Little Monsters #1
Every day is exactly the same until it isn't anymore in Little Monsters #1, by writer Jeff Lemire, artist Dustin Nguyen, and letterer Steve Wands. The newest comic from the hit team of Descender/Ascender is an entertaining first issue.
This first issue introduces readers to Romie, Yui, Lucas, Ronnie & Raymond, Billy, Bats, and Vickie. The young vampires while away their night, filling their immortal lives. However, something is missing from everything, and it affects it all in different ways. As day breaks, Romie makes a discovery that changes everything.
Lemire and Nguyen are a vastly underrated team, and this issue is yet another example of why they are one of the greatest writer-artist tandems working in comics. Unlike Descender/Ascender, Nguyen doesn't do his trademark watercolors. Instead, everything is in black and white, with the main color not seen until the end of the book being read. This changes after Romie starts drawing with the markers he found, and it really brings the young vampires' world to life for readers in a way the full color wouldn't. Theirs is a dead world, leached of all its color. It's stark and harsh, with little of the light and vibrancy a child usually creates in the world.
The effect the black and white gives Nguyen's art is wonder, to say the least. He's a talented penciler, and seeing everything in black and white really lets on just how good he is. Like Lemire's other recent Image book, Primordial, this comic depends heavily on the art to set the stage and give an atmosphere to an issue that's not plot-heavy, and it does it brilliantly. Each little vignette that introduces the children gives a glimpse into their personality, and the way Nguyen draws each one is extremely important to how readers perceive it. Later, this approach is also used when readers are introduced to where the vampires sleep, each room giving the reader a clue on the type of person each is.
Lemire's style of writing lately in his Image books has been saying less with words and letting the art do a lot of heavy lifting. That's on display here, and it shows a writer who not only trusts his collaborators but understands how to write for them. He's able to use his short little interludes with each character to give a sketch of who they are. It works wonderfully. When he has Billy, the impatient one, start to question their lives and the boredom, it feels right for him, like each of their reactions plays into what readers have seen. Lemire introduces the two plot elements that are going to move this book forward- the mystery of the Elder and what's happened to the world. These twin plot developments are enough to hook readers.
Little Monsters #1 is an intriguing first issue. Lemire once again shows that he can write for artists like few others in the industry and Nguyen's art does all of the lifting it needs to. This issue gives readers just enough to make them hungry for more, like the vampire children within.
