Written and Illustrated by Ted McKeever
Catfish’s daily grind of “enhancing” poultry comes to a halt when he is accidentally tripped up by a loose chicken, causing him to fall victim to his own process. What proportions of his that were once human are now beyond anything normal. Add villainous corporate and military big wigs, a roller-skating weapon-toting chick named Kitten Kaboodle, a gang of tattooed babies, and there’s still that enormous beach monster…
And what you have is MONDO, in all its raging glory!
Every once in a while there’s a book that catches your eye for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s the cover; perhaps it’s a guest starring favorite character; or perhaps it’s just whimsy. Mondo falls into this category, as I chose to review this because it was on the list, and it sounded like it could be interesting.
But was it? Follow past the jump to find out!
When I said I chose this book on a whim, I wasn’t kidding. I ended up with the theory that those kinds of things are inextricably drawn together. This book is one of the most bizarre books that I’ve read in a good while, perhaps only matched by the popular Image comic Chew because they inexplicably follow a similarity in a central concept: chicken.
For the uninitiated: the catalyst for the Chewniverse’s status quo is that chicken has been outlawed due to a terrible pandemic that may or may not have actually happened. Interestingly enough, Mondo gives a possible answer as to what might have happened with the character of Catfish Mandu.
Catfish is a strange individual, tasked with the profession of enlarging chickens for families to eat feasts for really inexpensive prices. This is where it gets interesting, however. The process for enlarging poultry involves doing things no self-respecting person would ever add to their food. Beyond genetic modifications, beyond what you might think of, it’s terrible.
Catfish is haunted by his job, as you see by a, well, chicken that follows him around with seemingly evil intentions, even going so far as to suggest it’s not imagined in one of the most sinister scenes featuring an evil chicken I’ve ever seen. The quiet Catfish has it rough at home, and at work, living alone in silences long with being bullied at work by bigger and louder men. He takes it as well as any one man could, but then disaster strikes.
This is where the cover comes in. The similarities to Chew largely end when Mandu transforms into a hulking behemoth much like The Hulk. At this point, Mandu seems to lose out, with a new, more powerful personality taking over. While he still seems to possess the same characteristics as the quiet if enigmatic main character, the Frankenstein monster causes massive amounts of destruction whether he means to or not. This leads to what could be the villain in the story, who will likely be expanded upon in the following two issues of the mini-series.
Ted McKeever, the sole creator of Mondo, clearly put a lot of love into the story. While it never takes itself too seriously, McKeever’s script and pencils have the same feeling as one of those super indie books you would pick up because they’re so unique.
The art, which was naturally handled by McKeever, probably takes you back to those books the most, with panels and character designs that harken back to the best of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, which, despite its Hot Topic appeal, is one of the most successful indie books ever published. To put it plainly, this book is ugly. But while it is, that’s part of the charm. It’s as if it’s supposed to read like a sort of Grindhouse horror flick, where everything looks just a little bit off. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This book was a lot of fun to read, and I would give it a buy it if were a tiny bit cheaper. But in a world where every company is fighting for your dollar that you likely have less of, charging $4.99 for a book you’ve never heard of seems ridiculous. Based on that hefty price tag, which even Marvel or DC takes care to make as rare as possible, it gets a buy SCORE, but with a browse comment. That may seem confusing, but it’s the best way I can describe it. Pick it up if you want to try something new and have money to burn, but take care when you do. Flip through it.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Browse
