Sunday, October 30, 2011
Edohotep
Creator/Writers: Menton3 and Kasra Ghanbari.
IDW Publishing's "Monocyte" has some interesting material for any horror comic fan to appreciate. This four part series is about an uprising by Monocyte, a one-eyed demon hell bent at causing the destruction of the Conduit, a machine created by the Olignostics. They are a race of immortals borne through the convergence of politics and technology. They emerged from an experiment that a MIT scientist did on Earth, where he harnessed the power of "Absolute Zero." Exactly what that is is not defined in the two text heavy pages that explains who the Olignostics and Antedeluvians are.
The latter race is much more simpler to understand. They have walked the Earth since the dawn of time. They are a secret order bound by the thirst for knowledge passed on generation to generation. They have one type of governing philosophy, where only one man can ascend to the throne, the Green Man (Al-Khidr), whereas the Olignostics are something of a parasite.
In the comic book, Earth has undergone a radical change. Humanity are tools as far as these two supernatural races are concerned. They are also posed to rule. With the devastation wrought upon the Earth, that which humans once knew, it now looks like a tortured world straight out of Dante's Inferno.
The first issue is light in terms of the main story and character development. Hopefully issue #2, due Dec 2011, will remedy that. With the first issue, a few introductions are made but by the time the tale gets interesting, the story is cut short. The story does not progress when nearly one-third of the comic is dedicated to side-stories. The human slave back stories are written by Kasra Ghanbari with art by Riley Rossmo, and another is both written and drawn by David Stoupakis.
Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), and newcomers Alan Hubbard, writer, and Chris Newman, artist, will provide additional stories in coming issues.
While these shorts are a visual treat, they are better off if the comic expanded its page count to an even 40 pages. Some readers are buying this comic because Menton J. Matthews III (Menton3) is one of the hippest artists to be on the scene. Some of his previous works include "The Hound," "Horror out of Arkham," and "Silent Hill Past Life," all published by IDW. His work in "Monocyte" mirrors a world that is reminiscent of Clive Barker's Hellraiser and H.R. Giger's dark surrealistic character designs, minus all the erotica. The beauty of his work is that he makes gracious use of white space (also known as negative space) to create a sense of isolation on the second and third page. The narrative is a bit flat but very prosaic. At least that makes for an easy read.
This artist tends to stick to sepia tones and tonal variations of black in his art for this comic book. A few of the panels look like he originally painted them on canvas. In other panels, Menton3 uses simple moiré patterns to highlight some action and to reflect a shifting style. This technique is used as though he's acknowledging that he is, after all, creating a comic. His style often involves hidden layers of meaning. He taps into the collective consciousness where there is symbolic meaning to nearly everything. This was a theory that Dr. Sigmund Freud made famous and the Surrealists of the early 20th century devotedly followed.
Where issue two will head story-wise will require a few month's wait. The series is worth collecting for the covers alone, which includes the variant one-offs. However for those who prefer a collected volume, a graphic novel, that may not arrive until well after the new year, after the final issue comes out.
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