more, soon. Grade: 4.5/5
A Night at The Roshambo
By Shirley Braha
Published by and available for $1.00 from Little Shirley Beans Records and Zines
"Jam-packed with potentially offensive stereotypes," says the press release, A Night at The Roshambo didn't offend me at all.
A tiny mini-comic about a date that goes horribly wrong, A Night at The Roshambo captures the hope that accompanies a date early in a relationship, and the way capricious fate can intervene and destroy that hope in one fell swoop (or a handful of vegetables).
Braha's artwork is rough but more than up to the task of setting both the mood and locations of the story over the issue's 28 pages; her use of black ink as both background and design element is one of the mini's biggest appeals, after its engaging and highly amusing little tale.