Previewing ‘Monster Fun’ #21: Introducing Captain Zom

Now monthly, Monster Fun continues a long tradition of Brit humour comics…

 

Another month, another 36 pages of generally damn fine kids comics in Monster Fun. It’s part of the really strong resurgence in kids comics across the world. No naysayers, they’re not the same comics you read as a kid, that’s the point. Comics move on and things like Monster Fun are fueling kids falling in love with comics like never before.

As always, Monster Fun brings that mix of old characters like Gums, Kid Kong, Hire-a-Horror, Martha’s Monster Make-Up, all updated really well for today’s readers, but adds in an increasing number of completely new strips like Rex Power, Witch Vs Warlock, and the couple introduced just last issue – Sally Astro and Sir Render, both of which keep on with the funny and the silly this month.

But there’s another couple of new strips this month I wanted to highlight…

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Captain Zom by Ned Hartley and Wayne Thompson is just wonderfully daft from the off, a superhero bitten by a zombie (and on the bottom of course, the old gags are good gags) and still wants to do the job, despite the obvious personal and physical drawbacks. The simplest shorthand for this is that it’s got that wonderful Leo Baxendale feel to it – and that’s always a compliment of the highest order.

I mean, just take a look at this little sequence and giggle your way through…

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The second new strip is the second one written by Stacey Whittle, joined by Jose Ruiz on art. Uniscorn is totally different from the Baxendale-esque delights of Captain Zom– but different in a fine way. It’s more knowing, more modern in the way it deals with things, but the comedy is still there, still dead funny in its tale of a unicorn with an attitude, far from the rainbow-loving, isn’t the world a beautiful place sort of thing unicorns are played out nowadays…

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Nope, this one’s grumpy, messy, self-centered, more concerned about his next feed that grim forebodings of something dark on the horizon. A load of fun, just with a gloriously mean streak.

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Monster Fun #21 is out right now from Rebellion and The Treasury of British Comics, available on newsstands in the UK and from the website as a subscription.

So… preview time…

GUMS – by Stacey Whittle and Brett Parson

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KID KONG – by Alec Worley and Karl Dixon

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SALLY ASTRO – by Roger Langridge

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THE FRIGHT-SHIFT – by Matt Baxter and Andrea Butzbach, letters by Leila Jess

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CAPTAIN ZOM – by Ned Hartley and Wayne Thompson, letters by Anna Nass

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SIR RENDER – by Pete Wells and Stephen Webster, colours by Barbara Nosenzo

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MARTHA’S MONSTER MAKE-UP – by Dave Bulmer and Abigail Bulmer

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WITCH VS WARLOK – by Derek Fridolfs and Rebecca Morse, letters by Ozwaldo Sanchez

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REX POWER – by Ramzee and Claude TC, letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

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UNISCORN – by Stacey Whittle and Jose Ruiz, colours and letters by SqakeZz

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GLOBAL GHOULIES – by Henry Flint