REVIEW: Jonna and Unpossible Monsters #1 is Chris Samnee's new comic and it rules
By Zack Quaintance — Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1 is a comic that is light on dialogue but so rich with immersive action-adventure storytelling visuals that it will feel as dense and immersive as the vast majority of books that have far more words. This hardly comes as a surprise. Jonna is the new series from one of the best pure adventure illustrators in all of comics, Chris Samnee, who is teaming here with his wife Laura Samnee and regular colorist Matthew Wilson (with letters by Crank!). What results, is a joyful romp through the medium, suitable for both adults and the young people in their lives that they’re surely looking to get into comics.
I’ll get to the story and the individual specifics of this comic in a moment, but first, the quality I found most remarkable about it was exactly what I touched on last in the above paragraph — this is a book that straddles many of the major fault lines of modern comics. By that, I mean that I can see this book catching on with the absurdly-large (and lucrative!) YA market that just devours the work of Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey. It’s bright but not dumbed-down. It’s expertly-well made with a deep love for comics, and it might just be the perfect bridge for that generation to sequential graphic storytelling that feels just a bit more adult.
At the same time, fans of Chris Samnee’s work who have been weaned on comics like his Mark Waid collaborations — Daredevil and Captain America — will find this to be in keeping with the kinetic storytelling that made those runs at Marvel Comics so memorable. The chief difference between those books — besides the absence of familiar (and lucrative!) corporate superhero IP — is the freedom with which Samnee’s visual ideas are allowed to operate here, ranging from the titular unpossible monster designs to the subtler panels, like those conveying Jonna’s sandaled feet thap thap thap through the world.
And that brings me to the specifics of the book that I promised to talk about above. Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1 is a story anchored by the relationship between two sisters: Jonna and Rainbow. Jonna is the character on the books cover, a rambunctious younger sister archetype to her older sister’s more guardianly counterpart role. The book — as the preview text suggests — opens with Jonna’s disappearance. And the way she disappears is epic, one of those big comics moments that can only take place, well, in a comic (and I won’t spoil it here).
From there the book sort of shifts, following Rainbow as she looks for her sister through a world that evokes familiar fantasy trappings but really doesn’t feel overly trite or worn out. What is familiar, however, is the nature of the adventure story conflict driving the plot: the disappearance and the subsequent investigation. And it’s fine, really. The book knows that it’s strength is less conceptual and more in execution, and it leans into all the beauty it can convey within that framework. When this is available in trade, it’s hard to image it being anything other than a generation-spanning success. I know that I will personally be buying it for some younger readers in my own life, as well as snagging a copy for my shelf.
Overall: With Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1, Chris Samnee, Laura Samnee, and Matthew Wilson deliver modern comics a Kamandi-esque story with a vibrant YA bend in place of dystopian super-heroics. 9.0/10
REVIEW: Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1
Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1
Writers: Chris and Laura Samnee
Artist: Chris Samnee
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Crank!
Publisher: Oni Press
Rainbow has been searching for her sister, Jonna, for a year. The last time she saw Jonna was also the first time she saw one of the monsters that now roam the planet. They're big, ugly, and dangerous creatures, driving humanity to the brink of extinction. Though there isn't much hope for survival out in the wild, Rainbow knows that her sister is out there somewhere—and she'll do anything to find her.
Don't miss the brand-new, all-original, action-packed series co-written and drawn by Eisner Award-winner Chris Samnee! Chris is joined for his very first fully creator-owned book by co-writer Laura Samnee and frequent coloring collaborator Matthew Wilson! JONNA AND THE UNPOSSIBLE MONSTERS is the all-ages adventure of a lifetime!
Price: $3.99
Read It Digitally: Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1
Pre-Order the Trade: Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters
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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.
