Monday, March 1, 2010

A Thought About Hit-Monkey

Hit-Monkey is not a deep, thought provoking character. He's a kung fu monkey with guns. You won't be able to make a comic series about him that is illustrated using ink washes, or one that features long lines of dialogue. It's not going to change how the masses view comic books, as to whether or not it's a legitimate art form. What Hit-Monkey is though, is good for comics.

I'll explain further, but I'm going to digress first. One of my college professors started talking to me about the song "Shake Your Tail Feather" in class. He was telling me how he felt that Rock N' Roll had lost its sense of fun since the days of when "Shake Your Tail Feather" was written. It was a goofy song about shaking your butt, it was a good time. It was not meant to be taken seriously, just dance and have fun. It's a type of song that is not very common anymore, which is depressing. Things have become more serious as Rock N' Roll has aged. Go listen to the song, you'll get what I'm saying.

The same could be said for comic book characters of the past ten years. Things have become quite serious and dark. This is opposed to it's fantastic and goofy roots. Hit-Monkey is a return to a "Shake Your Tail Feather" type of character to me. He's fun, goofy and not meant to be taken seriously. You're meant to think it's silly and laugh. In an age of comics where the writers are striving for more realism, it's a breath of fresh air to see a monkey in a business suit firing guns. I'm not saying all modern comics are bad because they're more realistic or dark. I just think it's important to remember that comics are meant to be fun guys. Just sit back, relax, and let the monkey shoot things. You will be glad you did.

Also, enjoy this.


Until Next Time,
-Action Chad

1 comment:

  1. I think that form of 'fun' in music has turned into "Pop" music. Of course you can make the claim that Pop was always "fun" and not "serious".
    That picture made my day.

    ReplyDelete