Monstrum Horrendum Volume 2 #2
Ah, to live in a small press comic book world where every book was as gorgeous as this one. Granted, the $8.65 price might drive some people away, but this is a huge book with a vast array of colors all over the place, and they’re used to illustrate lush landscapes, swaths of ocean and a couple of unexplained monsters. I mostly like the black and white nature of minis, but there are days when I just want to bask in a comic like this. In this issue the crew deals with recently taking over a “haunted” boat, the fact that their financier is broke and the free ride is over, discovers a giant prehistoric shark that seems to have a connection with the mysterious little boy, Ella (the captain) and her feeling that something is wrong with her father, another mysterious monster, and the ex-fiancee of the rival of Chester’s that was killed in the last issue. That’s a pile of stuff to work through, isn’t it? That’s all on top of the fact that Leonie manages to work more character development than should be legal in between all these tense situations. The mystery of that little boy is being opened bit by tiny bit, Chester is being slowly and reluctantly revealed as a human being after all, and even Montague (despite his desperate need for physical proof of these monsters) clearly has his heart in the right place. The basic plot of this issue deals with trying to track down an orca that has been killing people, in case you were curious, but that gets resolved so quickly and in a manner that so effortlessly shifts the story in another direction entirely that it hardly seems worth mentioning.  One minor complaint is the couple of typos in the book, as it makes no sense to me how something that is so clearly dedicated to the best possible artwork could be a little lax in checking the spelling, but at least there aren’t a lot of them. There, I have listed my legally obligated complaint. Everything else about this book is a joy to behold and, seeing as how this book came out in 2009, the next issue must be right around the corner. Right? &8.65
