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Loading... Grease Monkeyby Tim Eldred
  
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  wellington299 | Feb 19, 2022 |    ) JoanAxthelm | Aug 4, 2017 | Slightly geeky Cadet Robin Plotnik, a mechanic, fresh from academy, begins his term of service on the space station The Fist of Earth. There, he assigned to the all-female Barbarian squadron, and to work with Mac, a sentient gorilla in a 'No Crap' t-shirt. Humanity, haven been reduced 60% by alien attacks three generations ago, now works side by side with gorillas, whose intelligence has been accelerated by alien 'Benefactors'. Despite their outward disparity, Mac and Robin make a good team, and the two have various misadventures aboard the Fist of Earth -- most of which involve their romantic entanglements with a gorilla admiral and a deeply unmotivated library clerk. I did enjoy Grease Monkey. Eldred has a clean art style, and manages to give all of his characters, gorilla and human real verve and personality. He is also to be commended for shoehorning a tremendous amount of back story into 12 page comics without stopping the plot. My main gripe with this book is that after the first few chapters, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. The characters and plots seem stuck in a rut, often resulting in sitcom style hi-jinks. Also, aside from Mac and Robin, most of the supporting characters are woefully underdeveloped. All in all this GN represents a wonderfuly original idea that never quite meets its potential. (cross-posted by MeriJenBen) (  ) 59Square | Feb 20, 2009 | Slightly geeky Cadet Robin Plotnik, a mechanic, fresh from academy, begins his term of service on the space station The Fist of Earth. There, he assigned to the all-female Barbarian squadron, and to work with Mac, a sentient gorilla in a "No Crap" t-shirt. Humanity, haven been reduced 60% by alien attacks three generations ago, now works side by side with gorillas, whose intelligence has been accelerated by alien "Benefactors". Despite their outward disparity, Mac and Robin make a good team, and the two have various misadventures aboard the Fist of Earth -- most of which involve their romantic entanglements with a gorilla admiral and a deeply unmotivated library clerk. I did enjoy Grease Monkey. Eldred has a clean art style, and manages to give all of his characters, gorilla and human real verve and personality. He is also to be commended for shoehorning a tremendous amount of back story into 12 page comics without stopping the plot. My main gripe with this book is that after the first few chapters, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. The characters and plots seem stuck in a rut, often resulting in sitcom style hi-jinks. Also, aside from Mac and Robin, most of the supporting characters are woefully underdeveloped. All in all this GN represents a wonderfuly original idea that never quite meets its potential. ( )1  MeriJenBen | May 16, 2008 | LastCall | Nov 27, 2006 |
 There’s an animated feel to the storytelling. Eldred can draw people and spaceships, the characters and setting, easily and well. Notable Lists
Caught in the crossfire of an interstellar war, our Earth was bombed to flinders--and then repaired. The mysterious alien Benefactors who healed the planet also offered "uplift" to our dolphins and gorillas. The dolphins turned them down. The gorillas said yes. As a result, we're now sharing our world with language-using, tool-making simians. Tensions are inevitable, in both directions, but it's gradually working out. Decades later, teenage cadet Robin Plotnik has been assigned toFist of Earth, a defense station high above Earth, keeping watch against further attacks by the interstellar Horde. Robin's a spacecraft mechanic-in-training, apprenticed to Chief "Mac" Gimbensky, a cranky but basically benign gorilla with issues of his own. Fist of Earthis a challenging place to grow up. Robin and Mac maintain fighter craft for the all-woman "Barbarian Squadron", which constantly competes for prestige with the other squadrons based onFist of Earth. Robin's trying to romance a young librarian, and he's far from sure he knows what he's doing. Most of all, he's constantly struggling to figure out his moody, mercurial boss. Then he and his best friend become entangled in a burgeoning scandal over betting on the squadrons' standings. And just when things look like they've hit rock bottom, the worst thing imaginable arrives atFist of Earth: an efficiency expert from Earth, determined to reorganize Robin's hard-won life, and the whole squadron system, out of existence. Fresh and engaging, crammed with likeable characters and science-fictional inventiveness,Grease Monkey is like a classic "Heinlein juvenile" in sequential-art mode. Introduction by Kurt Busiek, author ofAstro City No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers  
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)741.5The arts Graphic arts and decorative arts Drawing & drawings Cartoons, Caricatures, ComicsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.82)
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Wikipedia in English
1
A talking gorilla in space. Combining those two ingredients sounds awful to me. But it works.
Most of the stories revolve around Robin, a new mechanic cadet and his new boss, Mac, the talking gorilla. It'll take a few chapters before you finally understand why there is a talking gorilla on a spaceship
It's a fascinating backdrop to the story. But the heart of book is a coming of age story for both Robin and Mac. (