Monsters

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Bobby Bailey tries joining the army, he winds up being as a test subject in the Prometheus Project...

I'm a fan of Barry Windsor-Smith since his Valiant days and my wife got me this for Christmas.

Legend has it that this started off as Barry Windsor-Smith's take on the Hulk's origin for a graphic novel that was never made but elements made it into the Hulk mythos at the hands of other writers. However, this is far from a Hulk story with a lick of paint on it.

Monsters is a tale of child abuse, war atrocities, and Nazi science. Bobby Bailey's father encountered some harrowing shit in World War II and never got over it, lashing out at his family, even costing his son an eye. The story is mostly the repercussions of that event. Bobby Bailey joining the army. Jack Powell and Elias McFarland both find their fates entwined with Bobby's.

The story is dark, powerful, bleak, and emotional. The art is exquisite. I think it would still have been good if done in a classic Marvel style with color and conventional inks but Windsor-Smith poured years of his life into this book. The art is in a pen and ink style with lots of hatching and intricate linework. The result is a gritty, gloomy masterpiece.

I don't want to give much more away. If this is Barry Windsor-Smith's final comics work, it's a hell of a note to go out on.

Monsters is horrific, powerful, bleak, emotional, dark, and exquisite. Five out of five stars.

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