City Monster
Year: 2020
Author: Reza Farazmand
Length: 112 pages
I’m not sure when I started reading Reza Farazmand’s Poorly Drawn Lines webcomic, but I have enjoyed his simple art style and humor for quite a while. City Monster is a graphic novel in this same, simple style with a plot that’s quite a bit longer than the handful of panels he uses to tell a joke in his webcomic. With all-new characters that don’t regularly appear in the webcomic, it was nice to see something different than just another adventure with bird, mouse, turtle, and maybe Kevin. Even at 112 pages long, it’s a quick read, and the ending is satisfying. Still, City Monster has a few minor flaws.
Again, I love Reza’s simple drawing style. However, there’s a danger in making something look simple because some might think this book is appropriate for children. The occasional strong language might put some people off, mainly because it feels a little out of character and is added for shock value. Granted, those who have read Poorly Drawn Lines would already be prepared for this. It’s just that when a book like this could easily be made PG by taking out the language, it seems unnecessary.
While this book is a bit longer than the roughly four panels of webcomic I normally read online, there seemed to be a lot of fluff added in to make it over 100 pages long. Yes, there is a fully formed mystery the characters try to solve, but so much of the book just felt like them walking around aimlessly. Sure, it’s on-brand, but it just felt like a graphic novel was a stretch from a creator who excels at short-form content. In the end, I’m glad I picked it up because it gave me more of the fix I get from reading Poorly Drawn Lines.
A cute mystery that could have been much shorter, I give City Monster 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
