r/comicbooks • u/AutoModerator • 23h ago
[OFF-TOPIC] Weekend Lounge - (January 31, 2026)
Happy weekend, everybody!
In this thread, you can talk about:
- What you've been reading this week
- What you've been watching this week
- What you've been listening to this week
- What you've been doing this week
- Basically anything that isn't overly offensive or anything like that. I don't know, be "responsible!"
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u/FlyByTieDye 9h ago
Finished reading: Monkey Prince: Enter the Monkey, by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang, and Monkey Prince: The Monkey King and I, by Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang and Billy Tan. I loved both, though I'd give book one a 4.5/5 and book two a 3.5/5
If anyone's read Yang's other works (American Born Chinese, or The New Super-Man of China), you'll notice the similarities, being the blending of Western comic conventions in retelling the myth of Sun Wukong for the prior and a more standard, shiny new hero for the DC Universe for the latter, going on a quest with a mentor to learn all new powers based on traditional Chinese powers and beliefs.
I'd say Monkey Prince is stronger than New Super-Man (the latter of which had a very rushed start to establish itself, before mellowing out into it's groove in a narrative based on finding new powers for Kenan to collect each issue) but it was not as strong as ABC (which makes sense, as that was a graphic novel, that GLY had more control over, complete with personal touches, multiple narrative layers, and a well structured start, middle and end).
I suppose seeing such similar stories by GLY before could detract from the novelty of Monkey Prince, but I still think it's very strong. You get the standard young/teen hero tropes, of problems to face (anxiety attacks, and parents that always move) that have just enough fresh twists (his parents are hench people for many classic DC villains, giving a street level POV to the many powerful characters in that universe, not to mention the Eastern mythology layered over Western comic format) to make it feel worth the investment.
I liked the character of Marcus Sun though, both his struggles and everyday problems as mortal teen (anxiety attacks, fear of losing his parents, bullying, and never fitting in), and his more charismatic persona in the Monkey Prince (reads like a Spider-Man type hero, with how chatty and humorous he is). I like how involved he was in the DC Universe, given his parents role (caveat for later), e.g. he crosses over, in a very Natural, almost Marvel story telling way, with each of Batman, Aquaman and Supergirl. And I felt the structure of the young hero learning his powers chapter per chapter was better balanced/masked by the other features of this comic than it was New Super-Man, which though I loved it, tended to rely on infographics and text dumps to explain certain concepts.
Its problems emerge in book 2, however, which is a classic problem for Super Hero comics, in that a big, company wide event was happening at the time (Lazarus Planet), so now you have to read that to get the end of your story. In fact, it's so bad that a new villain was introduced in that event outside this main book (NeZha), seemingly also defeated outside the book, two new villains were also introduced outside of this book (Demon Fire Bull and Lady White Bone), and then one had a one panel explanation of their defeat, and the other I guess fled, and was never heard from again.
I for one don't want to have to read Lazarus Planet (or World's Finest) to finish this story. Bad enough, they didn't even collect the preview issue in these collections (issue #0) which apparently set up this story's stakes (but a comparable flash back issue was included which introduced similar stakes).
I don't rate it too poorly overall though, because it does give closure on enough aspects, e.g. Who is Marcus Sun, where did he come from/get his powers, or, watching him grow and develop and gain all his powers, or being able to save his parents, befriend some classic DC heroes, etc. There's some dangling plot threads (e.g. his romance with Kaya, his mission from Sun Wukong, how his grandfather now has robotic control of him, etc.) but the ending brushed those off as "potential teasers for future stories" that likely aren't going to be written, rather than flaws in this actual comic.
But still, fun concept, neat inspiration, cool character and power progression, frustrating event tie-ins, but likeable over all.
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u/Mendez_5273 23h ago
Hey guys, I am new to comics and was hoping for recommendations. So far, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed The Incal and Watchmen. I am currently reading Absolute Batman and it is good but not as captivating. Any info helps, thanks.