Monkeys Might Puke #4 the Escape Issue
Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2007
By: Steve Saville
Creator(s): Dan Lester
Publishers: A Vomiting Simian Publication
From: Kingdom
Price: £1.00
If you are reading this review then chances are that you are already familiar with Dan Lester’s humorous comics, either that or you have a disturbing interest in vomiting chimps, either way this latest edition of ‘Monkeys Might Puke’ will undoubtedly satisfy you. Not that it has many puking monkeys but if that’s your area of interest then I am sure that handbag eating women, jelly headed aliens and a non ambidextrous Frankenstein’s monster will also rattle your cage.
The comic is made up of the two latest chapters in the ongoing storylines that have featured in previous editions and a number of shorter strips. It is the ongoing efforts that I am starting to have problems with. I just question whether or not the gag that started them is beginning to wear a little thin. The new chapter concerning the bloke in the hospital just does not make any sense by itself and is only marginally more comprehensible when read alongside previous chapters in earlier editions. and the ‘Junkies in Space’ storyline concerned with the astronauts attempted escape from their love nest on the planet of jellyfish headed aliens is beginning to meander in quite a dangerous manner. Both are starting to lose impact and seem to be losing focus.
Elsewhere Lester continues to utilise his trademark subject matter. We have celebrity endorsements from Bob Dylan, celebrity cameo performances from Michael Caine and celebrity references to Tom Cruise and “Total Recall.” We also couldn’t possibly get through a whole edition of ‘Monkeys Might Puke ‘without poo references either. Familiar characters are back again as well, with Danish guy continuing to terrorise a suburbanised Einstein.
This is all fine, familiar, but fine. The comic is saved though by the introduction of new elements which means that just as all the zaniness was on the verge of becoming predictable we are lurched off on a new tangent. ‘The Justice Squad’, Lester's super hero group make a low key but promising appearance and Frankenstein monster’s writing skills are revealed. To it’s profound embarrassment. The high point of the comic for me though is Lester’s collaboration with Natalie Lester in a four pager featuring an inane conversation between two women in a café. The tedious and protracted [even painful] nature of their conversation is a real winner, capturing effectively the shallow worlds of appearance and brand consumerism.
Lester misses the mark quite a few times in this latest edition but goodness me when he does strike the target he is still good, very good.
In a word: Tremulous
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