Four Color Comics

Sometimes, patience pays off.

Way back in the mid-1990s, Kitchen Sink Press published a nifty little comic titled Grease Monkey by a writer/artist named Tim Eldred. The book folded after two issues, but its charming, lively story and dynamic artwork gave it a permanent place in my collection. A few years later, Image Comics reprinted these two issues (in color!), but it, too folded after just two issues.

Now, a decade after I first read it, it turns out that Eldred has been plugging away at finishing the story all these years, and Tor Books has printed the whole thing in a nifty hardcover package.

Grease Monkey is a 331-page graphic novel (plus introduction and liner notes) told as a series of short chapters.

The story takes place a few couple centuries in the future, after Earth was devastated by aliens. Another group of aliens helps humanity back on its feet, and uplifts gorillas to work alongside humans as they prepare for a possible confrontation with the attackers. But all of that’s just setting: The real story concerns Robin Plotnick, a young man who joins the Fist of Earth as an apprentice mechanic. He’s assigned to the all-female Barbarian Squadron of fighter pilots under Mac Gimbensky, a gorilla who’s also a brilliant mechanic.

That’s just the setting, though. The story’s really about the characters:

Mac is a misfit, and proud of it. He’s smart, talented and wise, and wears a shirt which displays a symbol for “no crap”. He can be loud and abrasive, but sticks up for his friends, and shoulders his responsibility for Barbarian Squadron’s mechanical well-being seriously. He’s also got a huge crush on Admiral Stettler.

Robin is a crack mechanic who’s easily intimidated by those older and more experienced than him, but willing to fight when he knows he’s right. He and Mac bond over their love of books and disparaging the worst kinds of authority.

The supporting cast includes the pilots of Barbarian Squadron, especially their leader, Barb; Kevin, an unscrupulous assistant mechanic for another squadron whom Kevin arrives with; Reg, the gorilla janitor on the F.O.E; Simons, Robin’s predecessor under Mac; Kara, an assistant in the library who befriends Robin during one of his book-related schemes; and Admiral Stettler, nominal commander of the ship.

Most of the chapters are 12-page stories with character, humor, culminating in the characters learning something about themselves or each other. Sometimes there’s an overt conflict: Robin proving himself to Mac, or one of the two trying to get past some authority figure’s unimaginative and restrictive outlook, or dealing with the politics of the ship. Other times the characters learn something about each other through revelations of the setting’s backstory, or by watching how someone else is behaving. Either way, Eldred is equally at home presenting uplifting tales, humorous yarns, or bittersweet endings. But the characters always feel real and true, and that’s what makes the book really work.

The book’s sense of humor is mostly of the character - rather than the situational - variety, with occasional bits of slapstick thrown in for good measure. Eldred also uses humor to indicate when something isn’t critical to the story, for instance naming the alliance to which Earth belongs the Galactic Alliance Against the Alien Horde (G.A.A.A.H.), giving the throwaway bits more entertainment value than merely rounding out the background.

Eldred’s clearly influenced by the Japanese manga style, as he’s contributed to the Star Blazers web site, but as with Mark Oakley of Thieves and Kings, it’s only one influence, not the whole style (which suits me fine, as I’m not a fan of the manga style). His style is animated and dynamic, but he also packs a lot into each page. His character have different faces and different bodies, and live in a solid background. All of this seems downright cutting-edge compared to the standard superhero fare out there, and with luck it will help make Grease Monkey an ambassador to the non-comics-reading world.

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I can’t gush enough about Grease Monkey: It’s smart, funny, well-drawn, and charming. And best of all, apparently Eldred’s working on a sequel.

And of course, there’s an official Grease Monkey site.

And here, editor Teresa Nielsen-Hayden talks about Grease Monkey in her blog. I’m grateful to her for believing in it, to Eldred for persevering at creating it.

And, I’m a a little pleased with myself to know that sometimes I really do know a good thing when I see it.