Comics
Monkeybrain Monday Review: “GoGetters” # 1
While Monkeybrain comics may not specialize in horror, they do specialize in quality comic books. For those of you looking to expand your palette this is “Monkeybrain Monday” showcasing some of the digital titles this smaller publisher has to offer.
This week we have “GoGetters” from Shawn Aldridge and Christopher Peterson. It’s a fantastic tribute to the Hannah Barbara cartoons of old with a hard edge. In turn Saturday morning fashion a globe-trotting rogue with an inexplicable primate partner make up the team. The human Maya Diaz may like to run her mouth, but she gets the job done, and when all else fails her pet gorilla George Harrison will ensure their success. Together they make the GoGetters. You need something retrieved? Hire this team and you’re bound to have a great time.
WRITTEN BY: Shawn Aldridge
ART BY: Christopher Peterson
PUBLISHER: Monkeybrain Comics
PRICE: $0.99
GET IT HERE: http://www.monkeybraincomics.com/
The very first thing you’ll notice about “GoGetters” is the tongue in cheek wit. The leading caption isn’t even sure of its exact location. Then Maya bursts onto the scene and handles a dangerous situation by being cool as a cucumber. I mean such confidence is probably warranted when you have a hulking white gorilla for a partner.
Maya has a code. She’s good at what she does, and she means business. Her attitude hurries the script along into a great pace. Peterson’s fantastic art perfectly captures the feeling of a Saturday morning cartoon. Characters are vibrant and full of life. The amazing facial expressions and visual gags that are scattered throughout his art will definitely have you laughing. His action panels are clean and they offer a less is more approach. Peterson isn’t afraid to get down and dirty too. A fantastic eye-gouging panel that made me light up amidst all the chaos at the end of the issue.
GoGetters channels this unique vibrant energy that I used to tap into with Johnny Quest. It’s a rollicking good time centered around a captivating main character and some razor sharp wit. I can’t help but feel that Aldridge’s script may be a little overstuffed in terms of dialogue, as some panels are polluted by too many bubbles.
However, his lettering is pretty spot on, somehow finding a balance amongst the busy dialogue and the art. For me a little less spouting quips and a little more too the point would go a long way to Maya’s character. Her voice makes her endearing to a point.
Despite this gripe, “GoGetters” is well worth your dollar. It has a great sense of humor, adventure, and character.
Is it the greatest adventure comic on earth?
Well, only you can be the judge of that.
Rating: 3.5/5 Skulls.
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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