Monarch #5 Review

 

Monarch #5 Review

Writer: Rodney Barnes

Artist: Alex Lins

Colorists: Luis Nct & Mar Silvestre Galotto

Letterer: Marshall Dillon

Cover Artists: Alex Lins & Luis Nct; Chris Visions

Publisher: Image

Price: 3.99

Release Date: June 14, 2023

 

Daysha lies injured. Floating orbs order Travon to return. The boy—an alien born to fit in on Earth—defies his people. Will the alien invaders kill the boy destined to be their ruler? Let’s tune into Monarch #5 and find out!

 

Story

The floating orbs injured Daysha. Travon remembers growing up on Earth. He fell in love with Humans, even if they're more interested in their pursuits than safeguarding their future. The orbs order Travon—their Monarch—to return. Instead, he protects Daysha and Kurtis by hurling lightning at them.

 

Thanks to Travon’s protection, Daysha recovers. Travon may love her, but she's uncertain of her feelings about him. He explains his origins and mission, but she has trouble believing his loyalties have changed. Can she forgive his deception and return his affection? Is friendship with Travon even possible anymore?

 

Once again, Travon's mind drifts to his past with his adoptive sister Marli. We see little more of Travon’s past with Daysha in Monarch #5 than events we witnessed in the first issue. We also know little about big-haired Kurtis, who has stood by Daysha’s side throughout the invasion. We don't even see Angie, who I presume is still in the school somewhere. And don't forget about gun-toting Todd, who I erroneously called Kurt in the last issue. He's still around, burning with anger and intent on murder.

 

 

Art

Travon’s scenes with Marli communicate how relaxed they feel together. She sits on the windowsill while he leans out next to her. They gaze at the sky. Yet his mind flits to Earth's pastoral grandeur. These contrast with urban scenes of his home world and the destruction that prompted their search for another home. Are Earthlings marching down the same path toward destruction?

 

Silvery amoeba swims across Travon's skin. While perfectly formed, the young boy wears round glasses. When he hurls lightning at the orbs, my thoughts turn to Harry Potter and the similarities between the orphans.

 

Events in Monarch #5 take place within Travon's school. Each panel shows stressed walls and deterioration since the aliens arrived. In one, Kurtis and Daysha stand as silhouettes while the orbs hover over Travon. Smoke rises from his fallen body. A welcome banner hangs from the wall, torn down the center, which feels symbolic. But then, the block-like ship hovering over Compton speaks evocatively too.

 

Black uppercase letters inhabit white dialogue balloons. Colored narrative boxes relate to memories and offscreen dialogue. The font is as easy to read as it is to love Monarch #5.

 

 

Final Thoughts

We all have an origin story. Yet life changes us. What happens when we no longer want the life we envisioned? Can we belong somewhere else? Or does switching sides mean we'll never belong anywhere?

 

Set against a backdrop of alien invasion, Monarch #5 wrestles with profound questions that--sooner or later--each of us must ask ourselves.

 

Rating 9/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

 

 

Monarch #3 Review

 

Writer: Rodney Barnes

Artist: Alex Lins

Colorists: Luis Nct & Mar Silvestre Galotto

Letterer: Marshall Dillon

Cover Artists: Alex Lins & Luis Nct; Chris Visions

Publisher: Image

Price: 3.99

Release Date: April 12, 2023

 

Young Marli sits on her bed, gazing out the window at the night sky. At times, she's seen the stars move. When Miss Wilamae brought Travon into their Compton home, Marli realized he belonged to those moving stars. Yes, you read that right. There is nothing wrong with your digital platform. Do not attempt to adjust your browser. You are about to participate in the great adventure of Monarch #3!

 

Story

At Travon’s school, his friends Daysha and Kurtis search for Angie. Instead, they find fellow student Todd, who acts weird and remote. On an alien spaceship, Travon feels guilty. Designed to learn about Humans, he became one. The alien collective realizes this. They have found a new home to repopulate their species. Travon must not endanger their plan.

 

After Marli’s introduction, Rodney Barnes' story stands like a tripod. The first story-leg follows Travon as he leaves the spaceship and views the devastation his people have wrought. The second gives us a global view of the alien invasion. The third and final subplot follows Daysha and Kurtis as they search for Angie.

 

Marli’s introduction was touching, but how does it fit in? The cover suggests she's taking a journey, but all we see of her in Monarch #3 belongs to the past. Is she still alive and remembering? I also enjoyed the battle for Earth, even if the invaders' intention to wipe out humanity to repopulate their species is standard alien invasion fare. Daysha and Kurtis' adventure left me wanting to know what happens next.

 

Art

Alex Lins imbues Marli’s scenes with personality. He shows us the things she loves and cares about, how she felt after the death of her parents, and how much Travon means to her. He reveals how she recognized Travon wasn't Human, which we never saw in issue #1. Scenes at the school seem less detailed. The characters exhibit less personality. The damaged interiors show how bland this impersonal space has become.

 

Travon no longer wears clothes in Monarch #3. Ameoba or circuit-like shapes cover his body, although he still wears glasses. Spaceships destroy Earth's warplanes. Giant Walkers stride across land and sea, blasting everything in their path. Childhood memories clash with the destruction of Travon's neighborhood. I liked the page composition of Marli’s scenes, the epic battle panorama, and Travon's walk through the rubble. The cross-shaped operating table seemed to shout rather than suggest. I wondered why some Walkers had three legs and others four.

 

Luis Nct and Mar Silvestre Galotto paint the alien invasion in blue and pink. Like Travon’s operating table, are they suggesting a link between the aliens' repopulation plans and the resurrection Easter celebrates? Nct and Galotto color Travon's walk through the destruction in beige and tan. Are they saying everything Mankind has built will inevitably return to the Earth? School interiors are colored green, and windows beige and tan. Yet one room is bathed in red. You'll discover what that implies when you read Monarch #3.

 

Marshall Dillon relates Marli’s thoughts in green narrative boxes. He shows Daysha and Kurtis' conversation in white dialogue balloons. Big uppercase letters grow when they shout, and spherical dialogue balloons sprout spikes. Travon's thoughts also appear in green narrative boxes. Did the alien part of him read her thoughts, and he's only now becoming aware of it? The alien collective's words appear as white letters in black narrative boxes outlined in the same blue that colors the invasion. While he uses sound effects sparingly, Dillon spelled out the children's laughter to make one panel more powerful and haunting.

 

Final Thoughts

Touching scenes deepen our appreciation for Marli. Travon's love for Mankind puts his future at risk. Epic battle scenes reveal the scope of this global conflict. Sadly, the only subplot that advances this series is a psychological drama involving less-known characters. With its echoes of War Of The Worlds--and all the radio, TV, movie, and comic adaptations of the classic novel by H. G. Wells--Monarch #3 satisfies. Better advances in the story and greater consistency in the art will help this series reclaim the awesomeness of previous issues.

 

Rating: 8.4/10

 

To see both covers see my review at Comic Book Dispatch

 

 

Monarch #2 Review

 

Monarch #2 Review

Writer: Rodney Barnes

Artist: Alex Lins

Colorists: Luis Nct & Mar Silvestre Galotto

Letterer: Marshall Dillon

Cover Artists: Alex Lins; Chris Visions

Publisher: Image

Price: 3.99

Release Date: March 15, 2023

 

While Travon and Miss Wilamae sit in the backyard of their Compton, California home, little Marli studies the night sky with a telescope. The two watch her as they sip their hot drinks, and Travon raises the possibility that others live on one of the planets orbiting one of those bright lights. Wait a minute! Didn’t one of the alien spaceships capture Travon in the last issue? What’s going on here? Let’s dive into Monarch #2 and find out!

 

Story

Travon lies on an operating table. Ameoba-like tech crawls over his skin. Hovering surgical machines attend to him. He remembers a night three years ago when his former guardian, Miss Wilamae, told him about seeing an alien spaceship. She saw it plant something in the ground. Witnessing something so unique made her feel special, even privileged. Now she, and his adopted sister Marli, are likely dead.

 

The machines covering him show him how humanity's militaries throw their might against the invading spaceships. We share Travon’s sadness over losing his family, friends, and the only home he ever knew. The only mystery in Monarch #2 is why he cares so much for others.

 

 

 

 

Art

Alex Lins drew with his heart in the first issue. He helped us share Travon’s life and feel his love for his family and friends. He imbues Monarch #2 with a cold, mechanical sense of the invaders. While some of these automated machines operate on the boy, others kill humanity's defenders. The walking giants that travel our planet shoot lasers that incinerate soldiers and tanks like in producer George Pal’s War of the Worlds classic. The fighter jets that scream toward the alien mothership and battle the flying saucers remind us of Independence Day's climactic battle. Yet he lovingly shows how a seed planted by the U.F.O. sprouts and grows. If only the 2005 War Of The Worlds remake had proved as sensitive!

 

Luis Nct, assisted by Mar Silvestre Galotto, colors his characters warmly. While Alex Lins tends to ink in shadows, Luis highlights and shades faces, clothing, and everything surrounding our characters. He paints in pastels, yet his panels avoid looking too bright. He paints night scenes without graying his colors. His blues and purples night skies contrast with the luminous U.F.O.'s. Half of the reason his battle scenes prove so electrifying—and reminiscent of film classics like the 1953 War of the Worlds and The Day The Earth Stood Still are due to him. He makes the operating theater scene look clinically cold—and yet also warm—at the same time.

 

Big block letters tell us when flashbacks occur. Narrative boxes filled with background colors relate to Miss Wilamae’s experience and Trevon’s technology-boosted awareness of current events. Black dialogue boxes contrast with white balloons when the machines speak to Trevon. Rodney Barnes may give us plenty to read in Monarch #2, but Marshall Dillion’s uppercase letters are easy on the eyes.

 

Final Thoughts

This issue builds on a familiar premise to enhance our understanding of Barnes’ vision. New ideas reveal how he takes simple plot devices—from movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Invaders From Mars—to craft a rich and sensitive story. A continuing plot thread following Trevon’s friends suggests the story will continue to grow and evolve. Oozing with warmth and ideas, Monarch #2 is a love letter to classic B-movie sci-fi. While proving a unique story, it remains grounded in caring for others and the realities of inner-city life. That, to me, seems a triumph indeed.

 

Rating 9.8/10

To preview the interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.