Monolith #1 Review

First thing, this is a Spawn book. A lot of people have a lot to say about Spawn, but let’s ignore all of that for a minute. Yes, this book is set within the overall Spawn’s Universe but you don’t need to know any of that to have a blast here. As long as you are a comic reader who is looking for a story that is beautifully rendered with so many lines that the art lifts off the page and wraps itself around you, engulfing you, then Monolith is here, and Monolith wants to entertain you. The first page will probably be all you need to be sold. I know it was for me.

Written by Sean Lewis, drawn by Valerio Giangiordano, colored by Ulises Arreola, and lettered by AndWorld Design, this is a horribly gorgeous comic book. By that I mean, holy crap this is everything I wanted. Expertly detailed, this team has spared no expense. Look at that first page, it unfolds like an Alien film, its widescreen limbs hugging you until you turn the page and gaze upon Monolith eviscerating some random alien.

It looks so good that the more I look at it, the more I expect some line or color or something to pop out and remind me all art is flawed, but I can’t find one. It’s gorgeous and perfect. Every panel feels carefully chosen to build this beautiful symphony of terrifyingly violent imagery. This only lends itself more to the epic scope of the story Lewis is telling of a character that when he entered the Spawn books, I was wowed by but was never someone I needed to know where they came from. But when you present me with his story as a violent space opera, I am so in.

I knew from the first page that this was made for me. Future space prison is really all I needed. I’m a huge fan of the Riddick film series, and I’m a big enough nerd to know that the reason Alien 3 was set in a prison is because that was David Twohy’s idea for the script he penned. He clearly also likes space prisons. Here, the space prison is a very clear way into this story: this is Escape from New York but in space and with some Hellspawn. But in classic Sean Lewis fashion, he grabs me with a simple concept and twists the knife later.

Spawn books are best when it’s about characters who have made choices and have been twisted by those choices. Here, Monolith has been shaped by hatred, but he wasn’t always like this. Can he regain the person he once was? It’s the thing that Spawn has always been about. But you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy this. You can pay the $2.99 cover price and just get lost in the incredible art and go along for the ride.

Monolith is a three-issue series that feels self-contained and is perfect for just about anyone. Especially if you’re like me, and you’re a sucker for space prisons and incredibly detailed artwork. Seriously, just ignore every time they say Spawn in this and just take it for it is–a flat-out action romp.