Colleen Coover is best known for her "girly porno" comic book, Small Favors. Banana Sunday is a departure for the artist in many ways, but in others, she demonstrates of some of the same storytelling skills she employs on her adults-only title on this quirky all-ages book. Banana Sunday is difficult to describe, but it's a bit like Curious George meets The Three Stooges meets Blue Monday. ALl of the characters are thoroughly likeable and charming, and at the heart of the plot is an odd little mystery. Writer Root Nibot employs an interesting approach to sees only part of the story enhanced with dialogue, with some silent sequences in which the artist conveys everything that's going on with only visuals.
Kirby Steinberg lives a rather unusual life. She's the keeper of three intelligent, talking monkeys, the result of secret experimentation and research conducted by her father. In order to allow the three famous monkeys -- the verbose and brilliant Chuck, the sleepy and sloppy Go-Go and the amorous Knobby -- to develop socially, Kirby is enrolling them at Forest Edge High School. As the community turns out on a Sunday to greet Kirby and her primate pals, the first person they encounter is Nickels, a reporter for the school paper who becomes a fast friend but is also dedicated to learning the secret origin of the talking monkeys.
Coover's artwork is more than a little reminiscent of the Archie house style, but I'm also put in mind of Chynna (Blue Monday) Clugston-Major's work and that of Los Bros Hernandez (Love and Rockets). Coover's designs for the monkeys are fantastic; they really convey the sorts of characters they are. Knobby's energy comes shining through, as does Chuck's superiority complex. Greyscales are used to great effect, not only to bring a bit of depth to Coover's simple style but to differentiate among characters.
The diversity -- both in terms of design and characterization -- among the monkeys is welcome, but they all have some important traits in common. Nibot has carefully crafted each one to be cute, but not too cute, annoying, but not too annoying. They're quite entertaining, but it's also easy to relate to Kirby's frustrations.
Nibot's best move in this story was setting up Nickles as both an ally and an antagonist. Nickels is thoroughly likeable, but that fades a bit when we see her snooping into a supposed friend's life. When she's up front about it, though, she redeems herself but still maintains the core conflict of the book. It's an interesting dynamic. We love Nickels for being true to her passion, to her calling, but at the same time, it threatens Kirby in a way we don't quite understand yet. 8/10
