Urban Monsters #1 – Review

By: Andrew Stroscher (creator), Will Wilson & Joanne Moore (writer), Tone Rodriguez & Rick Ross (illustrator) & Nei Ruffino (colors)

A century ago, monsters and mutants started to come out of their closets, becoming part of human traditions and way of life. Some became movie stars, while others had to work hard the old fashioned way to earn their money. In a place where David Hasselhoff is highly regarded as an actor, I guess I’m lucky to be living in real world.

In Urban Monsters, a group of monster companions decide to make it big at Hollywood; it’s a road trip story that follows them as they attempt to make a casting call. We get to see a lot of how this world works. The zombie character of the group gets in a little trouble with the police and accidentally infects one of them – a rare case. Some people outside the big cities are prejudiced against monsters, not allowing them to enter to stores. And when the group gets invited to a county fair, it’s later discovered that it’s plagued with werewolves.

This comic looks like it’s a love project that got approved for publishing. I’m trying to read new independent works whenever I have the chance – sometimes I discover great things, sometimes not so much. Urban Monsters falls in the middle. I don’t know if I should take the comic as a serious piece with social commentary or just as a humor story (or both). I’ll stick around for another issue, but hope to see some changes. (Grade: C-)

-Daniel Yanez