I woke up and read this one in bed. A 20-page, self-published comic book by Zak Sally called “A Monty”.
This comic gets pretty heavy, and maybe that’s not the best way to start your day, but I liked it a lot. I felt more connected after reading it, connected to an artist I’ve followed for a while, and connected to the feeling of knowing you’re not the only one upset by everyday cruelty.
Zak Sally describes the thought behind “A Monty” in this blog post:
“I knew putting “The R word” in there with regularity was going to be a tough pill to swallow, and some valued friends brought it up. I certainly didn’t throw that word around without consideration and thought. It’s wasn’t fun or funny for me. And I absolutely did not intend to be insensitive on purpose.
So: without any qualifications, I think calling someone a “retard” is a shitty, cruel thing to do. Then and now. In fact, I think that’s what my whole strip is about.
It’s about a child (in this case, me) learning that for themselves.”
Instead of writing a full-on review, I think it’ll be more interesting to share my first impression notes written down in a notebook right after reading the comic. Not that they’re anything crazy spectacular, but I like the casualness of it. It’s also hard to over analyze when you’re reacting to an experience that just happened, and I feel like less formality lets the comic be what it is, versus good or bad.
Anyway, here are my notes from reading it:
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Notes // 2/20/2025
- Intersection of memory and current shakiness
- Last line, “Like children who don’t know better. Until they do.”
- Education and understanding of Monty, Zak Sally’s neighbor, versus going with word on the street, the gossip of the other kids, following the uninformed. Feels like an exercise of the punk attitude/approach to life, in that things aren’t taken at face value, and a decision is made to go another route. Zak Sally’s connection to punk music and its culture also makes me think of this.
- Monty telling Zak Sally, “Leave me alone” and the match burning motif/sequence hits its peak and lights a trail of something, gasoline?
- Exploring these memories from the present day Zak Sally’s POV supports the idea that we’re all continually uncovering ourselves. When young Zak Sally asks his Mom whether Monty, living with a disability, knows he’s disabled, she responds, “I don’t think so, no.” Just like Monty, who actually knows where they stand? Are you always okay?
- Older Zak Sally looking in the mirror throughout the comic, intercut between parts of the main story
- Match burning motif/sequence connects to the line, “Or why we made the world our dumpster and then set it on fire.”
- Shift from main memory of childhood to the narrator in the current day
- Visually consistent with Zak Sally’s other work, two-color and use of blue
- Backgrounds from the past, the Duluth, MN, neighborhood, are shown more faintly while the line art for the characters is bold and remembered well
- Because of the introductory blog post, where I first learned about this new comic, I went into reading this knowing well enough what territory it would cover, and while this doesn’t match the what-the, I love this, where is it going qualities of Sammy the Mouse, “A Monty” was a good pause on how some people are treated and misunderstood. I will admit, it did, at first, feel like the expectations set by the story gave this comic a seriousness, but the actual energy of it, when I read the whole thing, the tone of Zak Sally’s writing feels genuine. The story and its telling have plenty of variation and nuance to make it feel lived. And I do feel its a further exploration of what he’s learned from and since being a “punk,” for lack of a better word.
- I really thought it was compelling the narration/voice over was written in Zak Sally’s very direct, first person voice from the present day. I like his voice a lot. Consistent with his prose autobiography, Folrath, where he talks about forging bus passes and being miserable in Seattle.
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