Greg Pak hates the nine to five world. Granted, his new creator owned title Code Monkey Saves The World is loosely based on the music of Jonathon Coulton, but the meat of this story uses sci-fi to demonstrate just how much it sucks working for the man. Code Monkey #1 is part dystopian future, part comedy, and part just plain old weird. If you think your experience with Pak via Hulk and Action Comics will prepare you for Code Monkey, well, think again.
Tucson, Arizona. It’s a dry heat. Out in the middle of this desert oasis is Code Monkey, real name Charles. There’s no pretension here, Charles is a monkey who does, in fact, write code. Working for the prestigious S.C.M. corporation, Charles spends most of his days being crapped on by everybody. At the local coffee shop, the girl puts “Monkey” as his name; even after being told it’s Charles.
At work, it is worse. Charles’ direct manager is an uber-douche named Rob, who makes “a thousand monkeys in a room can type Shakespeare” jokes. Thus far, Pak has given us the monkey, and nothing else. Code Monkey seems to be a story about a working simian making his way in a complex world that doesn’t understand him Oh wait, did I leave out the zombies? Apparently, Columbus is overrun with a zombie horde. Think that’s bad? Well, it then becomes time to meet the robots.
While attempting to flirt with his office crush Matilde, giant robots bust into the company and begin stealing humans for slave work on Chiron Beta Prime, a planet that seems to randomly abduct people for labor. Charles nearly saves his love with a full can of soda, but the robots prove to be too much and Matilde is taken. Cue Skullcrusher, the asshole owner of S.C.M. He’s decided to take down the robots, though Charles is not sure why. Though Skullcrusher is abusive, he needs Charles, and the two begin to hatch a plot to defeat the giant robots. There’s also a half-monkey/half-horse pet, but you’ll just have to read the issue to understand that.
Pak’s ease with storytelling shines through again. This is a goofy story, one that takes aim at working, dating, zombies and slave robots. Premise-wise the idea is solid, but could quickly become a stagnant one-joke idea. Pak sidesteps that by focusing on the characters, getting us involved with Charles on a “human” level before unleashing the more bizarre aspects of the issue.
Takeshi Miyazawa, who has worked on Runaways for Brian K. Vaughn as well as helping Pak create the Marvel character Amadeus Cho, handles art. Miyazawa’s art has a very specific look to it. There’s a bit of computer animation to the style, but also underground work like Dan Clowes or Peter Bagge. The work is hyper-exaggerated, more focused on broad character looks as opposed to any fine detail. Personally, I’m not a fan of this type of art – it lacks personality and intimacy for me. There is a generation of kids who love this style, though, so for them, Code Monkey should be a visual thrill.
(4 Story, 3.5 Art)
