My daughters and I enjoy listening to the music of Jonathan Coulton, especially “Re: Your Brains,” which boasts the highest play count of any song in my music library. We also enjoy the comic book work of Greg Pak, especially Planet Hulk, our copy of which has been read and re-read so many times it’s falling apart.
So, back in April of this year, when I found out that Coulton and Pak (based on a Twitter conversation) were working together to launch a Kickstarter campaign with the aim of creating Code Monkey Save World, a graphic novel starring many of the colorful characters populating Coulton’s songs, we were in.
Turns out we weren’t the only ones. The Kickstarter campaign for Code Monkey Save World ended up being extremely popular, earning $340,270, well above the initial goal of $39,000. This resulted in some really sweet stretch goals, like a significant amount of additional content from many contributing creators, an all-new acoustic album from Coulton, a children’s book based on Coulton’s “The Princess Who Saved Herself” (another family favorite), and the ever-popular sticker reward.
The first of four digital issues was released to Kickstarter backers in early October, and it’s an extremely fun read, loaded with references to many of Coulton’s songs: “Chiron Beta Prime”; Laura the Robo-Queen (and a lot of robots) from “The Future Soon”; the lovestruck evil genius (along with his most famous creation) from “Skullcrusher Mountain”; the Curler from “Curl”; boring manager Rob (and he’s pretty boring) and the love interest (a nice girl named Matilde) from “Code Monkey”. Even doomed office worker Bob from “Re: Your Brains” phones in. And, of course, there’s Code Monkey himself. No sign of the “Shop Vac” yet, but we’re hoping.
Now, if you missed out on the Kickstarter, there’s good news: the first issue of Code Monkey Save World is now available from Comixology through, appropriately enough, Monkeybrain Comics, for $2.99.
So, if you like comics, Coulton, or even curling, give Code Monkey Save World a try. I think you’re going to enjoy it.
