The Forbidden Planet International Blog

Necessary Monsters 5

by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi

Self-published

And here we are, at the end of the five issue first series of Necessary Monsters; Goodbrey and Azzopardi’s monster action-thriller that I’ve reviewed in depth twice before (reviews of issues 1&2 and 3&4). Issue 5 ties it all up nicely, giving us the requisite number of thrills, violence and gore and wrapping it all up with a very satisfying finale that still leaves a few interesting questions hanging, waiting for the next series. (I’m certainly hoping there will be a next series.)

As a very quick recap, here’s the blurb from inside the early front covers:

“There exists a world of horrors beneath the one we know. Where the creatures of our nightmares stalk amongst humanity and play their games of vengence, murder and intrigue. To police this world there is the Chain; a covert agency of monsters and killers, charged with keeping the human herd from ever growing too thin.”

And here’s what I thought on first seeing the series:

“Spy Horror Thrills galore with more than a touch of the magical thrown in. James Bond with Hellblazer characters perhaps. This is Necessary Monsters; a fantastic and fantastical series from Goodbrey and Azzopardi that manages to be an all-out, ballsy, cliché-ridden horror thriller and still be bloody great at the same time.”

Throughout the entire five issue series Necessary Monsters consistently lives up to my initial impressions, continually throwing up great action, fantastic character monsters and, strangest of all, quite a high proportion of nice gags throughout.

(Isn’t it just super? All this violence and gore, but still a good turn of phrase that brings a smile to your face every time. From Necessary Monsters issue 5 by Goodbrey and Azzopardi.)

Goodbrey’s writing is near perfect all the way through the series (surely he’s enroute to being the next writer, after Kieron Gillen, to be poached by some big US company?), as is Azzopardi’s artwork, but despite all that I’m not going to tell you to buy issue 5. Instead I think you should all wait until January when the collection of all 5 issues comes out from AIT/PlanetLAR. That I’ll recommend until I’m blue in the face.

(The cover to the forthcoming Necessary Monsters trade paperback – necessary reading.)

Richard Bruton.