Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #1 Review

Writer: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs & Adam Glass
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Publisher: AfterShock Comics

Sometimes, a comic book will contain a lot of tropes and familiar plot devices, but will do them well enough that the issue is still enjoyable. Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #1 is not one of those comic books. There isn’t really anything interesting or compelling in this debut issue, making it one of the biggest comic book related letdowns that I’ve experienced in a long time.

This first issue was so uneventful that its 20 pages felt like 40. It doesn’t happen often that I mentally give up on an issue before I finish it, but that is precisely what happened with this one. I can get past unoriginal plots and dialogue, but not when it feels very forced and lifeless, and Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #1’s plot and dialogue feel very unnatural and, quite honestly, boring.

I find myself confused about what the purpose of this story is meant to serve. It doesn’t just feel stale, but it also feels very unnecessary. Not one character in the series is likeable yet, so I am still not invested in anything happening to them. In fact, they are facing potential danger the whole issue, and I honestly didn’t even care if that danger was going to find them.

This issue is frustrating to me because of how much I love horror and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The series’ debut feels like a really big miss on every level, which is is such a shame because horror comic books are thriving right now and Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein story are wonderful subjects.

At the very beginning of the issue, I expected the artwork to be the best thing about it. The style is so unique and does well at portraying the time period that the story is later set in. However, about halfway through, I lost hope that the artwork would redeem the issue as a whole. The artwork remained interesting, but it doesn’t do near enough as it needed to to restore any confidence in the rest of the series.

Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #1 is sadly a dull debut to what should have been an exciting start to a new horror series. The disappointment that this issue contains is enough to make me question if I’ll continue with any other issues from this series.