Do you like monsters? Do you like cars? Well take a look around at IDW for this one-shot. It has the best of both worlds at the low price of $5.99. Clean for all ages and you never can use the excuse that all-age books don’t exist again. So don’t wait a minute longer, get to your local comic book shop and purchase your copy of Monster Motors today! Cut. Cheesey I know, but hey it gets the point across. Monster Motors is the new all-ages book, and I couldn’t have had more fun reading this issue. Brian Lynch has such an interesting take on his monsters. It is Cars meets Monster Mash. I love it. I wasn’t sure what to expect but don’t let the name fool you. Vic Frankenstein needed a change from his day-to-day life. Graduating top of his class in auto mechanics, he decided to look for a job where the work was desperately needed. Transylvania was his destination. He moves into an old dump and right away decides to take on some work. It doesn’t take long for Vic to realize that by opening his gates to his new place he has unleashed Cadillacula! This monster is the first of many to appear and is the combination of vehicle/vampire. This monster starts to wreak havoc all over the town stealing every car’s gas in order to become more dangerous. At first, I felt like you do right about now, “man this comic is corny”, but actually stepping back to see the real genesis of a car who sucks gas is quite entertaining and has to be read in order to see what fate has in store for him.
I especially like Vic, who is very cocky but very fun-loving at the same time. He builds amazing creatures and if ever a comic inspired kids to build and explore engineering Monster Motors is it. Vic is creative and his ultimate machine, Frankenride, is brilliant. How these two monster fight is like a truck rodeo minus the spilled beer and plus the extra crushing. Nick Roche helps in that department with the action scenes. But what puts this comic over the edge is the design of each vehicle. You can’t get much better than a car that sucks blood...well add a beetle from the dark lagoon or a minivan Helsing or maybe even a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hybrid. The designs are crazy cool and only made me want to see even more.
Monster Motors is that comic that kids will love. The story is a simple read and the action is packed. I also think it so cool to take these old school monsters and reuse them in a different way. Maybe a kid would even open up Frankenstein by Shelley just to see how scary these guys can get. And don’t think girls can’t get into this comic too, because April comes along as Vic’s sidekick and I have a feeling we will be seeing more of these two creating some crazy monsters.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Brian Lynch Artist: Nick Roche Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $5.99 Release Date: 7/23/14 Format: One-Shot, Print/Digital