By Dustin Cabeal

You could add a subtitle of “Things could always be worse” to the title of At Least You’re Not These Monsters. The new book from Devastator and creators Danny Lacy and Mike Levine takes a look at some monsters and some problems with said monsters with the goal of making you feel better.

It’s a perspective book in that regard. Each two-page splash shows some kind of jacked up monster saying something like, “So, you hate your body? Al least yours makes sense!” The image accompanying the dialogue shows a disgusting monster with a body that is hard to describe without sounding like an idiot.

The goal of the book is to make you not feel so bad about yourself, while at the same time asking you if your life is that bad? Are some of your problems self-created or at the very least something you’re able to overcome? Like, a fish with body hair… there’s nothing it can do about that, but do you need to worry about your hairy back as much? Nope.

The artwork ends up being the best part of the book because the monsters are unique and extremely creative. Each page it’s a challenge and a treat to read the dialogue first and then look at the monster to see exactly what’s going on. A lot of the art is intentionally gross and nothing that you’ll hopefully get tattooed on your body, but it’s very effective in making its point.

At Least You’re Not These Monsters is a fast read. Once you get a rhythm going, you’ll blaze through the quick gags and ridiculous monsters. Will you walk away feeling better about yourself? Maybe, but that’ll be between you and the book. It’s a fun, quick read, but at the end of the day it doesn’t have a lasting impression, and there’s very little reason to read it again unless you really need a reminder that your life isn’t as bad as it could be, but then hey, everyone’s perspective is different, so maybe it is that bad.

Score: 3/5

At Least You’re Not These Monsters
Writers: Danny Lacy, Mike Levine
Artist: Danny Lacy
Publisher: Devastator Press