The Monkey’s Paw
Sure, there are days when I feel like there’s no point in going on with this rinky dink comics review website, where I have to (out of necessity due to work or real life) vanish for days or even weeks at a time. Sometimes 14+ years of doing this seems like plenty. But then there are days like today, when I get a comic from Ryan, who even mentions in the note that he hasn’t sent me a book in 10 years. And, as long time readers know, there’s nothing like better than checking in with somebody whose work I loved back in the day but haven’t heard from in years. What can I say, it just makes the whole thing worthwhile to know that people are still doing mini comics who were around when (or before) I started. Anyway! I’m assuming that everybody reading this knows the story of the Monkey’s Paw? Maybe not the original short story, but at least the basic concept? If not, here it is: the main character discovers, usually through a mysterious store that disappears as soon as they exit, a monkey’s paw. It usually has three extended fingers, and they give the person three wishes. These wishes almost always go very, very wrong, and the fun in the story at this point is guessing how (or whether) the main character is going to get out of it. Our hero this time has a very simple wish: a new gaming system. I should also point out that the wishes were made by the robot friend of our hero, who may or may not have a soul, to let our hero avoid the consequences of his wishes. Well, that little trick doesn’t work at all, as he gets the gaming system… as a result of a genuinely awful event that I shouldn’t spoil here. I also liked how Ryan skipped the usual bit about the third wish either fixing everything or leaving it irrevocably broken, and left that up to the second wish (and the robot) this time around. It’s a fun comic, and it’s great to see that that cat is still the hero all these years later. Check it out, or you could even check out some of his older comics from my store, which I amazingly still have in stock. What can I say, that store is basically a time capsule at this point…
