Who's Who in the CBU 2010

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Monkey Business

By Regie Rigby

Another week, a little further down the still massive “stuff to read” pile, although not that much further. My already over full schedule has now been complicated further by the start of the World Cup, a phenomenon that even a relatively unsporty type like myself can’t ignore – especially when you’re married to a football crazy woman.

But, you can always read through half time, can’t you?

We have a rather Simian theme this week, some sickly, some armed. The former come in the shape of issues #1-4 of Monkeys Might Puke!, an A5 photocopied publication from Vomiting Simian Publications. I didn’t speak to the guys behind the Vomiting Simian desk, so I don’t know this for sure, but I’m guessing that they’re either brothers or clones, since they appeared to be virtually indistinguishable to the naked eye.

They initially grabbed my attention by wearing the brightest yellow T-Shirts I’ve seen for a while, and berating me as I passed by for wearing my customary black. Indeed, the “revolting orange” (not my description, but the popular consensus – orange it seems is not my colour) Arkham Asylum shirt which made it’s debut on the second half of Saturday was at least in part a response to their challenge.

Worth pointing out that they stole the show early on the Sunday morning with the most extraordinary gyratory disco dancing performance from a rather melancholy looking gorilla strutting his funky stuff around the central aisle. This was very possibly the most surreal thing I witnessed over the whole weekend, which is not small claim when you consider I spent a lot of Saturday night around the delightfully R2D2/C3PO style combination of a very drunk Dan Boultwood and Tony Lee.

Monkeys Might Puke! turns out to be an old school reading experience. This is not a high concept, high production values project. This is people with ideas scribbling them down on paper, and running them through the office photocopier. The art is scratchy and, frankly, not all that great. And you know what?

Doesn’t matter.

This is a book that is bound to have something in it to offend almost everybody – which in my opinion is always a good thing. Not all the jokes are funny, not all the observations are profound – but there is plenty to laugh at here, and rather a lot to make you think. I liked it – and in some ways, as the self-published movement becomes increasingly professional in its approach, it’s nice to see that lo-tech enthusiasm can still hold its own. Quite literally anyone with sufficient enthusiasm can do this, and it’s comics like Monkeys Might Puke! that remind us that comics are the most democratic entertainment medium in existence.

On the other hand, those members of the self publishing community who have followed the route of card stock covers and other hive production values are now able to compete with companies like Marvel and DC – at least when they can get their product alongside the big boys’ books. The UK self-published scene is very much an industry in its own right and with the notable exceptions of 2000AD, Markosia and D.C. Thompson, self-publishers are the only industry the UK has.

So however much I liked the Vomiting Simians, I was even happier to see a new issue from the Monkeys with Machineguns. Following on from last year’s excellent #0, we are now presented with a fully fledged issue #1. I have no idea why last year’s wasn’t #1, and this year’s isn’t #2 – it may be something to do with counting on your fingers when you lack opposable thumbs.

Who cares? It’s another rollicking good read.

Those of you who read my review of the last issue might remember that every issue of this menacingly monochrome anthology is intended to have a theme. The theme this year is “Making Deals with Devils”, and we are presented with four tales with radically different takes on this Faustian idea.

The scripts have all oozed from the pen of writer (and Fool’s Errand poster) Chris Lynch, who has lost none of the unnerving ability to mess with your head he exhibited in the previous issue. His first tale, Left Behind is illustrated in starkly contrasting black and white by Stu.Art (who can also be found occasionally on the Fool’s Errand boards) and is somewhat reminiscent of the old Roald Dhal Tales of the Unexpected. A man sits alone in the flat he used to share with his girlfriend. He came home three days ago to find her and half her stuff gone. Everything else was packed in boxes and he hasn’t seen her since.

Where has she gone? How will he find her? And how come she didn’t take the cat?

I’m a cat person. This one made me shiver…

The second story, Thirty Pieces, made me laugh. A London Cabbie stops to help a bedraggled man in the street. A man who, it turns out, is being pursued by all manner of demonic hordes. A man who tries to pay using Roman silver coins. Yeah, OK, so it’s a simple set up, but it’s amusingly told with a dry wit and a sly smile. And I’m sure I’ve been in that bloke’s cab y’know. This is the only story not illustrated by Stu.Art’s high contrast brush, and Mark Smith’s softer more organic shading suits the style of the story perfectly – an object lesson in the art and importance of matching script to art style. I can think of a few editors who could do to learn such good judgement.

The third story will be familiar to anyone who ever had to buy a house, and the final tale is a beautifully macabre prose tale in the tradition of Edgar Allen Poe.

The whole shebang is a masterpiece of monkey business – a striking simian success, a perfection of primate prose. I love it. I read my copy sitting outside in the dark of night with a beer to hand and The Mission on my mp3 player. An owl flew over my head somewhere in the middle of Thirty Pieces - something that never happens when I read Stephen King. Could more proof of the power of this comic be required?

So you see – whether they’ve eaten something that disagrees with them, or they’re hanging around with small arms slung over their shoulders, you have to agree that life is better with monkeys. Go get some!

Back next week, hopefully back on schedule (although I realise I’ve been saying that for a while so don’t hold your breath) with a bit of proper journalism. I’ve been talking to the folks at Markosia, and they’ve got some interesting (and exciting) things to say.

Stay tuned and I’ll tell you what they are!