Monarch

What if superheroes existed in a world where every conspiracy theory was completely true? Monarch is a triumph, a story that rises above its roots to tell a larger tale about the darkest depths and loftiest heights humanity has hidden within itself.

What if superheroes existed in a world where every conspiracy theory was completely true? Monarch is a triumph, a story that rises above its roots to tell a larger tale about the darkest depths and loftiest heights humanity has hidden within itself.

Jeff Morgan is a typical cynical nobody, the type of paranoid blowhard that sees conspiracies behind every aspect of the society around him. His girlfriend was recently killed during an incident involving Monarch, the most beloved superhero in the world. Unavoidable collateral damage, of course.

After meeting a strangely familiar person on the street one day, Jeff receives a call that recites odd code-phrases in his ear, and the horrible truth is revealed. He is actually Monarch, but due to hypnotic restraints placed into his mind by his handlers, his different personalities are completely ignorant of each other.

In the world of Monarch, superheroes are created by brainwashing children using horrifically traumatic MK-Ultra techniques, and they are controlled by covert government organizations. The positive publicity about them in the mainstream press hides their actual hedonistic, sadistic natures, indulged and encouraged in secret by societal leaders in exchange for their servitude. But, ultimately, what’s the point of all that excess, all that suffering, all that evil?

Monarch is an audacious and unflinchingly adult graphic novel. In it, writer Mauro Mantella and artist Martin Tunica use superheroes and conspiracy theories to explore questions about the cruelty and potential of humanity and beyond. Its depictions of brutality and wonder, tempered by its pitch-black sense of satire, bring its ideas into sharp relief and leave readers wondering about their own mores, their own worlds.