Broken Frontier

Meet Johnny Monster. He is a newer, gentler monster hunter. In a world that is seemingly being overrun by monsters with an alarmingly increasing frequency, Johnny is the fresh face. Attractive, young and humane, the public adores him. This is in spite of his stand off attitude toward the media. When Sally Meyer, a reporter for the topical Monster Watch 2009, stumbles into his secrets, she has not only the story of a lifetime, but a gigantic moral dilemma.

Williamson approaches this book with glee. He and Grande even fill up the usually blank, drab, or informational only inside front cover with panel work splashing over from the two page spread that it compliments. It is that exuberance that takes good old Godzilla style monster fights and good guys hunting them and makes it seem fresh and new. Of course, once you read the book, you realize the big shocker twist in the end (healthily foreshadowed for the careful reader) also allows for the fresh and new.

Even when he uses what has become a standard trope like news coverage of the comic’s action, Williamson tries to do something new with it. Here Sally is as central a character, maybe even more fully developed, as Johnny. She is central to the story. It might have been done before, sure there is Ben Urich, Phil Sheldon, the Neil Adams take on Clark Kent and others, but this feels different. There is a sense that she is not just reflecting on the happenings but more a part of them. At the same time, she is no where as manipulative as the yellow journalists of last year's True Believers.

The book does try a little to be too hip. There is the panel of magazine covers like Johnny is a member of the Jonas Brothers. There are references to bootlegs of Chinese Democracy... well I guess it isn’t the writer’s fault that it actually came out between the time he got it to the artist and the time the book was published. References to Guitar Hero and a few this reviewer is too old to understand fill the pages. It gives the book a dated feel but also allows for a broad spectrum of people to relate to it, all the while seeming ubercool and topical.

Grande fills the book with art that perfectly matches the fun tone of the book. The designs are not ground breaking but are kinetic and bring fourth the youthful exuberance of the titular character. Again, there is nothing ground breaking and at times the art is slightly inconsistent, but it holds together nicely, conveys and enhances the script. It is win all the way around.

Johnny Monster is not the second coming of Alan Moore or Grant Morrison. There is nothing revelatory or ground breaking here. What there is in this book is an abundance of feel-good escapism with a little bit of thrill thrown in. It is the perfect palate cleanser for all the bleak news on the television. That is the kind of comic we could all use a little more of these days.