It seems like every day we get to talk about a cool new Monkeybrain book, right? That Monkeybrain is so hot right now.
In addition to yesterday’s announcement of “Prime-8’s,” Monkeybrain is going to continue their new honored tradition of titles with numbers in words as puns with the upcoming “D4VE” by Ryan Ferrier and Valentin Ramon. A five-issue super dark action-comedy with tons of dirty jokes and violence, the book tells the story of the eponymous D4VE, a former battle robot in a dead-end job who is falling face first into his midlife crisis. Robots can have those, you know.
We’ve written about Ryan Ferrier’s work before on the site, had him on our game show and I’m unabashedly a fan of his, and “D4VE” is no different. I had the preview to take a look at it last night while putting this post together, and I can tell you that if you look at that cover and think that this appeals to you, then you’re right — it absolutely does. It’s a charming comic, throwing in a robot into entirely familiar territory of loathing and self-doubt while mixing it up with a ton of great puns and action/violence.
And Valentin Ramon? Holy shit. I was not familiar with him before, but this book is beautiful. Excellent use of color, excellent background details, excellent character models — he takes robots that have no facial expressions and still brings them to life in a visible way. It’s astonishing.
To whet your appetite, I’ve got 4 pages of preview art just for you to show off why you want this book:
It only gets better from there.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A sudden alien invasion snaps former defense-bot D4VE out of a deep mid-life crisis. Robots have ruled Earth for centuries, living in peace. When that peace is threatened, it’s up to D4VE to leave his soul-sucking desk job and relive his glory days as a monster-smashing hero. D4VE chronicles the rise of an extraordinary robot as he punches his way through the growing pains of life, as well as thousands of alien invaders.
Pre-order it now on Comixology. Trust me.
You can also get more D4VE now on the official D4VE tumblr, if you like. I’d follow it. It’s good stuff.
