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Monstros! (2012)

by Gustavo Duarte(Favorite Author)

3.98 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Quadrinhos na Cia

review 1: I bought this one based on some sample illustrations accompanying the promotion, and was rather pleased to see it had a thoughtful introduction from Sergio Aragones. The reason Aragones was asked is that both artists produce wordless comic strips, and while Aragones is the veteran master, Gustavo Duarte is relatively new on the scene. Duarte’s has an incredibly lovely, fluid style incorporating considered minimal brushstrokes, great comedic pacing and some oddball twists and turns to keep you fully engaged. Essentially, you don’t ever really think that you’ve read something like this before.The book features three tales, each told with nothing more than pictures, so the characters reactions, movements and motivations all have to be captured in their wordless pantomim... moree performance. On the couple of occasions word balloons are used Duarte manages to cleverly use pictures instead, even designing them in such a way that they become part of the scene. A beautiful touch. I don’t really want to give to much away about the individual stories as that will steal the fun, but, in a nutshell, one is about an alien abduction at a pig farm, one involves two anthropomorphic birds in an office attempting to out-run fate and the final, most ambitious, one is a Godzilla-style rampage where an elderly master of Fortean phenomena takes it upon himself to tackle the threat single-handed. Because the books don’t use words the humour is all drawn out through the exaggerated movements, expressions and situations, and the stories unfold with a grace and timing that borders on perfection.A really lovely, and genuinely well executed, example of the medium at its finest.
review 2: That was absolutely brilliant. I had my reservations at first--the first story is really trippy, but it grew on me. Each story was better than the preceding one. Duarte does his stories without any dialogue or what I like to call "stage direction", but it completely works. His lines are masterful, the palette is subdued but somehow it works with the craziness of the stories, and just the composition of the layouts is kind of mind-blowingly WOW.I was wavering between 4 and 5 stars, but when the hero of the last story whipped out his Aleister Crowley book, I knew this was a definite 5 star book. Fantastic.Note: I received an e-galley of this title from NetGalley and Dark Horse. All opinions in this review are my own. less

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