This week’s comic releases features a new creator owned book from MonkeyBrain Comics. Behemoth #1 is written by Chris Kipiniak with art by JK Woodward and letters by Jesse Post. Kipiniak is an actor and writer whose writing credit include Nightcrawler, Amazing Fantasy and Marvel Adventures: Spiderman. JK Woodward’s recent works include Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 and Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s Original City on the Edge of Forever Teleplay. Jesse Post lettered the Eisner Award nominated Johnny Hiro and currently edits children’s titles for Joe Books.
There. The technical shit is out of the way. Let’s get down to business. Rookie style. In Taylor Network land, Kipiniak is the cohost of Arts & Crap and JK Woodward is cohost of JK’s Happy Hour. Personally, I am an unapologetic art snob and a HUGE fan of Woodward’s art. Not in a creepy I’m-your-number-one-fan kind of way – I have a few prized prints and generally check out what he is working on. When I heard Woodward and Kipiniak were working on a book together, I was intrigued. Thanks to social media, I got peak at the cover of the book – and it was (is) gorgeous. The colors set the mood this was not going to be a ‘shiny happy’ book. And the writing did not let me down. Chapter 1 of the four-part series is titled “This Is What You Are”. The story opens with the mother of Theresa, the main character, dealing with a 9-1-1 call she placed. Authorities storm the house despite the mother’s pleas and remove Theresa from the house. Why? Theresa is turning in to a monster. Yes, a monster. A legit shit-nightmares-are-made-of monster. What follows is a bizarre look part of the U.S. government you could not even begin to imagine.
Walking away from the first issue, I am all in. Kipiniak’s story has given me just enough of a taste of the story to leave me wanting to know what is happening next. Some #1’s I read leave me a feeling a little ‘meh’ and I find that even if I did like the story, I often forget to grab the next issue. This is not that kind of book. THIS book will make you grab you calendar and set a damned reminder to grab #2. Woodward’s art is, as always, amazing. I really loved his use of color in this book. The muted tones really worked to set a mood and his use of slightly richer color added a little pop – something I really love.
Final verdict? This is a really cool, dark and a tad creepy book. Amazing art. A story that grabs your attention. This is a book you should check out. If you think you can trust a rookie…. The hell with that – GET THIS BOOK. DAMMIT.
You can get this book April 15 digitally on comixology.
Theresa woke up to find herself changing into a monster. She’s taken from her family and put into an internment camp with other kids going through the same thing. She is given a choice: she can surrender to becoming a mindless beast, or join Behemoth, a pack of creatures trained to kill for the U.S. government. But which choice will make her more of a monster?