A few years back, I was doing my best to cover as many indie comics as I could. Unfortunately, as my writing workload increased, it left me with less and less time to shine a spotlight on comics that would otherwise – potentially and undeservedly – fly under the radar.

One such title I covered was The Monster’s Cleanup Guy – a short story with a great premise, that hinted at a much bigger world than it had space to cover in its pages.

Thankfully, creators Drew D. Lenhart and Rowel Roque have revisited and expanded the short story, with this first, full volume.

The premise sees Terry – the cleaner of the title – doing what he can to keep the existence of the world’s monsters a secret. Employed by the Lycan King, Terry has a dark secret and an inner beast that he himself is struggling to control – and finds himself in the middle of a deadly struggle for dominance that’s brewing amongst the beasts.

Just like the short story before it, Roque’s black and white art does a great job with the various monsters; as well as this, the brief snatches of gore are also rendered pretty vividly – not to mention in a suitably squishy way.

One sequence of – I want to call it reverse gore, in order to avoid giving away any spoilers – is particularly gross in an impressively graphic and amusing way.

Though the expository dialogue that sets the scene can feel a little clunky, this was a more glaring issue with the brevity of the short story version; here, we soon settle into the rhythm of the power struggle between monster factions and personalities.

Not to mention the internal battle that Terry’s having with, well, you’ll see. This aspect adds a really interesting dynamic to the story too.

It’s a great comic overall and, with the nights drawing in and Halloween looming, it’s the perfect time to check out The Monster’s Cleanup Guy Vol. 1.

And, as it’s now on sale, you can do so at Drive Thru Comics, right here.

Many thanks to Drew D. Lenhart for providing me with a copy of The Monster’s Cleanup Guy Vol. 1 for review purposes.