Launch date soon for Barry Windsor-Smith’s “Monsters”?

There’s still no word yet on a publication date for the new 250-page graphic novel Monsters from British writer/ artist Barry Windsor-Smith, but if the tantalising previews of the project revealed so far over several years are anything to go by, it’s going to be fantastic. Although its language may also shock…

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

The Windsor-Smith Studio announced the completion of Monsters, the long awaited graphic novel by Barry, last December, and that the project is on track for a mid-2020 release, but a publisher was not revealed.

Assuming it will be launched through traditional distribution routes and not solely through the Windsor-Smith Studio official web site, you’d expect a solicitation through Diamond Previews might soon be in the offing.

Barry Windsor-Smith has been working on the project since 1984, an evolution of a 1980s Hulk pitch the writer/artist had with Marvel, repurposed and expanded into an original, creator-owned story.

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

Barry has shared concept art for Monsters intermittently online since the late 1990s, a project that at one time was in the pipeline at Dark Horse and DC Comics, but failed to happen due to creative differences, particularly at DC over Barry’s determination regarding its language, detailed here on Bleeding Cool by Rich Johnston.

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

A 250-plus page story, Monsters is described by Barry as about “two disparate American families fatefully connected by an abandoned Nazi project in genetic engineering that has been covertly revived by the US government.

“This ground-breaking novel explores the disastrous effects of a Nazi program of genetic engineering, discovered at the close of World War Two, upon two American families.

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

“Told through intimate, naturalistic dialogue and drawings, this tale of the cascading legacy of profound evil blazes new trails in revealing the capacity of comics to be a powerful storytelling medium.”

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

Whoever publishes Monsters, or however it’s published, this graphic novel looks certain to both stun and stir, and given that Barry has also published unused art from the project as well as previews, we may not yet have a final idea of what to expect.

• Keep an eye on barrywindsor-smith.com for developments!

UPDATE 28th April 2021 – Monsters is available now – buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Monsters copyright Barry Windsor-Smith



Categories: Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: , , , ,

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading