Sock Monkey Treasury: A "Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey" Collection Author: Visit Amazon's Tony Millionaire Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1606996967 | Format: PDF
Sock Monkey Treasury: A "Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey" Collection Description
About the Author
Tony Millionaire lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife, the actress Becky Thyre, and their two daughters. He creates the award-winning weekly syndicated comic strip Maakies. His books include Billy Hazelnuts, Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird, Der Struwwelmaakies, Drinky Crow's Maakies Treasury, Maakies with the Wrinkled Knees, Mighty Mite the Ear Mite, Premillennial Maakies, Little Maakies on the Prairie, The House at Maakies Corner, When We Were Very Maakies, 500 Portraits, and the Sock Monkey series of comics and storybooks.
- Series: Sock Monkey
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Fantagraphics; 1 edition (March 5, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1606996967
- ISBN-13: 978-1606996966
- Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 7.8 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Everyone should give this collection a shot because it's an absolutely perfect combination of really humorous adventure (though some are quite darkly humorous), good storytelling, and stunning art. I want to make it clear that I have been a consistent reader of ALL genres of comics for almost thirty years, including alternative, superhero titles, and underground but I can tell you that there are very few comic book creations that are as original and memorable as Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey stories.
Tony Millionaire's art is often stunningly gorgeous, truly. For such a whimsical cast of characters and often darkly humorous stories, it's inspiring to see the extreme level of craft Tony puts into his drawings. The story flow is dynamic and the backgrounds and architecture are full fledged fine art renditions. It's fun and inspiring at the same time. All I can guess is that his inspiration probably come from artists and creators of the early 20th century such as John R. Neill, Windsor McKay and Hal Foster, but there is also a hint of underground influence in there too, a tad of Robert Crumb perhaps? Whatever the combination of influences are, it all comes together to create the paradox that is Sock Monkey.
These stories are both rich but also whimsical. They never feel weighted down by some rigid scripting process and because of this they carry a fresh spontaneity to them that is both humorous and also very endearing with a strange sort of sincerity behind their farcical adventures.
One aspect that I have to give Mr.
I’ve always gotten the sense that Tony Millionaire puts artistry above commercial viability. That is in no way meant to imply that his stories aren’t incredibly entertaining; it’s more about way he utilizes his characters. His two most recognizable creations are Maakies and Sock Monkey but you’d be hard pressed to find two comics from the same artist that are more polar opposite. It’s one thing for an artist to deal in scatological gross out humor in one comic and generally family friendly, poetic entertainment in another but Millionaire essentially uses the same characters for both. It would be like Disney using Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willy and Fritz the Cat at the same time. Maakies features Uncle Gabby (a drinken Irish monkey) and Drinky Crow (an alcoholic crow). Meanwhile, Sock Monkey features Uncle Gabby (a sock monkey) and Mr. Crow (a stuffed crow). Lest you think Drinky Crow and Mr. Crow are not the same character note the moments where Mr. Crow downs an unnamed liquid from his silver flask with the classic “dook dook dook” sound made famous by the inebriated Drinky Crow. There are some hilarious moments on Amazon reviews where a grandmother bought a grandchild Maakies thinking it was a continuation of Sock Monkey.
Tony Millionaire writing style reminds of Carlo Collodi’s original Pinocchio. Weird things just happen and it feels like the writer is allowing the story to move wherever his mind wanders. It all has a very dreamlike quality. Whether it’s family friendly or not depends on whether you think classic fairy tales are family friendly. There is a big difference between Collodi’s Pinocchio and the watered down Disney Pinocchio. Some of the Sock Monkey comics actually seem to feel like they could be Maakies.
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