Advance Review — ‘The Monkey King: The Complete Series’ Journeys Far

Supposedly, the original version of Journey to the West (1592) is by the writer Wu Cheng’en. However, this is apparently a scholarly guess, as the biographical page at the end of this adaptation states. What is clear is that this omnibus has a creative team that sees proper crediting. The modern team consists of writer and artist Chaiko, translator Dan Christensen, localizer, designer, and editor Mike Kennedy, along with production and lettering assistant Chris Northrop. Although Kennedy’s work is mostly invisible to a reader’s eyes.

This retelling will please those who desire yet another take of this classic tale. At least it will for those who simply want a new version for completion’s sake alone. It should also please those looking for high-quality art and a lot of fight scenes. Yes, the art is very high in quality, and that is partly because of Chaiko’s consistency with the text and keeping characters on model. Though the art and fight scenes are arguably the only reasons to buy this work.

A few reasons exist as to why someone may not enjoy this adaptation. The first is that the lettering for this English-language edition is extremely hard to read within select word balloons. Another possibility is that the lattermost pages of the book read as if Chaiko is finding the story boring. To be fair, this reviewer is only familiar with the adaptation of Journey to the West, so Chaiko may be sticking to how the original tale goes. Nevertheless, this telling loses characterization and proper pacing before coming to an abrupt end. Not only is the ending way too sudden, but it leaves so many things without any resolution. Finally, there are a ton of deus ex machina moments that are so overt that they evoke the idea of a story seeing creation between bedtimes.

The Monkey King: The Complete Saga (2026) is released by Magnetic Press on 10th November in comic book stores and in bookstores on 11th November.