If I were to describe Monster Engine in one word, that word would be "weird." The loose theme is stories about monsters and demons, but at least two of the tales basically disregard this notion entirely other than a little bit of a casual nod in that direction. The talent list is made up of unfamiliar names for the most part, but a couple (Jim Rugg and Tom Williams) are creators whose small press work I've seen before. While none of the stories were fantastic, several of them were very quirky and funny, and all of them featured pretty nice artwork. Monster Engine is a pretty interesting sampler of up and coming small press talent, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see some of these names again.
By far my favorite story in this volume is also the shortest, as Todd Webb uses a three page format to tell what is essentially a spooky gag strip about monsters under the bed. Webb's artwork may be the most spare of all the contributors, falling into the realm of telling the story and not much more, but his storytelling is dead on, a great lesson on pacing and comedic timing. Dalton Webb (no, I don't know if they're related) also tells a pretty funny story about demons and mistaken identity, which could have used a few less pages and still made its point, but which is entertaining as well.
"Oh That Dead Guy" by Peter Conrad is also a lot of fun, a somewhat odd concept strip that has a dead person pondering his fate. This is largely an excuse for Conrad to draw a variety of methods of death in a cartoony style that reminds me of a cross between Charles Burns and Steven Weissman. Conrad's artwork is probably my second favorite in Monster Engine, behind only Tom (Misa) Williams's work on the last story, "Goth Karaoke." However, Williams's story doesn't really play into the themes of the anthology, because although he does have a very funny brief notion of his lead character dating Godzilla, the majority of the story is a goofy slice-of-life style look at guys in a bar... fun, but not really in the "monsters and demons" subgenre.
In terms of really weird, Monster Engine editor Toby Craig and writer Brian Canny take the cake, and turn in a very entertaining tale as a result. Demonic black market art dealers and the ice cream man make for a very bizarre story which is hard to predict, and Craig's artwork, which reminds me in all the right ways of Scott Mills, is terrific. "Art is Dead," their tale, is probably my second favorite story in the book. Also very much on the weird side is "Dragon vs. Pumpkin" by Pedro Boyd, although the somewhat rough artwork makes it hard for me to really enjoy the slugfest between the two big characters that is the heart of the story.
Monster Engine is a mini-comic, but it's a nice professional production, with cardstock covers and nice printed reproduction. Of course, that comes with what is a pretty steep price tag for a mini-comic, even one as nicely produced and relatively large as this one. It is the price tag, and the natural variance of style to be found in any anthology, that makes me at all reluctant to wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. However, while this might be a bit on the weird side for those who mostly follow mainstream comics, anyone who has a little interest in small press would do well to check this one out.
