Monkey Prince #1 – Gene Luen Yang, Writer; Bernard Chang, Artist; Sebastian Cheng, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: It’s been a while since a new character got a major spotlight in a solo book at DC, but you couldn’t pick a better team to shepherd that than Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Spinning out of the Festival of Heroes one-shot from 2021, Monkey Prince #1 introduces us to a new DC hero who has a lot in common with characters like Peter Parker and Jaime Reyes. He’s a young everyman who comes into powers he struggles to control, deals with bullies at school and anxiety, and eventually (we hope) comes into his own as a hero. But what sets Marcus Sun apart is one thing about his family—his parents are working for the bad guys, as mad-scientist henchmen, and he has no idea. In fact, his anxiety comes from Batman crashing into their house to interrogate them one night, giving him years of terrifying flashbacks. This first issue might actually be the best depiction of anxiety I’ve seen in a comic book since Jessica Cruz.
This first issue is a little slow, setting the tone by introducing us to the characters and spending a little too much time on an obnoxious bully named “The Riz.” But as Marcus returns to Gotham and tries to fit in, he meets an eccentric janitor who promises to help him discover his inner courage. That there’s more to this character than meets the eye isn’t a secret—he already appeared in the preview story, and this issue takes place before that. But while we’ve seen many of the tropes in this comic before, what sets it apart is the completely wild kinetic energy it unleashes once its main character discovers his powers. It has more in common with classic madcap cartoons like Freakazoid than it does with standard superheroes. The cliffhanger, which brings Batman back into the picture, is so surreal that I’m not sure how it’ll be received, but this issue definitely has me intrigued to read more.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
