3 Comics About Monsters

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1. Moonshine



During prohibition, 'Handsome' Lou Pirlo is sent by his gangster boss out to backwoods Appalachia to negotiate a deal with talented moonshine maker, Hiram Holt. Lou expects to be able to bully some hillbillies into giving his boss what he wants, but there are bigger threats than him in the woods of West Virginia, especially on the night of a full moon.

Moonshine is a genre-blending comic series written by Brian Azzarello (writer of the New 52 Wonder Woman and 100 Bullets) and illustrated by Eduardo Risso (who also worked on 100 Bullets).



It was refreshing to read a gangster story with a horror twist, and Risso's art really suits the noir vibe of the story. However, the characters are a little hard to take seriously since they were such clichés. I wasn't sure at times whether this was meant to be a parody of classic gangster stories or not. Overall it doesn't seem as though it was meant to be funny, so I think maybe it was just a lack of imagination that led to gangsters with names like 'Fat Tony' and a magical black woman living in the woods. If you can turn off your brain and just accept it as a pulp adventure then you might just love it.

Volume 1 of Moonshine collects issues 1-6 of the comics. It was published by Image in 2017.

2. Monsters



Monsters is an independent comic created by Italian artist Francesca Da Sacco. It's a series of short stories depicting different monsters, told through pictures without dialogue. Each story is preceded by a very short introduction in both English and Italian. Some of the monsters seem literal, like the thing that pretends to be a closet and eats people who come near it, like a mimic from Dungeons and Dragons. Others are more metaphorical, like the elderly man who can no longer communicate because of the worms in his head. It gets pretty dark!

I really liked the black-and-white line art in this one, which reminded me a little of Edward Gorey's work. You can find Monsters, as well as more of Francesca's art at her website .

Content warning: Infant loss.


3. Districts of the Yokai



Yuto Nakamura is a former Yakuza hitman who promised his late wife that he would protect their young son. When his son is killed by a supernatural entity, he swears to avenge him.

Districts of the Yokai is a horror comic published by Afterlight Comics . It was written by Joseph Oliveira, the author of Beneath Us and Stay Awake , and illustrated by Hernan Gonzalez.

The premise reminds me of John Wick, but of course, it's a much older trope than that, just a classic revenge story. The dialogue is stilted and weird, but I suspect that is deliberate to give the reader the feeling of watching a Japanese movie dubbed somewhat badly into English.

The gore is over the top to the point of being funny, but that might be just my odd sense of humour. The monsters are pretty cool, and if you have an interest in Japanese folklore you might recognise some of them.

Districts of the Yokai is a four-issue series. Issue 1 comes to a satisfying conclusion even if you stop there.

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