With some books, you know exactly what you're getting with the title. Furious Fist of the Drunken Monkey is one of those books, as it's a title that promises some stupid fun, and Stahnke very much delivers on that promise. It's not as maniacally funny as out-of-control indie humor books like Scurvy Dogs or Street Angel, and it falls into a category similar to that of The Tick, although it's not quite as laugh out loud hilarious as that as well. However, while Drunken Monkey falls short of the highest standards of funny funnybooks, that's not to say Stahnke doesn't deliver some good laughs, including fun parodies of a couple well-known superhero origins. If the title catches your attention, more than likely the book is going to be worth a look for you.
Stahnke's hero (well, protagonist, at least) is Chip, a talking monkey who can't hold down a fast food job or pay the rent of his crappy apartment. The defining aspect of Chip is not that he's a talking monkey, but that he's a slacker, and he is unapologetic about his inability to contribute to society in any meaningful way. Which makes it potentially hilarious that he gets his hands on a powerful alien weapon. However, Stahnke doesn't realize that potential fully, because rather than having Chip play around with this weapon, he mostly goes about his business until fate intervenes and he puts it to brief use. While it is somewhat funny (and disturbing) to see the results of Chip's beer-goggling, and certainly Chip's disuse of the weapon fits with his character, the result is that the book seems somewhat unfocused.
While I take issue with Stahnke's plotting, however, I don't have a lot of complaints about his writing in general. He's got some hilarious gags here, including the introduction of psychedelic toad-licking into a pastiche of the Hulk's origin and a very funny word-play twist on Xavier's school for gifted mutants. In addition, Stahnke's style downplays the weirdness of the book in favor of a sort of blue collar sensibility, and that contrast of bizarre elements with a deadpan cast of characters is pretty fun as well.
Furious Fist of the Drunken Monkey is a concept humor book, which means that the focus of the work is on the writing, and while Stahnke's artwork is capable, that's basically the extent of it. The storytelling is clear, but for a book with such an off-the-wall concept, the style seems somewhat plain and emotionless. Even the designs of characters like Chip himself or the amusing Gene Gnome get the basics across, but don't really inspire laughter, and it's that, as well as the lackluster plotting, that keeps Drunken Monkey from being hilarious.
Stahnke closes out the book with several one-page strips, all of which at least got a chuckle out of me, suggesting that this, rather than standard comic pages, would be the ideal format for the book. Stahnke has some funny ideas, but the story that he has put them in lacks purpose and direction, which is appropriate for the lead character but not ideal in terms of involving the reader in the story. If you're looking for some light, goofy entertainment, however, Furious Fist of the Drunken Monkey delivers.
