{"id":22564,"date":"2020-08-18T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=22564"},"modified":"2020-08-17T17:00:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T17:00:17","slug":"jaimie-smarts-bunny-vs-monkey-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2020\/08\/18\/jaimie-smarts-bunny-vs-monkey-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaimie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Jaimie Smart<\/strong>, with Laura Bentley<\/strong> & Sammy Borras<\/strong> (David Fickling Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-78845-177-2 (PB)<\/p>\n

Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!<\/strong>; Looshkin<\/strong>; Flember<\/strong>), Bunny vs. Monkey<\/strong> has been a fixture of British periodical sensation The Phoenix<\/strong> from the very first issue: a madcap duel of animal arch rivals set amidst the idyllic arcadia of a more-or-less ordinary English Wood. Those trend-setting, mind-bending antics were rapidly retooled as graphic albums and are now being re-released in remastered, double-length digest editions. In case you’re wondering, the fabulous fun found here originally inhabited volumes 1 & 2, entitled Let the Mayhem Begin<\/strong> and Journey to the Centre of the Eurg-th<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

With precious little unnecessary build-up, the manic happy returns commence with a ‘Prologue!’<\/em> introducing placid, wise, helpful Bunny<\/em> and not-so-smart pals Pig<\/em> and Weenie Squirrel<\/em>. The foolish innocents and lifelong residents of idyllic Crinkle Woods have found a hibernating bear which Bunny really wants them to stop trying to wake up\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, over the hill and not so far away, a bunch of boffins are attempting to launch a really annoying monkey into space\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This prompts a barrage of seasonal silliness in ‘Bunny vs. Monkey’<\/em>, as the proposed launch goes hideously awry and the loud, stroppy, obnoxious simian lands in the snow-covered glade and instantly declares himself king of this strange alien world\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Monkey loves noise, strife, chaos and trouble and incessantly needs to raise a rumpus – everything genteel, contemplative Bunny abhors – so when our apish astronaut introduces techno music in ‘Keep it Down!’<\/em>, the lines of battle are irrevocably drawn\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Thing escalate in ‘When Monkey Met Skunky’<\/em>. This latter is a brilliant inventor with a bombastic line in animal-inspired terror weapons such as the Cluck Cluck Zeppelin<\/em> used to bomb the woods with 10-year-old rotten eggs or the giant metal robot hands which give the destructive Monkey ‘Fists of Fury’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Winter draws on with ‘Soggy ‘n’ Froggy’<\/em> wherein a monstrous Frog-O-Saurus<\/em> becomes the wicked duo’s latest Weapon of Meadow Destruction, after which poor Pig is transformed into cyborg sensation Pig-O-Tron 5000<\/em> in ‘Robo-Chop’<\/em> as a simple change of pace sees Weenie and Pig put on a circus show to counter all the nasty animosity before getting painfully caught ‘Clowning Around’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Up until now Monkey has been risking his own pelt road-testing all Skunky’s inventions, but when a bewildered former stuntman turns up, the sneaky simian is happy to leave all the dangerous stuff to ‘Action Beaver’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

March leads to a profusion of beautiful buds and blossoms which delight the soul of nature-loving Bunny.<\/p>\n

Tragically they utterly disgust Monkey, who tries to eradicate all that flora in ‘Down with Spring!’<\/em> until he comes a-cropper thanks to a sack of spiky \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hodgehegs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, whilst in ‘Bonjour, Le Fox’<\/em>, the spacy invader finally goes too far, forcing Bunny to align with a rather radical environmentalist possessed of a big, bushy tail and an outrrrrrageous French accent\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Some of Bunny’s friends are their own worst enemies. ‘Race to the Moon!’<\/em> sees Weenie and Pig build their own spaceship – out of natural materials like moss and mushrooms – only to have Monkey disastrously commandeer it, after which Skunky builds a terrifying cyber crocodile dubbed ‘Metal Steve!’<\/em> which ignores its perfidious programming to spend the day swimming. Such shameful failures thus compel Monkey to steal a steamroller to personally get rid of all that hateful, ugly cherry blossom infesting the trees in ‘Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’!’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The war against nature intensifies as ‘Eat Your Greens!’<\/em> sees Skunky’s Caterpillar-Zilla<\/em> devouring forest foliage until an authentic creepy-crawly steps in, whilst ‘The Whuppabaloo!’<\/em> shows the niffy tinkerer’s softer side as he drags Monkey on a wilderness trek to track down the most amazing thing in nature\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘Hide and Squark!’<\/em> depicts the rabbit’s fightback, thanks to the double-dealing help of a certain giant parrot, after which a momentary d\u00c3\u00a9tente for a spot of angling inevitably turns into another heated duel in ‘Fish Off!’<\/em> after which a brief falling out of the axis of evil in May ends as ‘Invisi-Monkey’<\/em> sees the strident simian squabbling with Skunky to possess a sneaky stealth suit. The status quo sees the villains reuniting to spoil a joyous game of Cake-Ball with their monolithic, monstrous ‘Mole-a-Rolla!’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘Black Gold’ <\/em>finds Monkey attempting to turn the Wood into an oil field, before spoiling Bunny’s dream of a ‘Quiet Day!’<\/em>with a giant Robot Cockroach<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Blazing June opens with ‘Bring Him Back!’<\/em> as Action Beaver attempts to retrieve watery wanderer Metal Steve whilst simple souls Weenie and Pig accidentally kick off an invention Armageddon which only intensifies after that long-slumbering ursine finally wakes up in ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bear?’<\/em><\/p>\n

‘The Bat!’<\/em> apparently introduces a nasty new faction to the ongoing conflict (but all is not as it seems!), and there’s no confusing the stakes when Bunny agrees to a winner-take-all fight in ‘Wrestlepocalypse!’<\/em> and Monkey learns that cheats never prosper\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Just when things seem likely to settle down, fresh chaos ensues when a violent piratical rabbit – with an eye-patch – storms in to cause stir up trouble in ‘Bunny B!’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

With battle reports spanning July to December<\/strong>, hostilities reach new heights and depths as Monkey and Skunky<\/em> fail to make proper use of ‘The Wish Cannon!’<\/em> This reality-warping gun could change the world, but also makes really good cakes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A far better terror-tool is colossally ravening robot ‘Octo-blivion!’<\/em>, which ruins Bunny’s boating afternoon, but sadly the tentacled doom-toy becomes an irresistible object of amorous intent for irrepressible cyber crocodile Metal Steve<\/em> before it can complete its nefarious machinations\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A hot day inspires Monkey to demand his bonkers boffin whip up some volcanoes, but their ‘Journey to the Centre of the Eurg-th!’<\/em> only unearths chilly regions and crazily cool creatures before the scene shifts to those not-so-smart but astonishingly innocent bystanders Pig<\/em> and Weenie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

An afternoon playing with crayons results in a lovely drawing of a crown, and soon everyone is bowing down and obeying ‘King Pig’<\/em>, after which surly radical environmentalist ‘Fantastique Le Fox!’<\/em> finds time to share his incredible origin stories with the dumbfounded woodland denizens. Yes, that’s right: stories, plural\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Hyperkinetic carnage is the order of the day when a cute little dickens turns up inside spiffy running-toy ‘Hamsterball 3000!’<\/em>, providing Skunky with the perfect power source for his latest devastating mechanical marauder: the horrendous Hamster Mobile<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Puns, peril and a stinging hidden moral then inform proceedings when all the animals celebrate ‘Bee-Day!’<\/em> whilst a certain happily brain-battered, bewildered former stuntman turns into a tormented super-genius when he accidentally falls under the influence of Skunky’s Smarty Helmet in ‘Action Beever2<\/sup>‘<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Happily for everyone, before it wears off the increased cognition – in conjunction with a handy lemon puff – demolishes an unleashed Doomsday Device which might just have ended everything\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

From September onwards the stories drop to four pages a pop as ‘Gone with the Wind!’<\/em> finds Pig and Weenie making trouble with their windsurfing cart after which ‘I, Robot Crocodile!’ <\/em>sees Metal Steve on a destructive rampage until Bunny and Monkey team up to show the steel berserker the simple joys of dance\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘There’s a Moose Loose!’<\/em> depicts Skunky back on bad form and trying to fool his enemies with a vast Trojan Elk before Monkey spoils everyone’s September by going big after being introduced to a sweet childhood game in ‘Conkers Bonkers!’<\/em> after which – with the Beaver temporarily bedridden – the perfidious pair of animal evildoers employ the rather dim ‘Action Pig!’<\/em> to test pilot their devilish Dragonfly 5000<\/em>. Such a bad idea\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Tidy-minded Bunny has no hope of sweeping up all autumn’s golden detritus in ‘Leaf it Alone!’<\/em> once friends and enemies start helping out, and an extended sub-plot opens in ‘Duck Race!’ <\/em>as impetuous Monkey pries into Skunky’s most deadly and diabolical secrets all stashed behind a locked door. In a frantic attempt to deflect attention, the smelly scientist then unleashes the colossal Lord Quack-Quack<\/em>!<\/p>\n

The saga sequels in a surprisingly downbeat follow-up as Bunny, Pig and Weenie dare the fiend’s lair to check out ‘Door B’<\/em> before scheduled insanity resumes as ‘Hypno-Monkey!’<\/em> finds the hirsute horror misusing a memory ray and briefly assuming godlike power\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Who doesn’t like igniting marshmallows and telling scary stories around a campfire? Not Bunny, Pig and Weenie after hearing the tale of ‘Monster Pants!’<\/em> leading to the local idiots deciding to join Monkey’s gang in ‘Bad Influence!’<\/em><\/p>\n

The monkey is no one idea of a role model – except perhaps for painful ineptitude – as seen in ‘Lost in the Snow!’<\/em>, but the winter fun expands to encompass everyone when Skunky’s ‘Chemical X!’<\/em> unleashes a chilled tidal wave of blancmange leading to seasonal silliness as ‘The Small Matter of the End of the World!’<\/em> exposes time-travelling madness as the true story of the demise of the Doomsday Device is finally exposed in an extra-length yarn\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Everything changes when ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Monkey!’ <\/em>sees peace and goodwill grip the woods – or perhaps it’s just that the simian seditionist has gone missing? When the innocent inhabitants go looking for Monkey, they find him far beyond the forest associating with strange two-legged beings, singing carols and swiping mince pies, but nobody realises just how dangerous ‘Hyooomanz!’<\/em> can be as the year ends with plans found proclaiming the demolition of Crinkle Wood and the coming of a new motorway\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

To Be Continued\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Adding lustre and fun, this superb treat includes detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Bunny’<\/em> and ‘How to Draw Monkey’<\/em>, so, as well as beguiling your littl’uns with stories, you can use this book to teach them a trade\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Endlessly inventive, sublimely funny and outrageously addictive, Bunny vs. Monkey<\/strong> is the kind of comic parents beg kids to read to them. Why isn’t that you, yet?
\nText and illustrations \u00c2\u00a9 Jamie Smart 2020. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jaimie Smart, with Laura Bentley & Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books) ISBN: 978-1-78845-177-2 (PB) Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Flember), Bunny vs. Monkey has been a fixture of British periodical sensation The Phoenix from the very first issue: a madcap duel of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Jaimie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42,113,102,125,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-british","category-comedy","category-fantasy","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-5RW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}