Monsters

Barry Windsor-Smith has for over three decades, been working on Monsters. Almost twenty years ago I read an unfinished version and was shocked and astonished at the power and delicacy of the storytelling, by the honesty of the family relationships, by the feeling that this was being created by someone willing to reveal too much and go too deep in order to tell the story he had to tell. That it is completed and that it will be released to the world is something that’s genuinely exciting for any of us who care about comics, or stories, or the place where art and imagination meet – Neil GaimanNearly 40 years in the making, Monsters is surely Windsor-Smith’s magnum opus. It demands re-reading, not only in order to take in the intricacies of the densely constructed narrative but to marvel further at the meticulously crafted artwork. – Stephen Jewell * SFX *It’s been 16 years since Barry Windsor-Smith’s last book and in Monsters, you can see the work of those days and years on every page and panel… His classically influenced style…fills the pages with drawings and sequences you can easily lose yourself in the depths of… he has now created a work that his legacy will be forever tied to, melding his stylistic artwork with a story that explores trauma and grief in ways that he has never been able to before. – Scott Cederlund * GamesRadar+ *Forcefully told and thoroughly affecting drama. Windsor-Smith’s return is big news… Monsters hums with suppressed violence and regret, and Windsor-Smith renders both with real power. His command of pose and gesture…brings his cast to life. – James Smart * Guardian *Monsters is drawn and inked with extraordinary delicacy, its pace is often meditative and it is just as interested in family relationships as it is in superpowers. Monsters is weirdly sweet. – Sam Leith * Observer *Monsters is a big book dealing with difficult subjects, and one that I would recommend. – Steve Toase * Fortean Times *Monsters is likely to be his [Barry Windsor-Smith’s] defining work… [a] big, bruising epic. – James Smart * Guardian, Books of the Year *This exquisitely illustrated epic bursts with emotion, insight, and empathy. Five decades into his already influential career, Windsor-Smith has created his magnum opus * The Library Journal *

Barry Windsor-Smith began his career as a young comics fan drawing mainstay Marvel characters such as the X-Men and Daredevil in 1969 in the traditional Marvel style. However, in 1971 he broke from the Marvel formula when he started drawing the Conan series, turning heads with a fresh and controversial stylistic approach, eventually winning the hearts and minds of fellow comics professions, fans, and numerous industry awards. Part of a young generation of artists that included compatriots Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, and Jeff Jones, Windsor-Smith proceeded to carve an independent path for himself. In the ‘90s, he conceived, wrote, and drew three independent comics series, The Freebooters, Young Gods, and The Paradox-Man. In 1999 and 2001 Fantagraphics published two autobiographical coffee table art books Opus volumes 1 and 2. Monsters is his first book in 16 years.