Monster Matador: Tango of the Matadors #1 is a comic written by Steven Prince with art by Fabio Alves and colors by Alex Zief. A motley crew of matadors and locals battle against giant creatures. This is a science fiction comic with supernatural elements that shows the physical and mental struggle with violent monsters. The main matador is Ramon Alejandro Estevez-Guerrero, he has been fighting these creatures for some time and he has a young daughter back in Mexico. Assisting him is a man named Angelo and they are later joined by another matador named Miguel Calderon. There are also some townsfolk that stand out by appearance and/or personality. The story begins with Ramon captured by one of the volagante(a combination of the Spanish words for “fly” and “giant”) and being flown away. Angelo then comes in for the save and Ramon begins his attack. This story takes place in a world much like ours save for the giant creatures. There is a theme of struggle and loss as many people here have personally affected by this invasion. The action is slightly bloody(or whatever bugs have) with some light gore. The pacing is faster during the violent moments but slows down during the lulls and the tone is both serious and dire. There intense personal moments as well as the threatening volagante. Most of the dialogue is conversational but there is a decent amount of narration. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that shows us the state of the world and the people within as they fight for their lives against these strange creatures.

            The art here is very detailed and smooth and is a bit reminiscent of an older style. The color range is both realistic and vast and there is heavy shadow use and silhouettes. The scenery is of a Guatemalan forest surrounding Mayan ruins with a large number of shots focused on the sun. The backgrounds here rarely show the scene and are instead a varying combination of gradients, action lines, and gritty markings. The expression level here is slightly below average as nearly all of these characters maintain an emotionless stare. There are some angry and happy looks which stand out due to them being so different from their regular looks. The faces are detailed but they can be partly obscured by heavy shading. The creatures shown look like much larger versions of common insects and animals. The violence here involves guns and swords and things can get a bit bloody with light gore as there is slicing and dicing. The action scenes don’t usually show the full impact of attacks and they tend to be short.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction and supernatural stories that deal with large creatures and the people who must fight against them that stars a Hispanic matador and features a decent amount of drama then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Violence, gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“So you found God and lost tequila?”

 

Physical Link: https://www.monstermatador.com/store/p/monster-matador-tango-of-the-matadors-1

Digital Link: https://www.monstermatador.com/store/p/monster-matador-tango-of-the-matadors-1-pdf

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monstermatador/monster-matador/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/monster-matador-tango-of-the-matadors-1/x/26236710#/

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 10, for 39% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”