Speaking of pulp, the plot structure of Monsters compares to a Tarantino screenplay. If starting Monsters with a mother finding her son getting beaten within an inch of his life by a psychopath screaming in German didn’t clarify this, Windsor-Smith doesn’t apologize for the pulp action/sci-fi/mystery aesthetics of his work. The narrative’s depiction of PTSD and domestic abuse cuts deep-certainly deeper than the opening sequence might entail.
The “monster” reveals itself as the byproduct of the true monsters, whether they be the Nazis behind “Prometheus,” or America’s military-industrial complex. The majority of the book delves into flash-backs to the horrific abuse Bobby suffered at the hands of his father, who returned from World War II a broken man. Like the original Frankenstein, Monsters doesn’t really center on the horror of Bobby getting turned into a deformed, muscle-bound goliath. In fact, that’s exactly why Bailey’s attempt to join the army got him thrust into the neo-Nazi research project “Prometheus.” Except, Windsor-Smith doesn’t present protagonist Bobby Bailey as a brilliant scientist or a super-powered mutant. The concept of evil scientists trying to make a human weapon might recall the aforementioned Wolverine arc as well. Originally conceived for The Incredible Hulk, Monsters echoes some of those character tropes-specifically the unforeseen effects of military science.
To that effect, Monsters redeems the time Windsor-Smith spent on it as a triumph of masterful storytelling and emotional depth. It’s fair to assume the quality of an original tale from this writer/illustrator. His clout speaks for itself, with accolades like Marvel Comics’ Weapon X-arguably the greatest Wolverine arc. So, it’s automatically noteworthy when respected artist Barry Windsor-Smith announces a graphic novel he’s been working on for three decades. Very rarely does an artist linger with a piece of work for decades. Trauma, fate, conscience, and redemption are just a few of the themes that intersect in the most ambitious (and intense) graphic novel of Windsor-Smith's career.Comic books have become synonymous with serialization. Windsor-Smith has been working on this passion project for more than 35 years, and Monsters is part intergenerational family drama, part espionage thriller, and part metaphysical journey.
As the titular monsters multiply, becoming real and metaphorical, literal and ironic, the story reaches its emotional and moral reckoning. His only ally, Sergeant McFarland, intervenes to try to protect him, which sets off a chain of events that spin out of everyone's control. military experimental genetics program that was discovered in Nazi Germany 20 years prior. In this pen-and-ink graphic novel, in 1964, Bobby Bailey is recruited for a U.S. Genres: Graphic Novels, Literature, Military
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